Philadelphia Flyers' Sergei Bobrovsky Halts the Isles: The "Iron Curtain" Shines

Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky looked fantastic in a 6-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday night.  “The Iron Curtain” Bobrovsky stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced and the only goal he did allow was a beautiful penalty shot goal from Islander Frans Nielson.

Bobrovsky is creating a real problem for Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette.  When last year’s Stanley Cup starting goaltender Michael Leighton comes back, who gets the nod as the No. 1?

“He’s been sharp, I said that from day one," Laviolette said about Sergei Bobrovsky’s stellar play.

“The Iron Curtain” is 5-2 in his first seven starts and has looked great when the defense gives him support.  Let’s not forget that Michael Leighton was picked up off of waivers last year and our rock solid defense made him look as good as he did.  If Bobrovsky is playing this well under a less than 100 percent defense, imagine what he could do behind a great defense like we had last year.

The Flyers defense has been nonexistent in the offensive zone until Saturday night when they came alive.  Six points came from the blue line including two power play goals from Chris Pronger and a goal and two assists from Kimmo Timonen.  The defenders jumped up into plays to pinch the puck and good offensive opportunities came out of it.

“Their back in some sort of a rhythm,” Laviolette said about the defense.  “In the beginning of the year, it just wasn’t there.”

Jeff Carter came up big again for the Flyers scoring two goals and adding an assist.  Word of Carter’s possible contract talks don’t seem to be affecting his play and maybe even doing him some good.  With a healthy and aggressive Carter, the offense can build some serious momentum and try to keep their latest hot streak alive.

The Flyers power play unit keeps gaining steam after a dreadful start to the season.  In the last week, the Flyers power play has gone from one of the worst in the league to one of the best, adding two more Saturday against the Isles.

Penalty killing has been a necessity with the amount of penalties the Flyers has been taken.  The Flyers are still taking too many penalties but the penalty killing unit has been stellar so far this season.  The problem with taking so many penalties is that by the time your team kills the penalties they are too tired to force the puck into the offensive zone. 

The game had 27 penalties for 120 minutes of penalty time and the third period of the game turned into a penalty fest.  New York Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro tried to attack Daniel Briere with a minute left in the game but Chris Pronger held him to ensure that Carcillo didn’t break his nose. 

“It would’ve been nice to fight him,” Carcillo said about fighting goalie Rick DiPietro.

The Islanders just can’t win against the Flyers when they are in Philadelphia.  They lost their 11th in a row against the Flyers at home and got dismantled by the Flyers on Saturday night. 

The Flyers are atop the Atlantic Division for now and play the Carolina Hurricanes Monday.  If the Flyers can beat the Hurricanes, they can put themselves in the best possible position to control the division early in the season.