Flyers Route Islanders: End Streak; Best Defenders for the First Half of NBA Season

If I wasn't lazy I would crop out Schenn, he shouldn't be allowed near the awesomeness that is Giroux, Read, and Voracek

The Flyers entered last night's game on Long Island on a two game losing streak including a game where they blew a 3-1 lead in which came to be a 5-3 loss to the Devils and then a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. After giving starter Ilya Bryzgalov a break on Saturday against the Canadiens, he was back in net for the matchup with the New York Islanders. He only had to face 19 shots on the night as the Flyers played stellar defense. Well that really isn't the right term as Braydon Coburn had three turnovers on the night but did lose the crown as "best" giveaway man in the league to Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk had five turnovers in Montreal's 2-1 loss to the Senators. Coburn did finish with a +3 rating and fought Matt Martin to a draw at the end of the third period.
The Flyers got off to a hot start when Claude Giroux scored 26 seconds into the first frame with help from Matt Read and Jakub Voracek. The rest of the first period went very quietly with neither team scoring.

The Captain

Matt Read scored fifteen seconds into the second with assists by Giroux and Voracek. This is actually just the second of three goals on the night that all three were given a point. I believe that this is the first game that these guys have been on the same line and I like it. Nabokov may have had a bad night but the Flyers never let up. Wayne Simmonds and Matt Martin fought to a draw two mintues into the period in Martin's first fight of the night. Brayden Schenn then added a powerplay goal 8 minutes into the second thanks to another assist by Voracek who finished the game with four. Giroux scored with 5 minutes left and you can already guess who had the assists. The Third period featured two goals by Danny Briere and even a goal by Zac Rinaldo (who "only" had five hits in ten minutes of ice time).

Where will he fit in?

For me it is tough to decide who the player of the game was but I'd have to go with Claude Giroux. Voracek may have had four assists on the night but he really didn't do anything on the defensive side of things while Giroux had three hits, a block, and a takeaway. The play of the top line also raises the question of what will they do with Scott Hartnell. If the top three keep it off I feel that they will have to relegate Hartnell to the second line where he would be paired with Simmonds and either Giroux, Coururier, or little Schenn at center. That could be deadly to other teams as Simmonds is very versatile player and Schenn is having a fantastic career. [Edit: looking at the depth chart now he would be slid in to Knuble's spot which would have with Briere at center and Schenn on the opposite wing... not bad].

NBA Top Five Defenders

Paul George

We will be using a metric known as Defensive Wins Shares which is kept by Basketball-reference.com to give a feel for who are the top defenders in the league.
1. Paul George- Indiana 4.21 Only in his third year in the NBA, he is a main reason that the Pacers are tops in the Central Division. ON offense he is averaging 17.6 points per game but defense is where he really makes his mark. He is currently averaging 7.8 rebounds a game and limiting his opponents to 96 points per 100 possessions.
2. Joakim Noah- Chicago Bulls 3.72 The big man has helped keep the Bulls afloat without Derrick Rose. He is currently limiting opponents to 97 points per 100 possessions and is also blocking 2.0 shots a game and 11.4 rebounds.
3. David West- Indiana 3.4 George's teammate and 32 year old veteran he has only recently started to turn his defense up. He has a career average of 105 points per 100 possessions but this past season he has cut it down to 98. This could be due to switching from Hornets to Pacers and maybe even the change of NBA play, but there is no denying West's defensive impact of the game.
4. Roy Hibbert- Indiana 3.3 I know... another Indiana player on the list. Well that shouldn't be surprising considering they only let up 89 points a game, best in the league. Hibbert currently averages 2.7 blocks per game and 8.3 rebounds. The funny thing is that he actually has a negative offensive win share.
5. Marc Gasol- Memphis 3.3 The Younger Gasol is finally making a name for himself 5 years into his career and it seems that he might be better than Pau. He currenly limits the opposition to 99 points per 100 possessions while blocking 1.7 shots a game as well as a steal per.

6. Kevin Durant- OK City 3.24
7. Tim Duncan- San Antonio 3.18
8. Blake Griffin- LA Cliipers 3.1
9. Kevin Garnett- Boston 3.06
10. Josh Smith- Atlanta 3.03

NHL Recap
The Senators took the Devils to a shootout in New Jersey. Stephen Gionta scored early for the Devils which led until Daniel Alfredsson's third period goal tied it up. The game then went to shootout where Ottawa's Jakob Sifverberg scored the only shootout goal in the 2-1 win.
As mentioned earlier, the Flyers destroyed the Islanders 7-0. In fantasy I actually didn't play Nabakov in favor of Price and Anderson who both didn't play... it actually worked out in my advantage as Nabakov had -3.4 points.
There was a high scoring affair in Colorado where the Avalanche beat the Predators 6-5. Matt Duchene led the Avs with 1 goal and two assists.
The Canadiens pulled off their 4th straight win in an easy 3-0 defeat of the Carolina Hurricanes. Backup goalie Peter Budaj only faced 19 shots in the shutout win while Tomas Plekanec netted his 8th goal of the year.
Ben Scrivens played a great game saving 37 of 37 shots in his second straight shutout as the Leafs toppled the Panthers 3-0.
In another shutout Mike Smith made 30 saves for the Coyotes as they beat the Flames 4-0 in Phoenix. Boyd Gordon was player of the game with an assist and a 12-4 mark at the faceoff dot.
The Ducks won their 5th game in row with a 3-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Ducks now have a 7 point lead over the second place Coyotes in the Pacific Division.

All NHL
Forward- Matt Duchene- Colorado Scored a goal and had two assist in Colorado's offensive outburst. Also played good defense nailing six Predators (get it...) and recording two takeaways.
Forward- Claude Giroux- Philadelphia Finally the Flyers have a night to be proud of and Giroux was the main reason. He scored two goals and assisted on another in only 15 minutes of play.
Forward- Ryan Getzlaf- Anaheim His first period goal gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead and he also assisted on another. Played his part on defense blocking 4 shots but finished with an even +/-.
Forward- Daniel Alfredsson- Ottawa Scored the regular time goal for the Sens and boy was it good timing as he netted it with them down 1-0 with only 12 minutes left in the game.
Defense- Jan Heida- Colorado Assisted on one goal but played great defense. Finished with four hits and four blocked shots.
Defense- Shea Weber- Nashville I believe that this is his first time on the list and as usual he played stalwart minutes with 25. He scored a goal in the loss but also had an assist.
Defense- Oliver Ekman- Larsson Had two assists in the Coyotes' 4-0 shutout of the Flames. Finished the game with a +3 +/-.
Goalie- Ben Scrivens- Toronto He didn't screw it up with a turnover like he did two nights before as he earns goalie of the night recognition. Scrivens saved all 37 of the shots that came his way.
Goalie- Mike Smith- Ottawa Also recorded a shutout but faced 7 less shots than Scrivens.