Broad Street Bullies: Philadelphia Flyers NHL 11 Be A GM

[Viktor von Vikingkil]

So close, yet so far. A soft overtime goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals ended the Philadelphia Flyers' amazing 2009-2010 season in complete and utter disappointment. Every player was forced to head home without the ultimate prize, without the thing they'd been competing for their entire lives, the only upside a short off-season.

Both fans and players alike are happy about the short off-season, and are even happier that the 2010-2011 regular season now begins. A shot at redemption, a shot at glory, another chance at the Stanley Cup.

[Viktor von Vikingkil]

DEPTH CHART AND OTHER SUCH NONSENSE

Philadelphia Flyers Depth Chart - 2010
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	James van Riemsdyk	Scott Hartnell	Jeff Carter	Dan Carcillo
C	Mike Richards	Danny Briere	Claude Giroux	Blair Betts
RW	Andreas Nodl	Villie Leino	Nikolay Zherdev	Darroll Powe
DEF 1	Chris Pronger	Braydon Coburn	Andrej Meszaros
DEF 2	Matt Carle	Kimmo Timonen	Sean O'Donnell
G	Sergei Bobrovsky	Brian Boucher

Offensive Strategy: Standard
Line 1 Strategy: Behind the Net
Line 2 Strategy: Behind the Net
Line 3 Strategy: Overload
Line 4 Strategy: Crash the Net

Defensive Strategy: Puck Side Attack
Positioning: Staggered
Forecheck: 1-2-2 Low


Power Play Strategy: Shooting
PP1: Carter - Richards - Giroux - Pronger - Timonen
PP2: Leino - Briere - Zherdev - Meszaros - Carle
PP41: Richards - Carter - Pronger -Timonen
PP42: Giroux - Zherdev - Meszaros - Carle

Penalty Kill Strategy: Passive Box
PK1: Richards - Powe - Pronger - Timonen
PK2: Betts - Giroux - Coburn - O'Donnell
PK31: Richards - Pronger - Timonen
PK32: Giroux - Coburn - O'Donnell

SO: Giroux - Zherdev - Briere - Carter - Richards

Extra Attackers: Richards, Briere

Healthy Scratches: Oskars Bartulis (D), Ian Laperriere (FWD)

C: Richards
A: Pronger
A: Timonen

Season Goal: 44 wins, Conference Semis

PRE-SEASON: No surprises league-wide

[Viktor von Vikingkil]

FIRST GAME: OPENING NIGHT: FLYERS @ PENGUINS

Philadelphia Flyers vs Pittsburgh Penguins
Oct 7, 2010 1 2 3 F PHI (0-0-0) 0 0 0 0 PIT (0-0-0) 1 0 2 3 Three Stars	Team Stats Comparison PHI PIT Shots on Goal Hits Faceoffs Won-Lost 8-22 22-8 Penalty Minutes Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities Time on Attack
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD PIT Pascal Dupuis (1) (11:56) THIRD PERIOD PIT Aaron Asham (1) (4:56) PIT Evgeni Malkin (1) (8:42)
Philadelphia Flyers - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Sergei Bobrovsky 28 25 89% 3.00 Marc-Andre Fleury 23 23 100% 0.00

NATIONALHOCKEYREPORT.COM POST-GAME REPORT
A disappointing loss for Philadelphia as they fall 3-0 to the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury was sensational, stopping all 23 Flyers shots, with just about every single one of them being a good opportunity.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 of 28 in his NHL debut. With 8:04 remaining in the first period Pascal Dupuis launched a rebound past him when the defense failed to clear the front of the net, with 15:04 remaining in the third Aaron Asham made an unreal pass through the front of the net and a sliding Chris Pronger for a tremendous Malkin goal, and with 11:18 left to play Eric Godard drove a slapshot blocker-side for the third Penguins goal of the night.

Highlight of the Game: 13:29 into the third period, Mike Comrie and Sean O'Donnell dropped the gloves after a whistle in front of the Flyers net. What followed was a short, brutal fight featuring both players landing a series of powerful punches, an all-out strength competition. About 20 seconds into it Sean O'Donnell landed a powerful right hook and Comrie dropped to the ground, signaling the end of the fight.

Stat of the Night: The Flyers lost 22 of the 30 faceoffs in the game.

[Viktor von Vikingkil]

SIMULATION: After a 3-1 loss in St. Louis' home opener, the Flyers picked up their first win of the season at home in a 2-1 victory against the Avalanche. 3 days later the Flyers defeated the Lightning 5-4 in Philadelphia and now face off against the Penguins, who are dominating early at 4-1-0.

Rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has a 91.5 save percentage and a 2.69 GAA through 4 games, his record even at 2-2. Andrej Meszaros, Sean O'Donnell and Claude Giroux all stand at a dreadful -6, with Jeff Carter almost as bad at -5.

GAME 5: PENGUINS @ FLYERS

Piitsburgh Penguins vs Philadelphia Flyers
Oct 16, 2010 1 2 3 F PIT (4-1-0) 1 0 0 1 PHI (2-2-0) 2 2 0 4 Three Stars Nikolay Zherdev 2 goals Sergei Bobrovsky 29 saves Scott Hartnell 1 goal	Team Stats Comparison PIT PHI Shots on Goal Hits Faceoffs Won-Lost 5-13 13-5 Penalty Minutes Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities Time on Attack
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD PIT Aaron Asham PHI Scott Hartnell PHI Nikolay Zherdev SECOND PERIOD PHI Nikolay Zherdev PHI Mike Richards
Philadelphia Flyers - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Sergei Bobrovsky 30 29 97% Marc-Andre Fleury %

NATIONALHOCKEYREPORT.COM POST-GAME REPORT
The second matchup of the season between these two teams got off to a bang as the hitting was intense right from the opening faceoff. When Aaron Asham put home a lucky bounce off a blocked shot from Andreas Nodl 13 minutes in, things only got more violent. After a Villie Leino shot hit the post on a break away, the Flyers managed to respond quickly when, just over 2 minutes later, Scott Hartnell put a rebound past Marc-Andre Fleury for the tying goal. Just 3 minutes after that, Nikolay Zherdev had an impressive goal when he skated past both Pittsburgh defensemen and made a very subtle move to essentially poke the puck through Fleury's legs and past the goalline. Said Zherdev of the move, "It's something I've been toying with in practice, using my stick and my skates to just get up the ice in a hurry and do something the keeper won't notice."

Zherdev then struck nearly 12 minutes later in the second period when he buried a snapshot past Fleury's right shoulder. 27 seconds later, Mike Richards nailed home a van Riemsdyk shot and the Flyers were up 4-1. That's when the goals stopped and the hitting intensified further, with many players ending up flat on the ice at one point or another.

However, there was minor goal-related controversy when, with 8:01 left in the 2nd period, Andreas Nodl chipped a puck in on net. Fleury caught it and immediately dumped it to his left, where Richards had beaten his man and was waiting. As Richards took control of the puck and Fleury went sprawling across the net, the defenseman checked Richards down to the ice. Richards got the shot off and it bounced off of Fleury and got by. As Richards got up and began celebrating he discovered play had not stopped, and as this happened Fleury had grabbed the puck to stop play. The Flyers bench was irate, claiming the puck had gone over the line, with Richards, who had gotten a closeup view, backing them up. Instant replay proved them correct. However, the referees did not call for a goal review, and the Flyers didn't receive anything for their troubles. After the game Peter Laviolette said it was "Ridiculous...that [the referees] didn't review it."

Period 3 featured an impossibly high number of shots, amazing saves by both Fleury and Bobrovsky (who stopped 29 of 30, good for the 2nd Star) and more violent hitting. Things came close to erupting with about 6 mintues left during a Flyers powerplay when, after the whistle, Penguins forward Michael Rupp shoved Richards some, unprovoked. The referees elected not to award a penalty and the Flyers coaches once again expressed their anger, as did the players on the ice with a number of rattling hits.

4 minutes later Richards and Rupp lined up across from each other, and as the puck dropped the two immediately started shoving. Rupp, at one point, pushed Richards down, but before he could retaliate a fight had broken out between two unlikely candidates: Matt Cooke and Claude Giroux. Giroux delivered several punches in an admirable effort but Cooke, undaunted, took Giroux down with a smattering of lefts. Less than a minute later, during a scrum in front of the one of the nets Mike Comrie and Darroll Powe dropped the gloves, Powe apparently seeking revenge for the Giroux fight. Powe and Comrie went at it for nearly 45 seconds before Comrie tackled Powe to the ice, and several players had gotten their helmets ripped off by opponents. The benches were nearly exploding and the only thing stopping the players from heading onto the ice were coaches.

As the fights cooled the hitting did not, and for the last 30 seconds Mike Richards and Daniel Carcillo began a series of taunts and hits on Pittsburgh players, with retaliation coming with just one second left when Several Penguins went after Richards, Carcillo barging into the middle and stopping the attack by delivering several punches. Carcillo was given a misconduct and left the game, and no one else was given any penalties. The two teams left the ice after a faceoff ended in a shoving match and the Flyers took home an eventful 4-1 win. Surely this bad blood will come back instantly in the teams' upcoming meeting.

Highlight of the Game: Nikolay Zherdev's impressive first period goal, skating through both Pittsburgh defenseman and tapping the puck into the net to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

Stat of the Night: The Flyers won 13 of 18 faceoffs in this rematch, a big difference from 22 losses just over a week ago.

[bthomp05]

Batting for 500, not bad. This look interesting, like your format.

[Viktor von Vikingkil]

Thanks, appreciate the feedback so early on.

SIMULATION: In an 4-3 loss against the Anaheim Ducks, Danny Briere suffered a sprained wrist. The Flyers have placed the timetable for his return at "About two weeks." Taking his place will be Ian Laperriere. The second line will now feature Villie Leino at center and Darroll Powe at RW, with Laperriere playing RW on the fourth line with Blair Betts and Daniel Carcillo.

Brian Boucher made his season debut in a 2-1 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Flyers fell 3-1 on the road to a 4-3-1 Columbus team.

GAME 8: Buffalo (6-1-2) @ Philadelphia (3-5-0)

Buffalo Sabres vs Philadelphia Flyers
Oct 26, 2010 1 2 3 F BUF (6-2-2) 1 0 0 1 PHI (4-5-0) 0 2 2 4 Three Stars Jeff Carter 2 goals, +2 Claude Giroux 1 goal, 1 assist, +2 Sergei Bobrovsky 16 saves	Team Stats Comparison BUF PHI Shots on Goal 17 23 Hits 11 15 Faceoffs Won-Lost 16-15 15-16 Penalty Minutes 7:00 9:00 Power Plays Converted 0 1 Power Play Opportunities 2 1 Time on Attack 6:44 5:04
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD BUF Derek Roy (Vanek, Pominville) (1:36) SECOND PERIOD PHI Jeff Carter (Unassisted) (9:53) PHI Jeff Carter (Zherdev, Giroux) (17:34) THIRD PERIOD PHI Claude Giroux (Richards, Pronger) (6:53) (PP) PHI Ville Leino (Hartnell, Powe) (19:52) (EN)
Buffalo Sabres - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Ryan Miller 22 19 86%
Philadelphia Flyers - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Sergei Bobrovsky 17 16 94%

NATIONALHOCKEYREPORT.COM POST-GAME REPORT
The Flyers picked up a much needed win as they improved to 4-5-0 on the season. After struggling early and trailing the Sabres 1-0 at the end of the first period, the Flyers came out with a vengeance in the 2nd and 3rd, taking care of business both offensively and defensively en route to a convincing 4-1 victory over Ryan Miller and the Sabres. The fantastic Tyler Ennis (11 assists on the year, Buffalo's leading scorer) was held completely in check, with every Flyers defenseman turning in a great performance.

Jeff Carter tied the game in the middle of the second period after putting a shot on net and, unable to control his own rebound, getting help from the Sabres' own Craig Rivet, who attempted to pass the puck to Ryan Miller and instead slid it through his pads for an own goal. Said Rivet after the game, "It just got away from me...I didn't mean to pass it so hard, [but] it was the wrong decision anyway."

Carter struck again a few minutes later off a Nikolay Zherdev rebound. Zherdev carried the puck up ice, deked and shot, and it bounced away from Miller to the waiting Carter. "It was my lucky day," Carter said after the game.

After a Giroux power play goal, the physical play ramped up, including an off-the-faceoff Carcillo-Kaleta fight 7:32 into the third period. After knocking Kaleta's helmet off, Carcillo KO'd Kaleta with a vicious right that had the Sabres forward seeing stars.

Ville Leino capped off the Flyers victory with 8.1 left through an empty net goal.

Highlight of the Night: The Claude Giroux goal sealed the deal for the Flyers and it was a tremendous play. Chris Pronger launched a powerful slapshot from the blue line and it bounced off of Miller and into a clearing in front of the net. Richards dive bombed in and in a fraction of a second passed it to Giroux, who even more quickly launched a snapshot from the right of the goal, past a sprawling Ryan Miller.

Stat of the Game: The Flyers killed two penalties in perfect fashion, taking 3 shots and giving up only four while short handed.

[tpshogun]

It's good to see a Flyers Dynasty I've been a Flyers fan my whole life, and even though there is a disappointing start for them in your Dynasty, I really like the format you're running. Good Job right from the beginning. Keep it up!

[Viktor von Vikingkil]

Yeah, hope I can start winning games soon.

GAME 9: Philadelphia (4-5-0) @ Pittsburgh (7-3-0)
NEWS: Danny Briere returns to lineup. Laperriere scratched.

Philadelphia Flyers vs Pittsburgh Penguins
Oct 29, 2010 1 2 3 F PHI (4-6-0) 0 1 2 3 PIT (8-3-0) 0 0 0 0 Three Stars Evgeni Malkin 2 goals Marc-Andre Fleury 15 saves Jordan Staal 2 assists	Team Stats Comparison PHI PIT Shots on Goal 15 31 Hits 17 20 Faceoffs Won-Lost 10-17 17-10 Penalty Minutes 13:00 5:00 Power Plays Converted 0 3 Power Play Opportunities 0 4 Time on Attack 4:08 7:56
Scoring Summary SECOND PERIOD PIT Evgeni Malkin (Staal, Martin) (15:30) (PP) THIRD PERIOD PIT Evgeni Malkin (Letang, Staal) (3:40) (PP) PIT Chris Kunitz (Staal, Asham) (12:08) (PP)
Philadelphia Flyers - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Sergei Bobrovsky 31 28 90%
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Marc-Andre Fleury 15 15 100%

NATIONALHOCKEYREPORT.COM POST-GAME REPORT
After a tight, defensive first period, the Philadelphia Flyers collapsed in every facet of the game to lose 3-0 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Flyers let in 3 power play goals, 2 in the third period, and once again failed to crack Marc-Andre Fleury, who shutout the Flyers for the second time this season.

"Too many penalties," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said after the game. "Obviously those were what killed us, as well as the poor job the penalty kill did."

These troubles most likely stem from the fact that on all four Pittsburgh power plays, someone from the Flyers' PK was in the box. First, it was Kimmo Timonen, then Claude Giroux, then Braydon Coburn, and finally captain Mike Richards went into the box.

The game began incredibly physical and defensive, with the teams combining for 13 hits but just 10 shots in the first period. The total attack time for the first twenty minutes was registered at just 3:12. The scrappy game was also very fluid - there were just 4 faceoffs in the first 20 minutes, with both teams winning 2.

Pittsburgh came out energized in the second and from the start dominated a lazing Flyers team, who managed only 2 shots in the second frame (Pittsburgh launched twelve at netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, who let only an Evgeni Malkin slapshot pass him late in the period).

The third was more of the same, though the Flyers made a valiant effort to come back. Just after Braydon Coburn took a penalty in the third, Mike Richards made an excellent play on the puck to get a breakaway. As he deked to one side, however, Penguins defender Paul Martin recovered just enough to bump Richards off his intended path and Fleury pokechecked the puck from Richards' stick.

"It was a great opportunity, and I missed it," said Richards. "If I score, it's 1-1, maybe we don't give up the second goal, it's an entirely different hockey game."

The second goal Richards speaks of was scored as a result of Fleury passing back to Martin, who then launched a homerun saucer down the ice which found the stick of Jordan Staal. Staal passed to Chris Letang who found Malkin once again open in the slot, and Malkin converted the chance for his second goal of the night.

Highlight of the Night: After the Flyers gave up another powerplay goal, the hitting reached a breaking point when Daniel Carcillo got into a shoving match with Mike Comrie. As Carcillo prepared to drop his gloves, it was not Comrie but Paul Martin who answered, skating over and shoving Carcillo away. The two fought a quick bout, with Carcillo landing a right hook right into Martin's jaw to win it.

Stat of the Game: The Flyers took just 8 shots in the first two periods of the game, allowing the Penguins to dominate the offensive part of the game for the last 40 minutes, especially given the four Penguins powerplays in that time.

The Flyers currently stand at 13th in the Eastern Conference.