Ilya Bryzgalov continues to deliver for Flyers

When Ilya Bryzgalov is the most reliable player on your hockey team, things are either very good or very bad.

You already know which way the Flyers have been going. They are a team with no clear identity and precious little time to forge one. As they have skated around in a fog through 10 games, the only real stability has been provided by their goaltender.

Fans of irony will appreciate this more than fans of winning hockey.

The fans in the Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night were enthralled by Bryzgalov's play. They roared when he fluidly slid left-to-right to rob Steven Stamkos in the first period, and they roared louder when Bryzgalov's fast-twitch glove redirected a rocket off the stick of Cory Conacher in the third.

A few minutes later, the place went hush when Conacher sent Bryzgalov tumbling into the net. The season flashed before everyone's eyes as athletic trainer Jim McCrossin trotted out to check on the prone goalie.

"My ankle was twisted," Bryzgalov said. "I felt sharp pain for a short period of time. I stretched in my skate and it was fine."

Bryzgalov remained in the game. His hard-earned shutout vanished a few moments later, when his teammates allowed Lightning forward Benoit Pouliot to camp out alone in the slot.

It was the kind of breakdown that has become too common for this team, the kind that can drive a goaltender batty. Maybe it helps that Bryzgalov has already been there and back.

"I have to be responsible for my job," Bryzgalov said. "We can talk about my game. I stay away from the judgment. I think we played very well."

In his first season here, Bryzgalov was immensely entertaining. Sometimes, even on the ice. He was occasionally brilliant in net, occasionally not so solid. At the end of a strange playoff run, the general feeling was that he would adjust his game and his mind-set and be better this season.

"It's not Comedy Central," general manager Paul Holmgren said the day after the Devils eliminated the Flyers. "I think Ilya learned some things from one year in Philadelphia. I think we'll see a different person next year. We'll certainly see a different goaltender."

Bryzgalov has been terrific so far. He was better than that Tuesday night. His play not only allowed the offensively anemic Flyers to beat red-hot Tampa Bay, it made a larger point. There were times last year Bryzgalov seemed to get lost in his own head - or "in the woods," as he memorably put it. With the lack of offense this year, it would be easy for him to lose his way again.

Instead, he has just gotten better.

"He's been excellent," Danny Briere said. "If we would have given him more goal support, he'd have a much better record. In a lot of games, he's the reason we've been in games in the first place. If he keeps playing that way, we'll be a very dangerous team."

Right now, they are dangerous mostly to themselves. This is a team that needed two goals from Tom Sestito to beat Tampa Bay. That is not a formula for consistent success.

In a perfect world, the Flyers would get their act together in front of Bryzgalov and hit their peak in the postseason. Of course, if they don't get their act together very quickly, there will be no postseason for this team.

For a team that has struggled for so long to find that Stanley Cup-caliber goaltender, that would be the ultimate irony - to miss the playoffs when they might finally have one.

Injuries have been a major problem, but there's more to it than that. The young players who showed so much promise late last season, including the playoffs, have not taken a step forward. Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn, Jakub Voracek, Matt Read - they are the nucleus Holmgren was counting on.

It is hard to read much into that. In their first season as regulars, they were locked out for three months. The rhythm of the season is all wrong.

Holmgren may need to think about a trade to add some offense and some experience, but he shouldn't give up on the youthful talent he's assembled.

Mostly, he needs Bryzgalov to hold up while the team comes together. So far, so good.