Time to go fishing...

It is time for Richards and the rest of the gang to show that they learned how to fish from the trip to Florida. Tonight the Flyers take on the best team in hockey. We are a team that has been extremely hot. Lets keep this streak alive tonight. What better way then to start the road trip off with four points over two of the best teams in the Western Conference. Just as importantly, we will keep pace with the best teams in the east. We are beginning to show why people picked us to win the cup this season. All phases of our game are now firing on all cylinders. We are a very good team in the offensive zone. Our defense is now playing shut down defense that is backstopped by Emery. The special teams are deadly. We are receive balanced scoring all around. Stevens is able to roll four solid lines that most teams will not be able to keep up with. Tonight's game will pit two teams that are able to just roll forward lines. The question will be the defense of each team. The Flyers defense could be the best in the league and in this game Emery will be starting and not Boucher. This might make a difference in the game. A couple of days ago I talked about only taking 6 of the ten points on the road trip. If we can win tonight we will be already 66% there and it would appear as though we could possibly take even more points.

I will predict a narrow overtime win with a score of 4-3, with Giroux scoring the winning goal in OT.

Boucher records a win

James van Riemsdyk is a scoring machine. This kid looks like he has been in the league a number of years.

Boucher records his first Flyers win in a number of years. (Brings back the memories)

Pyorala scores his first goal.


I didn't watch a lot of the game last night as I drift in and out of sleep. I have it DVR'd so I can watch it later but we are certainly starting off the road trip on the right foot.

Long Road Trip

Tonight begins a stretch of 5 games while the team is out west. The Flyers will be playing the three best teams in the West and throw in a Coyotes team that is playing well and this will be a very tough test. The games against the Kings, Sharks and Avs will pit the Flyers against the best teams. This will be a true test. This is one of those four games in six nights deals that could really swing momentum in the Flyers favor if they are able to take away some wins. Each matchup features a different flavor. The Kings matchup brings back to the Randy Jones issue (I just hope he plays like he did in Philly and remembers that we are still paying half of his salary). This should be good for at least 3 turnovers in his zone and to quality scoring chances. The game against the Sharks will be a rematch of an earlier game where we were beat soundly and it saw Boucher in net for his only game (the question before Papa John is who is in net for the back to back games). Then we play the Coyotes and this is a glimpse back to the Carcillo for Upshall trade. Afterward we are in Denver to play the former team of Lappy and against the surprise team of the year in the Avs. Here is a team that has capitalized on picking up a great goalie and perhaps the free agent signing of the year. Next is a trip back east to play the revived Isles the night before Turkey Day.

I would like to see a sweep on the road trip to give us ten points. However, I don't expect this to happen. In the past we have stubbed our toe with games against the Kings and unfortunately I think that happens tonight. Laliberte is back in the lineup for the injured Asham. JVR and Briere were on fire the last game but we will see what happens. I also don't think we will play well in the shark tank. The following night we will have enough to overcome the Coyotes and we will out muscle the Avs to split the west coast trip. Then we will come back and take care of business with the Isles. So at the end of the trip we should have 6 pts. Anything more than that would be gravy considering the trip. I truly believe that most of the season is broken down into five game segments. This is the first significant road trip and if the Flyers are able to split the games in the West they will feel good about things. Certainly we want to win all of the games but the reality is that we likely won't take all of the games.

So prove me wrong tonight. I know that you are reading this Carter and it is your time to step up and re-establish yourself as a top sniper in the league. I expect at a minimum of five goals on this trip.

Stopping the Streak

Last night saw the Flyers halt the Devils road game win streak at 9.

Some things I noticed. The Flyers were skating really well last night against the Lemaire trap. Up until the Devils scored on a 5-3 they were dominating play and it showed with a 2-0 lead. The end of the second period they needed to regroup. The third period saw a dominating performance again. Only a few tenths of a second remained when the Devils second goal touched the back of the net.

Emery has not shown any lapses in performance. One of the main (if not the main) questions coming into the season was about how Emery will fair. He has show over the past couple of weeks to be a truly dominate goalie. He is helped by having a great defensive corp in front of him.

The Pronger trade is looking really good right now but again this might not be truly realized until the spring. Here is an all world athlete that just makes plays. He looks to be going in slow motion most of the time on the ice when other players just grab the puck and go. His presence on the ice is intimidating. He doesn't get run or pressured while on the puck like the rest of our defensive corp. The perfect example is watch what happens to Pronger and Timo on plays in the corner.

Carcillo is listening to his mentor. Lappy has been a great calming influence on Carcillo and it has shown in his game. Here is a line that is really hard to play against and might be one of the best forechecking lines in the league. At the same time there is enough offensive threats on the ice to scare the opposition. The proof is in pudding when Stevens starts this line at the beginning of most periods and has them on the ice at other key times in the game.

Shorthanded goals - WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? Sure Carter scored one on Saturday but we don't look to be nearly as threatening on the penalty kill as last year. Perhaps this has to do with the balancing of penalty killing units and Carter and Richards doesn't have to do the most work. However, this could be impacting their scoring and the opportunities that they see. Speaking of Carter I would like to see that laser beam get smoking again. He is due for a break out performance against a team where he nets a hat trick. He needs to get on a roll like last season.

Less penalties - sure the Flyers will always be targeted for penalties but they appear to be taking less this season. The poor hooking penalties that were drawn last season seem to be much less. Certainly we will be called for our fair share but it does appear to be less. (I am certainly too lazy right now to go back and research the numbers to compare this season with last).

Standings - it appears to be the same situation as last year. We were consistently sitting in 4 or 5 place with less games played but were never able to make it over the hump to take the first seed in the division or conference. Right now we sit in 5th place in the east. Tied with a few other teams for the fewest games played and only Buffalo has more points with the same number of games played. This will be changed over the next couple of weeks as we will see the Flyers pick up the game pace.

Flyers start slow but come on Strong

The Flyers were lead by Danny Briere last night. The diminutive forward came back and looked better than he has all season. With a lot of concern about how long he would be sidelined due to the lack of playing last year Danny was able to come back after missing only a few games. He was back to his normal pesky self in the offensive zone. He really led the charge last night in the offensive zone with two goals.

I was rather unimpressed with the opening period. However, the two players that are coming off of injuries were the perhaps the best players on the ice. JVR and Briere were on the goal scoring sheet and JVR continues his quest for the Calder Trophy and perhaps Briere for the comeback player of the year. This was another impressive victory once they got going. Since the start of November the Flyers have been one of the most dominate teams in the NHL. They have score five or more goals in all but one game (a 2-1 victory over St. Louis).

Is this the Flyers that everyone expected at the beginning of the year? I believe that some would have to say so. Emery has looked solid in net and the addition of Pronger has been a huge piece of the puzzle. Look at how poorly the Ducks have played without him. The surprise of the season has to come down to JVR and his exceptional play. Here is the number 2 overall draft pick coming in with high expectations. But he never laced up the skates for the Flyers before this season. He has played phenomenally thus far in the season. It might be fair to say that he will hit the wall at some point but the Olympic break could be the elixir for this wall. A couple week break in the middle of the season could recharge his batteries. He is definitely making a case to stay on the top two lines. The other surprise is our grind line. This is probably the line I am most proud of. Betts has been excellent in the faceoff circle and Carcillo hasn't taken the over the top stupid penalty.

Next up the Sabres in Philly.

Emery's Revenge

Tonight's game against the Sens will pit Razor against is former team. Here is a team that he once lead to the Stanley Cup finals. The Senators are actually playing fairly well this season. However, this may become more of a rivalry with Emery manning the pipes.


The biggest question coming into this game is the injury front. We have four players that are banged up and it doesn't look like we will have a full compliment of defensemen for this game. The question is just as muddy at the forward position with JVR and Briere looking to come back.

Flyers pound the Lightning

In late afternoon action yesterday the Flyers pounded the Lightning. The Orange and Black were lead by their leaders in yesterdays game. It appears as though Hartnell has remembered to go to the net in the last couple of games and it is paying off with goals and assists.

This game turned out to be a dominate performance yesterday only moments after the Lightning scored their first goal. Laliberte and Richards both scored shortly after the Tampa goal. This sealed the game. It it important to look at the last two games to see how this team responds to goals scored by the opposition. In the past two games immediately following opponents goals the Flyers have scored a goal to retake momentum. With the loss of two big scoring threats the Flyers have leaned on two up and comers in JVR and Laliberte to reestablish dominance in the game. Now we can't take this too far considering the opposition but the Flyers need to start somewhere. It is important to note that the Flyers need to keep pace in the Patrick Division. We aren't any better than the improved Islanders in the standings (only difference is the amount of games played).

The next game will be very important when we take on a hot Banana Slugs team from Buffalo. This has been one of the best teams in the league to this point in the session and Ryan Miller has been lights out. Only time will tell if they can keep up the pace but a win against the Sabres would help the Orange and Black keep pace in the ultra competitive Patrick Division.