Last night we were watching the game in the FGSB studios and it occurred to me that even though I had been taking part in the Braydon Coburn bashing I hadn't really noticed him play that badly, save a few ugly turnovers. So last night we focused the Fran Cam on Coburn all night long, every shift, and you can read through his play shift by shift or just check out the recap below it if you want to save 20 minutes:

1st Period

• Shift 1 - Bit of a misplay on Semin drop pass. Cleared a rebound but right to the point man and ultimately blocks Semin's shot.
• Shift 2 - Good pinch. Nice breakup on bad Asham pass to cancel a breakaway but had been too wide in the O Zone for being the only D at the point.
• Shift 3 - Fine on wrap around clear. Shot wide. Good 1st pass on break out to Kimmo - nothing big.
• Shift 4 - Good cross ice pass. Fell after whistle and looked stupid. Stopped an attempted dump in but Hartnell got caught offsides on the ensuing zone to zone pass.
• Shift 5 - Decent positioning.
• Shift 6 - Kimmo had to cross check him to move him out of in front of the net. Saved a delay of game penalty. Cleared to point again. Missed puck at blue line on clear.
• Shift 7 - Good recovery as Lappy got beat. Good positioning in corner to win the puck from Bradley and clear.
• Shift 8 - Good break up on Knuble to net.
• Shift 9 - Kept OV outside on a rush and blocked ensuing pass.
• Shift 10 - Over-commits on 2 on 2 leading to Semin partial breakaway.

Second Period

• Shift 11 - Ok on a Steckel 1 on 1 and revs it up and dumps it on the pp. Good one timer. Roaming like Del Zotto.
• Shift 12 - Not great positioning on OV who beats out an icing. Nice d to d. Nice join rush. Ok shot.
• Shift 13 - Short pp shift goes to net looking for rebound.
• Shift 14 - Good pp keep in and 2 good shots.
• Shift 15 - Decent d to d and later kicks the puck on a 2 on 2 to Kimmo. Then gets a bit rough after Richards gets hit by OV.
• Shift 16 - Decent help to get it out off face off. Hits the post. Good wrap around on break out.
• Shift 17 - Coburn clear shorthanded. Great work in front. Weird non-passing when penalty was over and Powe was out of the box.
• Shift 18 - Coburn one-timer on the roam - goal.
• Shift 19 - Really really far out of position on break out. Like the highest player wearing white - OV goal.
• Shift 20 - Shorthanded - decent positioning but Caps score. Not sure it had much to do with him.

Third Period

• Shift 21 - Good cut off on Semin wrap around and then stick lift on attempted deflection.
• Shift 22 - PP and he rushes it deep after a long shift of not much.
• Shift 23 - Good first pass after a blocked shot on 3 on 2.
• Shift 24 - PP - not too much on it. A one-timer high.
• Shift 25 - Pinched and missed bad but it's getting late and no harm done.
• Shift 26 - Good pinch and shot on net with 7 min left. Shot off side of net. Shot over net.
• Shift 27 - Good wrap around break out. Short shift.
• Shift 28 - Shot deflected wide. Tired and got beat to dump in by Semin.

All in all it was a fine game by Coburn. I was having trouble deciding if I was being overly critical of him because I was literally watching every move he made out there, but overall it was fine to good. He was out there for two goals against (one short-handed), sniped one of his own, was out of position a couple times but in position way more. If he's been playing like that there's no reason to get down on the kid.

Here are his three Terry Balls:

• His goal, of course.
• When he has time he makes a good first pass on the breakout he does it well.
• He made a great play on the five on three in front of the net, tying up Knuble's stick and pretty much saving a goal all on his own.

And his three Bo Berglunds:

• Kimmo having to cross check him to force him to go play a puck was something I'd never seen before.
• His clears right onto the stick of opposing defensemen end an immediate scary situation but don't exactly solve the problem.
• Overplaying the puck on that 2 on 2 at the end of the first was a huge mistake. He didn't get any PK time at the end of the period, that was his last shift.

I graded all his shifts. There's no obvious difference as the game wears on, it was more just every shift was what you got. Every shift was a unique opportunity for him to play well or to not:

Overall he ended up with a GPA of 2.8, with a couple A's and a couple D's, but mostly between the B and B+ mark.

There's no Flyers defenseman who didn't make mistakes out there, from Pronger to Tollefesen. As a matter of fact, no hockey player in any game can claim to have not made a mistake. Coburn does have the second worst plus/minus on the team at -9 (one ahead of Kimmo) and the most giveaways. But he only has two more giveaways than Chris Pronger, who is 10 years his senior and has only spent 23 more minutes of even strength time on the ice through ten games. Pronger's the one getting $7M, if you're looking for a target maybe Pronger needs to step it up.