Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts

Friday, November 27, 2015

Behind the Scenes: Philadelphia Flyers vs. Nashville Predators

                                                                                        (My photo of post-game presser prior to head coach Dave Hakstol's arrival.)

The November 27, 2015, Black Friday contest featured a matchup of coaches Dave Hakstol and Peter Laviolette, who famously led the orange and black from early in the 2009-10 season through the third game of the 2013-14 campaign.

Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers entered the contest with a 7-10-5 record (19 points). Laviolette's Nashville Predators' mark was 12-6-3 (27 points).

Introductions

Flyers starters: Goaltender Michal Neuvirth. First line: Claude Giroux, Brayden Schenn and Michael Raffl. Top defensive pairing was Radko Gudas, Michael Del Zotto

Predators starters: Goaltender Pekka Rinne. First line: Calle Jarnkrok, Eric Nystrom and Gabriel Bourque. Top defensive pairing was Shea Weber and Roman Josi.

First period

Flip Forsberg opened the scoring for the Preds with his third tally of the season at 1:44. His short side shot was assisted by Mike Ribeiro and James Neal.

Del Zotto countered with his first goal of the season at four minutes into the game. His cut to his left and sent a laser over Rinne's left shoulder. Schenn and Giroux earned assists.

TOI Leaders were Gudas, Del Zotto, Weber, and Roman Josi.

Second period

Back and forth action is the best definition of what took place in this frame. In keeping with what can mostly be described as varied, lackluster play during the month, the Flyers exited the first period in a 1-1 tie.

The Predators seasonal offensive advantage hadn't factored into the game as the second intermission began.

Voracek's continued presence on the third line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Chris Vandevelde remains telling, of both the player and the team. His appearance on the second power play unit, with Matt Read and Michael Raffl, deepened that reality.

Third period

Colin McDonald scored his first NHL goal at 4:57, putting the Flyers ahead 2-1. Assists were offered by Evgeny Medvedev and Scott Laughton. The marker came on a short-side shot past Rinne off a rebound. Philadelphia had overtaken the Predators in shots (25-23) by this point in the game.

Laviolette pulled Rinne with just over a minute to go in the game. His forced strategy worked, as Mike Fisher lifted the puck over a fallen Neuvirth with 20 seconds showing on the clock until the final buzzer. Forsberg and Josi assisted on the game-tier.

Overtime

The openly embraced 3-on-3 overtime ensued with each team taking game-ending chances through the first few minutes of action. But, a too-many-men on the ice penalty was assessed to the Preds with 2:20 to go.

Shayne 'Ghost' Ghostisbehere's power play goal won the game with 52 seconds remaining in OT. It was his third goal of the season, with assists to the temporarily reunited tandem of Giroux and Voracek.

Ghostisbehere later said, “It’s a fun ride right now and I don’t have any plans of getting off it. I mean I’ve never scored that many OT winners in my life so I mean it’s a surreal moment but I’m going to keep going and I’m looking forward to New York.”

After the game, Hakstol commented on how he felt his team played with the lead today. "We did a much better job I thought then we did a few nights ago. We were playing tonight, you always know on the bench when guys are talking about the right things and trying to do the right things, that’s a good step.”

Laviolette's remarks about chance totals and his goalie were familiar, based upon his post-game demeanor during his Philadelphia years. “We probably had 25 chances tonight. Quality chances. So there’s 20-25 good chances so there was Peks.  He played a good game in net. He made a back door save on a nice turnover. A couple of point plays chances and he made a save on Wilson’s rebound in tight. We had a lot of looks.”

Takeaways

The win could be a nice confidence builder for the Flyers during the holiday weekend.

'Ghost' is a clear difference-maker, whose play could enable him to remain on the squad indefinitely.

Saturday's game at Madison Square Garden calls for a quick turnaround. The 1:30PM ET start not only means a shortened period of reflection until the next puck drop. The Flyers' opponent leads the Metropolitan Division with a 16-4-2 record (34 points), ranks first in the National Hockey League in goals against and fifth in the League in goals scored. The Blue Shirts entered play on Friday tied for second place with the Dallas Stars for most points in the NHL. The Montreal Canadians' performance (17-4-2, 36 points) led the pack through the day that honors commerce in the United States.

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Friday, November 23, 2012

Black Friday, Infinite Shallowness, and Materialism Run Wild



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My new eBook: Readers Who Have No Time for Words is now available on Amazon.com. These stories were specifically written for people who like to read, but don't have much time to do actually do so. Humor, horror, mystery, adventure, travel, sports and a few selected stories are all wrapped inside this mini-tome. Thank you for considering this download.
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Headline Topic: Black Friday

The following is offered with no apologies to those who will be offended - that's the point...

Watching the crowds of people who mobbed the stores on Thanksgiving day served to remind me of how shallow our materialistic culture is. 

People can say how they are bonding with their families and friends all they want, but those of us who are actually adults know better. 

These individuals who enable companies to open their stores on Thanksgiving, or in the early Friday morning hours are nothing more than overgrown kids. 

The depth of shallowness is too infinite to measure. These people are not helping the economy and they are not trying to get good deals. 

These missing links between man/woman and monkey represent some of the most debased animal-like elements within our society. 

If you want to know why the US debt and deficit is so high, why so many people are so irresponsible and why people have no values consider what Black Friday really represents.

The outrage in all of it is that those "human beings" who behave in that manner have brought the country down and cause the rest of us to be trampled with them.
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Recent Headline Topic: The new Reading Fightin Phils

My experience working in minor league baseball at the start of my career taught me that marketing was king. That's why I love the Reading Phillies bold move of re-branding their team name and becoming the Reading Fightin Phils. 

It's basically the same name, has a nice reference to nickname (The Fightin's) that many fans have used for years and caused everyone to talk about the team for two weeks in November.

Many of the locals, who had enraged red faces for the past few weeks, should notice the tint in their cheeks subside just in time for spring to arrive. They'll head out to the same great ballpark, park for free, experience the same great atmosphere, pay the same great low prices, watch the same great quality of play, with the same great family crowds in 2013. 

The only people who would actually refuse to watch Reading's Double-A team next year, because their name was slightly adjusted, should seek immediate mental health treatment for the condition known as: "Get-over-yourself-and-grow-up".
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Baseball cards

For those of us who are old enough to remember
When Baseball Cards were King, the spring is always a special time of year.

Bygone days spent with elementary school days and family members opening packs of Topps cardboard gold never truly fade away.
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Classic Headline Topic: The Best Phillies of the Current Era

-->>Due to the volume of interest generated in this specific article, it has been re-posted. If you have read it, or choose to open this link now, I hope that you enjoy:  
The 10 Best Philadelphia Phillies of This Era

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Classic Headline Topic: Pete Rose's date with history.

Pete broke Ty Cobb's hit record on 9/11/85. The man was unique in the annals of baseball history. 

For those who are interested, my recent feature comments on Rose's time with the Phillies and the complex feelings that many of us have about his gambling issues:
Phillies' great Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, and baseball justice

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Recent Headline Topic: Bernie Parent interview

Based upon strong response, I'm re-posting the links to my series about interviewing Bernie Parent. 


Here is a link to Part 1 in my series about that interview: 
Philadelphia Flyers' Bernie Parent: Meeting a Legend  

Here is a link to Part 2 in my series about that interview: 
Philadelphia Flyers' Bernie Parent: Pregame Preparations

Here is a link to Part 3 in my series about that interview:
Philadelphia Flyers' Bernie Parent: Postgame Reflections

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Classic Headline: Three Flyers' Legends

Each of these Flyers' legends (Brian Propp, Dave Poulin and Tim Kerr) deserved their own feature article:

Here is a link to the story about Propp: 

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Millions of hits have been recorded for my Yahoo Sports, Interview and News articles since 2/1/11. I'm grateful for all of them. Every click has helped my freelance position to be a better one. If there is any way that you feel I could be of help to you, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
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