Zombies are pretty played out, but it’s hard not to see a little bit of the plot devices in decaying flesh when you watch the Philadelphia Flyers right now. The Pittsburgh Penguins seemingly keep beating the Flyers down, yet like a reanimated corpse or a pesky horror movie villain, Philly keeps getting up. That spirit might be best embodied by Ilya Bryzgalov; his numbers are likely to end up hideous by the end of this series despite making breathtaking saves like these:
The Flyers just ended the second period with a 4-4 goal, so perhaps Bryzgalov is becoming the equivalent of a wacky-but-lovable closing pitcher. It seems like every outing is a heart attack waiting to happen, yet he occasionally wins a duel that reminds us why he received the big contract.
Of course, Peter Laviolette could easily start the third with Sergei Bobrovsky in net, so that bigger point might be a moot one. Either way, it’s a pretty amazing save.
From the look of things, he’ll need to make a few more for Philly to pull off another impressive comeback win.