Michael DeNicola
3/24/10
I was speechless. I really had no words to describe how atrocious....how God awful last night's game against the Ottawa Senators was. I couldn't muster an idea as to how I was going to write this article.
The game ended with an Ottawa win, 2 - 0, but the Flyers certainly had their scoring opportunities. Philadelphia had 6 power plays but could not capitalize on a single one of them. Not even on the two man advantage we had after Daniel Carcillo got under the skin of two Senators drawing the 2 minute, 2 man advantage for the Flyers. There has not been any offensive chemistry whatsoever.
Not only did we suck so bad on offense, but our 3rd period comeback was virtually raped away when Flyers forward, Simon Gagne, was put into the penalty box for 19 minutes.
Ottawa defenseman, Anton Volchenkov, skated up behind Gagne while he was playing the puck along the boards and pushed Gagne on the back sending his neck and shoulders into the boards and hard onto the ice. Volchenkov was not called for boarding, and after Daniel Alfredsson put the Sens up 2 - 0 just moments after the incident, Gagne took it upon himself to lay justice for the dirty hit. He attacked Volchenkov after the goal, stripping him of his helmet and forcing him to turtle down onto the ice while Gagne threw haymaker after haymaker onto his head and body.
"In my head it was dangerous," said Gagne, who was fuming after the no boarding call. "I was expecting a penalty on their side. It was a hit from behind. It's not part of the game and it shouldn't happen."
Instead, Gagne was riddled with a double minor for instigating a fight with a visor, a major for fighting, and a 10-minute misconduct which added up to 19 penalty minutes, giving Ottawa a long 7 minute power play on the, already crippled, Flyers.
This boarding happened right in front of an official, but instead of making the call, he had his head sunk so far up his ass that if he stuck his tongue out he could cleanse his aortic valve.
I have never flipped out so much in my life. I've heard less noise from a wrecking crew.
Am I finished? I wish I was!!!
Once the 7 minute power play was up and Gagne began serving his 10 minute misconduct, the Flyers were back on 5 on 5 hockey. We managed to gain two more power plays for ourselves yet STILL nothing. Instead we had shots blocked, passes intercepted, and pucks sent wide of Ottawa's net.
It didn't come until late in the final period when there was a Flyers no-goal under review. Initially the goal was waved off by an official (not surprising since they've been doing such a fantastic job all night). However, time was stopped for almost 8 minutes when the play was sent to Toronto so it may be reviewed. And we all know how the War Room's favored our beloved Fly Boys all season long....
Decision from NHL headquarters came back to Ottawa and, you guessed it, the goal was waved off again. They could not decipher whether or not the puck had actually COMPLETELY crossed the line in net, therefore, no goal. This has been the fourth time a Flyers goal decision was sent to Toronto, and for the fourth time in a row it was called off. I wouldn't be so upset if it weren't for the fact that some of them had been blatant goals. This one in particular could have gone either way, but I figured since we've been bent over the sawhorse a handful of times this season from review....why would it stop now?
So let's review this grocery list of poisons; We couldn't develop offensive strategy even if the opponents were pylons on the ice. We couldn't capitalize on 6 power plays, one of which was a two minute, two man advantage. Our latest hot streak scorer is almost turned into a vegetable and nothing was called. We're riddled with penalty minutes, AND we had another goal taken away from us while trying to make some sort of comeback.
Not only did we suck, but we couldn't catch a break! It's like spraying a chimp in the face with mace while it was trying to take a calculus exam.
The Flyers still remain tied for 6th seed with Montreal, and only 1 point ahead of the 8th seed Boston Bruins. At this rate of play and with 9 more games left in the season, I am not confident we'll even wind up with a playoff spot.
Next game is home versus the Minnesota Wild, Thursday, March 25th @ 7:00pm.
Below I added a 10 minute highlight video of last night's game. Right around the 5 minute point you can see the hit on Gagne and his retaliation. Then around the 7:30'ish point is the reviewed no-goal.
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