Flyers Win Battle on Broad Street, AO Takes Round One vs. Pens

Marian Gaborik dropping the mitts with tough guy Daniel Carcillo..?

Who saw that one coming?

Last night's 2-0 Flyers victory over the Rangers may have featured four fights, but the most glaring statistic was the goose egg that was dropped in the goals category by the Rangers.

The Rangers garnered just 24 shots, and failed to register any scoring chances of substance on Flyers' tender Ray Emery. New Jersey native and long-time Ranger fan James van Riemsdyk scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the second period, as he converted on his own rebound to make the score 1-0. One Mike Richards' power play marker later - off of defenseman Marc Staal's skate, with under three seconds left in the second, no less - and the Rangers' backs were broken.

It's goals like the one Richards scored last night that make him the player he is. Yes, on the surface it was a flukey goal. But, Richards knew exactly what the situation was. With little time left on the clock he made the smart play, throwing the puck in the direction of Staal and Danny Briere and hoping for the best.

Defensively, Richards - aided in large part by Chris Pronger - was able to shutdown Gaborik like few others this year have.

But back to the Carcillo vs. Gaborik fight for a second. It breaks down like this:

1. Carcillo clearly goes towards Gaborik during the scrum in front of the net.
2. Gaborik does drop his gloves first. I don't know if he knew that he was against Carcillo, or if he knew whether or not Carcillo had dropped his gloves already, but it is clear Gaborik dropped the mitts first.
3. Dan Girardi probably should have stepped in. I'm not going to be hard on him, because he doesn't deserve it. We are talking about a 1-0 game with big implications in the standings, and if he steps in he's done for the night. That being said, next time somebody needs to step in, ala Matt Bradley stepping for Alex Ovechkin when he was about to fight Steve Downie the other night.

I can understand John Tortorella's frustration. His best player fought arguably the top middle-weight fighter in the game today. As Torts said, there's no honor in that. But, at the same time, Gaborik did drop the mitts first.

All I know is the next Rangers/Flyers game is must-see-TV...

My first thought while watching the Capitals victory over the Penguins is that Pittsburgh needs to do something about their 29th ranked power play. Too much standing around, not enough net presence, and too much passing - it's not going to work, regardless of how much talent is out on the ice.

I thought Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin all played well, but you need to give the Great 8 the edge, as he scored a critical power play goal and was involved physically all night.

The Caps' power play is first in the league. The Pens is second to last. Ovechkin gets to play with Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble. Crosby gets to play Tyler Kennedy and Bill Guerin (ugh.).

It will certainly be interesting to see what the Penguins do at the trade deadline. They need to add some scoring wingers for Crosby and Malkin, and wouldn't be amiss to add a depth player on the blue line.

Chalk round one up to AO and the boys from the Capital.