No seriously, that was going through my head during the first period last night. And by "Smalls" I mean, of course...Bob. Dude looked less like a goalie and more like Swiss cheese out there last night. I was hoping, and expecting a little more out of our commie kid after he put on that great performance against Dallas on Saturday. But that didn't happen.
Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way, Bob had a shit game. No two ways about it, when you have a .667 save percentage...you had a shitty night. The first goal was just awful, as was the third. The second one was kind of his fault but O'd should have picked up Knuble in his office so he's not totally at fault on that one, but he should still track the puck better than that. In essence, this was the kids first taste of playoff hockey, and he certainly was disappointing. I've seen some people yapping that he can't handle the pressure, we need to start Boosh, we need to recall Leighton and all that garbage. While I tend to agree that Boosh is a more qualified candidate for the starting playoff job, at least for the start of the playoffs, calling up Leighton is one step away from retarded. He would get snatched off the waiver wire in a heartbeat. And these are the same people that were screaming for his head last season in the finals, now all of a sudden, Bob has one bad game and they wanna go right back to our tandem from last year. He had a bad game people, pop a pill and relax. He's a 22 year old kid in his rookie season in the hardest hockey league on the planet, give him a break. But enough about Bob...can we talk about what a boss Groo and Noodle were?
Groo was an animal last night, that hit he put on Semin in the third....jumpin' jesus that was awesome. He had a goal, an assist, was a +2 and drew 2 penalties. This kid IS Flyers hockey, 'nuff said. He's got skill, grit, attitude, will drop the gloves when he needs to and is just a blast to watch. I said last year that he reminded me of watching Foppa back in the day, and apparently Gagne agrees with me. When you're getting compared to a great like Foppa, you're doin alright for yourself. Noodle was awesome too, he played a huge part in the first goal, assisted on the second with a sweet pass to Groo and assumed the Crosby position to score his goal...and by Crosby position, I mean he was on his knees. I didn't really notice him in Dallas, but then again, I was in a bar in D.C. surrounded by March Madness and I was stuck in the middle watching the game on 1 tv with no sound so I really have no idea how well he did. But judging by this game, being benched for 6 games really sent him a message. This is the guy that muscled Bill Guerin out of his roster spot during training camp, and about time he came back around.
The all around effort from last night's game was nothing short of brilliant. They were cycling, winning battles, awesome puck movement...basically they did everything right. They just had some crap goaltending, that's what lost us the game. But hey, we're Philly, we wouldn't be complete without having some kind of goalie issue right? But seriously, to all those people out there who were bitching and moaning...what game were you assholes watching? That was possibly their best game of the season, when you come back against Washington after they have a 3-0 lead and somehow force a shootout...that's pretty damn impressive. Sure, I would have liked the win but it wouldn't have mattered. Once we got into overtime, we were going to be 1 point up on Washington win or lose. Don't forget that we have 2 games in hand on them and we're still in the lead. If you guys can't be proud of the way your team played last night, then you know absolutely nothing about hockey and aren't worthy of being Flyers fans. The game isn't just about winning, it's how you play the game. They beat Edmonton with half assed, totally shitty play...but they still won. Didn't seem to matter to the coach or the players though, they all said they played like shit and didn't deserve to win. Yesterday was the opposite, they played with real heart but they got a bit of bad luck and ended up losing. The effort is what's important, especially at this time of year. Would have liked to see a win yesterday, but in the words of Mike Richards: "Shit Happens".
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