Philadelphia Flyers' Ilya Bryzgalov gets big win over former Phoenix Coyotes team 2-1 -NHL Update
Ilya Bryzgalov, was facing his former team for the first time in the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season ever since he was signed on by Philadelphia during this summer and made a big impression by blocking 30 of their shots as the Flyers routed the Phoenix Coyotes, 2-1, at the sold-out Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Bryzgalov’s counterpart in the Phoenix net, Mike Smith, faced 42 shots on his net and also having a good performance by saving 40 but fell short on two for the loss.
"It's his former team, and he wanted this win so bad, so the boys wanted to play a good game for him", Philadelphia’s Matt Read said of Bryzgalov. "He deserves it, to beat his old team".
James van Riemsdyk nailed on his shot during a little over midway through the second period for his seventh of the season and first of the night to put Philadelphia up by one entering the third and final period of regulation.
Mikkel Boedker scored the first for the Phoenix Coyotes and levelled the game with less than 17 minutes to go in the third period, putting both teams on the edge in order to make the game-winner.
Both teams nearly had the same amount of shots on opposing nets during the final 20 minutes, but Philadelphia’s four more compared to Phoenix allowed them to break the tie and take the lead to win the match.
With the last minute in play, it seemed as the match was headed into an overtime extension which could be the deciding moment for the two teams, but it was Matt Read who scored with 19 seconds remaining, bringing up his total for the season to six, and ultimately taking the match.
"It was a breakdown again on our end", Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "Morris had a stick tied up and a guy went to make sure the referee didn't make a call on him, we had a player that thought that he needed help so he left his guy, and the puck came back to the net and it ended up in the net. It's frustrating to give up goals like that".
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