Flyers Play General Sherman to Atlanta's Atlanta
With 2 goals in 13 seconds, Jeff Carter led the Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the Thrashers in Atlanta tonight, but for the second consecutive game, Antero Niittymaki was the primary reason for the victory. Carter's goals (15 and 16 on the season), broke the fast-paced game open in the second period, and the Flyers didn't look back.
The Thrashers got off to a 1-goal lead on the strength of Ilya Kovalchuk's league-leading 36th goal, but Steve Downie kept his name in lights, scoring the equalizer. Carter's pair came next, followed by a short-handed marker by Scott Hartnell, who also added 2 assists in the game. Niitty stopped 27 of 28 Thrasher shots, making some great saves on second efforts and maintaining great positioning on between the circles.
Riley Cote capped the effort by finishing a board-rattling check, and he was met with a crosscheck to the back of the head by Chris Thorburn, who he proceeded to pound in a late-3rd fight. It was great to see Cote get the glove-5's on the way off the ice for engaging in the nightcap.
Next up will be the Rangers at MSG on Thursday. Hopefully they'll have Simon Gagne on the ice, as it will be tough to keep up tonight's barrage in New York without Gags, Lupul, and Upshall, among others.
Highlights after the jump.
Is Niittymaki's middle name Tecumseh?
Posted by: wjeiii | Tuesday, January 08, 2008 at 11:24 PM
(I honestly didn't copy the Gen. Sherman thing)...but I started a new blog earlier tonight, and I'd be honored if you folks would make it one of your daily reads. I'm hoping to give a succinct analysis of each game along with some attempts at comedy in between. Somebody needs to stand up for our Flyers in the blogosphere, and I'll try my best to do so. So come on by and read/comment!
flyertown.blogspot.com
Posted by: Flyertown | Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 02:12 AM
I thought Matt was doing a pretty good job standing up for them...
Kovalchuk needs to get out of Atlanta, he's too good for that town, check out this goal he scored against Buffalo the other day.
Posted by: gootman | Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 09:00 AM
Isn't Nittymaki playing well enough for there to be a decision on who should be the starter? I love Biron and he has kept us in a ton of games this year but Nittymaki's GAA the last few starts has got to be off the charts...
Posted by: Pete D | Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Pete, he definitely can't player better than he has these last two games, and the Flyers rewarded him with a back-to-back start, a rarity for a backup. But I don't think they'll make much noise about it until he puts together a longer string. You're right though, we could be inching closer to yet another Flyers goalie controversy.
Posted by: Matt P. | Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Nitty starts tonight in NYC.
There's your goalie controversy.
Also... huge matchup within the game... and I'm not talkin' Jaegermeister and Gags...
I'm talking Sean Avery vs. Downie.
Who can be the bigger distraction???
note: Avery has been battling injuries... so who knows if he plays.
Posted by: digi | Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 11:15 AM