THROUGH THE FIRST 33 minutes and 3 seconds, the center-hung scoreboard at the Wells Fargo Center still had a giant "9'' plastered up there in the Flyers' shot column.
That's as many goals as the Winnipeg Jets posted on the Flyers in their first trip to Philadelphia on Oct. 27.
You know, back when Ilya Bryzgalov said he was "lost in the woods" after he allowed four goals in just 34 minutes?
Bryzgalov has since found himself. Well, he's trying. In fact, he even stopped a puck in the shootout last night for the first time since the Flyers inked him to that "humangous,'' $51 million deal.
Last night, his teammates in front of him didn't really provide any help, as the Flyers failed to score on three straight shootout attempts and coughed up the extra point in a 2-1 loss to the Jets.
For the Flyers, it wasn't how they finished. It was how they started. Or, in their case, how loudly they snored for the first 40 minutes.
Jaromir Jagr, the Flyers' resident Miss Cleo after 18 years in the NHL, said he had a feeling his team's lackluster start was coming after a 5-day All-Star break. If only he could bet on hockey.
"I was expecting a game like that," Jagr said. "That's probably what happens after 5 days off. It was not a very good hockey game. Neither team had many practices, I would say 1 practice. It wasn't very pretty.
"If we didn't have 5 days off, it might be [a] 9-8 score again. Too bad."
No, it wasn't very pretty. But with the shootout loss, the Flyers started the second half of their seasonlong slog to the finish line with a point that still counts just as much in the end.
"We didn't have our legs under us the first two periods, it seems," coach Peter Laviolette said. "The first two periods were a little hesitant with what we were doing."
Last year, the Flyers opened their post-All-Star schedule with a 4-0 loss in Tampa Bay before limping to the line with a 14-11-7 record over their final 32 games.
Last night was their third consecutive shootout game, the first time they've done that since last March when they had four straight from March 17-24. They went 1-3 in those shootouts and they are 1-4 overall in shootouts this season.
The Flyers have the NHL's worst shootout record (20-38) since the fan-friendly contest was put into place in 2005. The Flyers' shooters are just 5-for-15 this season and Bryzgalov has stopped two of eight attempts.
