"Nobody ever accused Peter Laviolette of not being a risk taker. Laviolette, in his first full season as the Flyers' coach, boldly made 22-year-old Sergei "Bob" Bobrovsky the youngest goalie to ever start a season opener for the franchise Thursday. Twenty-nine saves later, Bobrovsky made Laviolette look like a genius. Making his NHL debut, the Russian netminder showed his flashy preseason wasn't a fluke, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, in the teams' season opener and ruining the opening of the Consol Energy Center. "I thought he was great tonight," said Braydon Coburn, who aided a defensive unit that was minus the injured Chris Pronger. "He just kept up what he did in the preseason. . . . I thought he was stellar in the preseason, and there's a reason he was starting tonight. You go with the hot goalie." Bobrovsky, who was named the game's No. 1 star, became the first Flyers goalie to win his NHL debut since Antero Niittymaki in 2004 against Washington. It was the unflappable Bobrovsky who made the difference by making 15 saves in a scoreless first period that was dominated by the Penguins. "They generated a lot of opportunities," Laviolette said, "and he made save after save." "It wasn't me," Bobrovsky said through a Russian translator. "It's a team game, and I think the whole team played extremely well." The baby-faced goalie said he did not have jitters about getting the opening-night start. "It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I wasn't too nervous. I was ready for this," he said. "I prepared all preseason. I worked hard for it." The Flyers, who overcame a sloppy start with a strong second period, got goals from Danny Briere, Blair Betts, and Claude Giroux. Giroux, who banged up his ankle during the game and had X-rays taken afterward, scored on a shorthanded goal - the first of his career - early in the third period to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead. Earlier, Briere, stationed to the right of the net, redirected Mike Richards' deft pass from the point past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's glove on the short side with 17 minutes left in the second period. The power-play goal gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead. "My first two years with the Flyers, I was used to having Richie back on the point on the power play," Briere said. "We scored a few goals like that. . . . When we won the face-off and he got the puck, all I was thinking was to find the open space by the side of the net. "Richie found me; just like the good old days, I guess."" http://www.philly.com/inquirer/spor...paces_Flyers_to_a_3-2_season-opening_win.html
The opening few weeks are probably the most important,if you drop your play in the beginning your going to have to pick it up in between which is harder because that is when intensity of playoff races are high and teams are really competitive and aggressive,so hopefully they can win some games. They seem to be doing decently enough though.
