Philadelphia Flyers 8 Vancouver Canucks 2: 'Nuff said

[B. Mackin]

Philadelphia Flyers 8 Vancouver Canucks 2
Bob.Mackin@24hrs.ca

The Buzz:
A line brawl. Goonery. A blowout score. The home team was booed off the ice.
It was the 1970s all over again last night when the Philadelphia Flyers embarrassed the Vancouver Canucks’ 8-2 at General Motors Place.

Goat of the Game:
Roberto Luongo. What’s wrong with the Globe’s Greatest Goalie? Seven goals allowed in two first periods at GM Place and 10 goals in less than three games. Is it possible to have an “off-nightâ€￾ so early in the season?

Combo B:
Curtis Sanford relieved shell-shocked Luongo to start the second period. Enter “Sandman?â€￾ Enter four more goals, including Mike “Don’t Call Me Kramerâ€￾ Richards’ unassisted short-hander through the five-hole late in the third.

Turning Point:
Canucks were trailing only 2-1 after Ryan Shannon’s power play goal when Flyer Simon Gagne scored unassisted on a backhand at 13:11 of the first. The floodgates opened. Richards was first star with two goals and two assists.

Sin Bin:
Jesse “Broad Street Bully 2.0â€￾ Boulerice flattened Ryan “Almost A Flyerâ€￾ Kesler in the Canucks’ end and then cross-checked him in the face at the other end moments later. Boulerice got a 10-minute match penalty, worthy of a minimum 10-game suspension. Over to you, Colin Campbell.

Stat’s Stupid:
Last time the Canucks started a season wearing only blue, green and white was 1977-1978 when they finished 20-43-17, two points shy of the last Campbell Conference playoff berth. Are we in for another long, long season?

[JoeKnows]

Nice read.

No need to panic, though. It's a long season, and it'd be good to get the bugs out early.

[F15 Driver]

O-M-G...
That game was really painful.
But this thread's initial post was good.
Let's hope that was the one and only complete dud game they play this year and it is now out of the way.
Sheeesh.

[Meerschaum]

Ick.

Alow me to repeat that.

Ick.

And again.

Ick.

And again.

Ick.

Yes, repetition is good for the soul. So repeat after me . . .

Ick.

Ick.

Ick.

Ick.

There are no positives whatsoever the Club can take away from that game. Nothing.

Ick.

[Cookie La Rue]

Ick.

I'm still shocked. Just read the score by scrolling down the scoreboard and first i saw the 8 for Philly, ......there i knew it would be difficult to beat that.

Ick.

[levelheaded]

I'm glad I didn't bother staying up past 6-2, sounds like things just went from bad to worse. What a shit-show. Hopefully now the team will settle down and get going. Maybe getting this out of the way early in the season is a blessing in disguise. I feel sorry for anyone who ordered this on PPV.

[Kel]

The whole team got away from their success formula last year. Last night was full of defensive breakdowns. Open man unchecked all over the Canucks zone because two players went after the same guy. I watched the Philly broadcast and after a few of the Flyers goal, the broadcasters were saying the way they scored was because the scorer were on the opposite side of the puck carrier, who was able to make a good pass. Well, last season the Canucks would not have even let the pass go through, let alone having the far side guy completely unchecked. A big concern I have for this season is that in the attempt to address last year's weakness, they take away their strength. Maybe it's a good thing they found this out so early. Hard work and strong D were nowhere to be found last night. Bieksa was so symbolic the whole thing. Last year he was a pleasant surprise because he played hard, hit hard, and contributed to the attack from time to time. This year (and late last season too), he appeared to have relaxed too much. He didn't have the same kind of urgency that allowed me to make the team and made a lot of mistakes, partly because he focused more on offense than what made him so successful (hard work and ability to play physical and shut down opponents) The way he was so casual it's amazing that it was Salo not hiim who got hurt in training camp.

[mattola]

dear lord

terrible from start to finish. everything they did last night was wrong and they were just not skating.

for a team that has one of the deepest D in the league I would hate to see what the worst team would be like.

not one player showed up. Philly wasnt even that good they just capitilized on the goofs.

then philly got stupid and for some reason their goons started running everyone. it was strange that team should be fined large.

[nucks_girl]

I guess this is the first time I would say I'm glad I had to study and didn't order the game. I was checking up on the scores every so often on sportcenter or sportsnet, but it was depressing even to just check the score out. I think that this durbbing puts them into another gear for the next game. Especially on Monday night since I'll be at the San Jose game

[JCardinal]

On our softball team when everyone starts doing stupid things over and over it's traditional to hum that circus music.

At one point Vigneault was leaning back against the wall with an incredulous grin on his face and I could just picture that circus music playing in his head.

[tuzzi44]

well we all know the canucks put out a piss poor performance. now way should you EVER give up a 5 on 3 breakaway!!! they definately got away from what they wanted to do in this game.... unless of course they meant to embarass all of us. lets hope they can regroup and get it together for the Oilers games this weekend. its early in the season, and this game can be burned from our memory with a few dominating wins over the Oilers... and whatever is going on with Luongo needs to be squashed!!