I think I can speak for the masses, when I say that as Flyers fans, we really want to like Ilya Bryzgalov. We really want to like him, but he makes it very hard doesn’t he?
I don’t want to put every ounce of blame on him, because the style of play that Peter Laviolette demands hasn’t exactly helped Bryzgalov. Laviolette wants everyone up the ice together on the break, including defenseman who would in a more traditional system, stay back to help the goalie. It’s a fast break type of offense, designed to score a lot of goals, and put great pressure on the opposition–and it’s worked. The problem is, it puts great pressure on the goalie position too.
