Philadelphia Flyers: 5 Reasons Ilya Bryzgalov Will Peak in the Playoffs

Another season, another year of goaltending controversy in Philadelphia.

After the team signed pending free agent Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year, $51 million deal in June, it seemed the team had finally made a dramatic effort to address its history of failed experiments in net. But following a decent start, Bryzgalov became the scapegoat for a struggling team, as he looked very beatable in net and very obsessed with the local and national media.

Suddenly, that nine-year deal seemed like an eternity, and Bryzgalov seemed like the Russian version of Rick DiPietro.

Now, Bryzgalov has found his stride in the crease and his composure around reporters, and the netminder seems to have gotten the team back on track, just in the nick of time.

Here are five reasons we can expect Bryz to peak in the playoffs.

The Flyers Are Already in a Playoff Atmosphere

The Flyers currently find themselves in the midst of a four-team Atlantic Division battle that could be the difference between the top seed in the East and missing the playoffs entirely. With every win or loss, the seeding in the Eastern Conference race is altered and the playoff picture begins to take form.

As a result, the Flyers—and many of their opponents—are already playing as though the playoffs have begun.

Bryzgalov shut down the Washington Capitals last Sunday in a 1-0 victory, an impressive task considering the team’s offensive weapons. The Capitals are especially dangerous this time of year, as they fight for a division title that could make them the third seed in the East, or see them miss the playoffs entirely.

Likewise, the Florida Panthers find themselves battling for the same position in the East, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are attempting to claw their way to the eighth seed. Bryzgalov shut out both teams in his last two starts.

Certainly he will be playing more dangerous teams in the playoffs, but he is already playing desperate teams and has risen to the challenge.

Bryzgalov Is Finally Clicking with Teammates

The media had its fun with Danny Briere's comments regarding Bryzgalov, but the message, when stripped of its “backhanded compliment” nature, gives insight into the way Bryzgalov’s presence and personality affected the locker room earlier in the season.

On many occasions this season, fans witnessed the way Bryzgalov can toe the fine line between being a media darling and becoming tabloid fodder. The Philadelphia press continuously pressured the netminder, and when the team was not performing well, Bryzgalov was criticized for his humorous way of dealing with reporters.

Assuming Briere’s comments have merit, the Russian goalie has apparently learned how to deal with the media and altered his teammates’ perception of him.

As the team marches toward the playoffs, and a more intense media blitz looms, it appears that the high-pressure Philly media that initially threw Bryzgalov for a loop is no longer an unfamiliar concept for the goalie.

The sound bites and chuckles are not going anywhere, but the Master of the Universe seems to take the press just a little more seriously.

Bryzgalov Is Winning with a Depleted Roster in Front of Him

One of the most impressive factors of Bryzgalov’s recent run of success is the notion that he is doing it with a roster which, by all rights, should not be winning.

Never mind the increasingly rookie-centric corps of offensive contributors as players like James van Riemsdyk, Jakub Voracek and Jaromir Jagr deal with injury after injury; the real pain comes on defense.

In just a matter of days, the Flyers defensive unit lost three of its most important players in Kimmo Timonen, Andrej Meszaros and Pavel Kubina (not to mention Chris Pronger’s continued absence). The team went from six solid blue-liners to three bona fide starters playing alongside an over-the-hill veterans(Andreas Lilja), a developing rookie (Erik Gustafsson) and a first-time player that few Flyers fans had heard of before his call-up (Brandon Manning).

Despite this difficult point in the season, Bryzgalov has kept the team afloat. As players return from injury, they will have a newfound confidence in their netminder.

Bryzgalov Has Shown That He Thrives When He’s Given More Responsibility

Part of Bryzgalov’s reputation from his days in Phoenix was his durability and the fact that he could start more games than the average netminder. In his last three years with the Coyotes, Bryzgalov never started fewer than 63 games in a season.

Having split time with backup Sergei Bobrovsky earlier this season, Bryzgalov would only start 61 games, even if Bobrovsky did not play in another game this season. However, recently coach Peter Laviolette has utilized Bryzgalov in a more familiar role for the goalie, starting Bryzgalov in ten consecutive games until last night’s loss to the New Jersey Devils, when Bobrovsky got the call.

The move appears to have paid off, as Bryzgalov earned shutouts in three of the last four games of that stretch and is currently riding a streak of over 136 minutes without allowing a goal.

During Bryzgalov’s struggles, some fans and reporters speculated that the tandem-goalie system had a detrimental effect on Bryzgalov’s performance, and that the team would benefit from starting Bryzgalov for long stretches of time regardless of his game-to-game performance.

Laviolette finally bought into that notion, and so far, it appears to be paying off.

One can only hope that starting every game of multiple best-of-seven series will have a similar result for Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov Is Getting a Fresh Start in the Playoffs

When Bryzgalov was signed, one of the major criticisms about the netminder was his lack of success in the playoffs lately.

The former Coyote had been impressive in the playoffs in Anaheim, albeit in a backup role. He thrived in his starts when Jean-Sebastian Giguere dealt with injury in 2006 and 2007. However, in 2010 and 2011 as a member of the Coyotes, Bryzgalov had goals-against averages of 3.44 and 4.36 respectively and only won three games in two years.

While the concerns are valid, those numbers are skewed. Nothing about the Coyotes indicated they would be impressive playoff performers in recent seasons, and in both playoff appearances, the team was forced to go toe-to-toe with the most consistently dangerous playoff team in the NHL: the Detroit Red Wings.

Bryzgalov will be facing very good teams when the Flyers make the playoffs. The Rangers, Bruins, Devils and Penguins have all looked impressive in the regular season and have key roster players who know what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. And more importantly, each team has a goaltender who has won a championship, either in the form of a Stanley Cup or an Olympic Gold Medal.

Nonetheless, Bryzgalov is Philadelphia’s answer to the strong goaltending of the Eastern Conference, and he has a chance to return to the form he showed in Anaheim.

After all, if he is forced to face down the Red Wings yet again this season, the Flyers will have to be pretty damn pleased about his performance no matter what.