The NHL Schedule Makers Suck Balls

Okay, I'm bored as hell at work so I was taking a look at the Flyers schedule and noticed something RIDICULOUS. So at the beginning of this year, everyone was saying that Pitt would be our "measuring stick" for the season. Since I don't feel like wasting time, here is the discovery. We play them 6 times this season, as usual, but 3 of the games are the back end of back to back games. WTF is that all about! We have to play one of the best teams in the NHL 3 times in the same season after playing the night before and most likely being rather tired. Also, Pitt only has ONE back end game against us, with 2 being the first game of back to backs. I just find this to be complete bullshit. Anyways, moving on, the Flyers are amazing again and are about to tear out a 30 game record breaking win streak. I hope this prediction is right also, haha.

LET'S GO FLYERS!!!

Short and Simple

Before I run out of the office for the day and not have a computer for the night I figured I'd throw up a quick post.

Flyers will win tonight and it will be a blowout. 5 or more goals for the Flyers, bet on it.

Oh yeah, and that's my new Winter Classic jersey that I spoke about, so far it's 2-0-0, so hopfully the Flyers will keep it going.

GO FLYERS!!!

Great Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone, and it has been just that for the Orange and Black. We all got a great present this year with a three game winning streak by the boys. Richards is finally starting to play the way he should and the rest of the team is rallying behind him. The last thing I expected was for this team to play so well with Leighton in net, but it's happening. Although it was against some pretty sad teams, see bottom of the standings, but a win is a win is a win. The picture above is my signed Gagne jersey from a few christmas's ago, and I finally got to hanging it above my TV before last night's game. Also, for the past two games (I didn't get it till Christmas) I have been rocking my Richards Winter Classic jersey, pushing me to five jerseys now. Those would be: Forsberg (my first when I thought he'd be around for a while), Gagne (signed), Lindros, Pronger, and Richards. Anyways, moving into the three wins.

With each win the team has begun to look better and better and closer (still not there yet) to as good as they can be. Some observations I have made from the three games.

* Carter still looks lost out there, but seems to get some things going well. Again, still looking better each game, just not much energy.

* The defense needs to figure out who plays well with who. Carle was sick with Pronger, then it fell apart, and everyone since looks better than usual playing with Pronger, but still not good enough.

* I love the new "pressure the puck at all times" style that Laviolette brings in.

* Leighton is playing well above his head right now and will eventually have a terrible game giving up a ton of goals, I think.

* The Flyers Rule!

We have a decent test Wed. night against the Rangers to see where we are at heading into the WINTER CLASSIC! As you can see I can't wait for that game, and it should be one hell of a game considering how the Flyers have been playing and considering how they played against the Bruins in their last meeting. Also, SNOW is expecting on game day, so that always makes it better. Let's see some blood on the ice on Friday!

Vacation Time!

Still nothing really to say about Flyers hockey. It's the same old story, and another loss over the weekend. Tonight we play my local team, the Florida Panthers up at the Wach. Hopefully we won't get embarrassed yet again. This is usually a winable game, but not this year. And it's not that we are a bad team, although that just might be the answer, but these guys just don't seem to want to play hockey anymore. Most of them have pissed away their chances of playing on the Olympic team, looking at you Carter and Richards. Let's see some wins this week for my birthday and Christmas guys!

Also, as I just stated, my birthday is tomorrow and I am taking the entire week off of work starting tomorrow, so I will not be updating until after the weekend. As I said, let's start the week off right with a big win tonight and I can celebrate all the way through the week.

Let's Go Flyers!

7-0-0 if Not Better???

Am I drunk? No, not yet. Shortly though. But I took a look at another possibility as to why we are so damn awful right now and this popped out at me. In the past ten games we have played these teams: Buffalo, Atlanta, Van., Wash., Mon., NYI, Ott., NJ, Bos., Pitt. Their standings are as follows in the same order: 3, 7, 10, 1, 10, 9, 6, 2, 5, and 4. That's 7 out of 10 teams in playoff position, including the number one team in the NHL, and two teams that are tied for second in the NHL. The results of those 10 games are as follows in order: L, L, L, L, L, W, L, L, W, and L. The wins were against a number 10 team, NYI who pretty much never beat us, no matter how bad we are, and a number 5 team that we had an amazing effort against.

Now, if you will recall back to the past several seasons for the Flyers, we ALWAYS struggle against teams that are in playoff position. Last year was rather scary as we hit the end of the season, knowing we can't play up to their level at times. Now I am not saying we can't play against these teams, just for some reason the team decides not too. Onto why I can see a 7-0-0 run.

The next seven games including tonight are against: Pitt, NYR, Fla, TB, Car, NYI, and NYR. The standings for these teams are as follows: 4, 12, 8, 13, 15, 9, and 12. I can see Philly coming into tonight really, really pissed off about Tuesday and grinding out a win against Pitt, then all the other teams are out of playoff position besides Fla, but Fla has a hard time beating Philly at the Wach. That would lead us to a nice little 7-0-0 run and pull us out of this craptastic death streak we are in. It would also lead us on a 7-0-0 run into the Winter Classic, which would be sweet.

What do you all think? Am I just completely in my own world here, or is this a real possibility? Maybe I do need a beer or two or ten and then look at this again...

Doormat or Sinkhole?

Hopefully this picture will become more and more common as we see Blair Betts come back into the lineup tonight. Although he is not 100% (refer to previous post about shoulder injuries) he is still a much needed asset to this team. We are 10-3-0 when he is in the lineup and the 3rd loss was when he got injured last early in the game. So he is actually pretty much 10-2-0 when playing a whole game. That's ridiculous. Although many people are saying not to read into this much, that's bullshit. Think of the things Betts does for this team: AMAZING defense when he is on the ice as a utility player; the best Penalty Killer on the team and takes a lot of those hard minutes away from Richards and Carter; and has experience to help anyone on this team through a hard patch. In my opinion he is one of the most underrated Utility players in the NHL. Anyways, enough about my man crush, time for the game tonight.

So Pittsburgh comes to town for the back end of our home and home. This is where my title comes from; will we just sit back and continue to let teams walk over us? Or will we have a secret trap door under the doormat that leads to a cave system with a gigantic Roncor monster (please refer to Return of the Jedi for that one). Just as a note, the Flyers have not been swept in a home and home against Pitt since 1992, for those not talented in math, that's 17(!) years. Even in the "season to forget" they didn't lose the home and home against them. I'm pretty sure everyone in the locker room knows this, and if they don't, then that's just stupid. If there will be anything that will get this team up for this game, that should be it. Who the hell wants to be on the team that let's that streak die? For tonight, I will be keeping a close eye on JVR, Giroux, Richards, and Betts. I'm curious to see if Betts will hold back at all. The other three I will be watching because JVR is still working on getting out of a slump; Giroux can play amazing, but also terrible; and Richards needs to continue to lead this team in the right direction, such as the Boston game when he looked like one of the best players on the ice, which he is. Tonight will be a good game no matter what, let's just hope our boys have come to play. Prediction: Flyers 4 - Pitt 2.

LET'S GO FLYERS!

Betts Back Thursday; Gagne Hopefully Saturday

So I hear Blair Betts will be back for tomorrow's game against Pitt. This is fantastic news for the fact that ever since he went out, we have been absolutely terrible. He brings a shit ton of effort and heart to the team. Also, he is probably the best penalty killer and faceoff guy on the team. This should make for a very interesting game tomorrow, as long as that shoulder stays in place. Just as a side note, I've dislocated my shoulder four times in the last year, and the first time was the first of the four, so I can see why he has done it twice already and yes, it is VERY easy to do after the first time. I honestly just pray that he can build muscle around it so it will stay in.

On the other note, from all indications, Gagne should be back for Saturday's game. This will be very interesting to see if he will have any impact at all after being out for so long. He started off the season pretty bad and wasn't an impact player, but I blame that on the fact that he was probably playing through his injury the whole beginning of the year. Kind of like how Emery fell apart while playing through his injury. Anyways, the lines will get a good make-over this weekend once we have both of these guys back and that is the only thing I can say good about the Flyers right now. This is when they need to show who they really are.

Let's Go Flyers!

What a Joke

This season really is starting to become one big joke by the Flyers on all the sports writers and prediction people from before the season. As everyone always says, they are amazing on paper, but the product on the ice is just sad. I heard some ridiculous rumors that Briere and his wife are going through a divorce and that Hartnell banged someone else's wife in the locker room *correction, it was actually that Carter banged Hartnell's wife* (HAH!) but whatever it is, let's make a move. Florida has Vokoun on the market... I don't know if we need to do that, because we need scoring more than goaltending, but a great goalie such as Vokoun would come in handy. Besides that, I've already mentioned some other possibilities that would send Carter out of town, but who knows. I think almost everyone on the team is at stake besides maybe Richards and Pronger. Well, maybe in the next few days we will see something happen. My guess is if we lose tomorrow and Saturday, the move will be made on Sunday. I think it's time to just wait and see.

A Visit to the Dickuins

Philly has made the trip from Boston to Pittsburgh and tonight we have one hell of a game ahead of us. Pitt sits at number 4 in the East, tied for 2nd for the most points and one point behind being number 1 in the East. Also, they are in a three way tie for second in the entire NHL. That means the Flyers have one hell of a team to play tonight, and guess what, they are now 100% healthy and have a full team to put on the ice. I just wish we could say the same thing at any point this season, but I HIGHLY doubt that. Possibly this weekend we can be close to saying that with Gagne, Betts, and Powe all do back, but you never know if there will be a set back with any of them.

If Philly can put in an effort such as the 3rd period from last nights game, but for the entire game, I still think it will be hard to get a win. This team is just too deadly. I hate every single last player on the team, but I'm not going to lie and say that they aren't good. When you have 4 or 5 straight years of the number 1 or 2 pick, I guess you end up with names such as Crosby, Malkin, Fluery, and so on. Anyways, Philly and Pitt is always an amazing game and I am going to enjoy this one while I can. Sit back, sip down some cold beers and then proceed to throw them at the TV as soon as Hartnell or Carcillo do something stupid (no offense to Carcillo since he's been "sane" this year, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth since the playoffs last year). Let's Go FLYERS!!!

P.S.: Philly claimed Michael Leighton off re-entry waivers today. He played for Carolina with Laviolette and is a pretty terrible goalie, but my guess is this is just for depth until Emery gets back, then he's gone.

Big Win, but Don't Get Excited Yet

So last night was a HUGE win for the Flyers. With all of the struggles we have had the last month(!) it is refreshing to see them win a game against a very talented team. But, it was still a lucky win with some lucky bounces and some really terrible missed calls going in Philly's favor for once. I'll do a quick break down of the three periods:

First Period. Came out very flat and looking like the team we are used to seeing lately. Gave up a lot of chances to Boston and Booooosh looked very good to keep us in the game. By the end of the period I could see that Philly had realized it was time to play, but still didn't play over the top of Boston, they pretty much just played at the same level, which I guess was good enough.

Second Period. Walked into this period still playing with Boston instead of over the top. We looked good in spurts but also gave up a lot to Boston. Then Hartnell's interference penalty seemed to give Boston the little kick in the pants they wanted and they ended up with a very ugly goal with the usual lucky bounce that goes against Philly. That was with 1:28 left in the second and I figured Boston would come out on fire in the third, but to my surprise it was the exact opposite.

Third Period. Philly came out with a purpose and absolutely dominated Boston. It was one hell of a surprise for me. They had a TON of pressure on the puck, were shooting well, getting in front of Thomas, just really playing the way they should. A great hustle play by Asham and great smack in by JVR got us to the tie, and then a very lucky deflection off a Boston player's glove on Timonen's shot got us the lead that we wouldn't surrender. I believe they said when Timonen scored his goal we had already been outshooting Boston 10 to 2 or something like that. Overall, very impressive third period and a strong way to head to Pitt for tonight's game. Philly 3 - Boston 1

Oh yeah, and I swear Chara is a 6'9" robot from some far away planet. Not a single person on the Flyers could push him around, and watching Richards trying too was just plain funny. And I WISH Carcillo could have fought him, that would have been extremely funny too.

One last note about this game; as you all know I live in Florida so I have to watch these games on Center Ice. Most of the time they have a feed for both the Home and Away teams, but last night they only had the Boston feed. Going into the game I already know the Boston annoucers are GIGANTIC homers so I figured it would be a terribly called game from a Flyers fan perspective. I did find it quite hilarious how they freaked out about the non-calls and the called back goal early in the first, but it really is annoying as hell to see these guys going insane over this stuff and not saying a word about the missed calls that would have been against Boston. There were at least 4 or 5 missed calls against Boston as well. I think I saw 2 that could have been called boarding, and probably 2 or 3 high sticking calls that could have been made. Now this is not complaining as it was pretty entertaining to hear them make so many excuses and get really upset over a couple missed calls, but I just wanted to point this out. At least the Philly announcers get almost just as excited when the away team scores a goal as when the Flyers score one...

A second post will come later with a short preview of tonight's game against The Cry Baby.

Flyers Are a Dying Breed

So I know I have been missing in action the last week or so, but I had all my major company marketing and sales meetings last week so I've been insanely busy. Anyways, moving on I know I haven't missed much. The only big news was Stevens getting the boot and Lavi coming in as his replacement. Since everyone has covered this thoroughly, I will just say I thought it was the right move and still do, but it will take time for Lavi to get his system in place. Also, I love hearing that Lavi is hating on the players quite a bit, saying they aren't in top shape, and they are lazy, and so on and so forth. Hopfully he will beat the crap out of them and they will start to actually look like they want to play hockey.

So yes, we are essentially 0-10-0 besides the 2 wins against the Islanders (which I don't really count as wins). This week we play some of the top quality teams in the league, so I'm not really expecting much. First we have Boston tonight, then Pitt, then Pitt again, then the Rangers. Pretty much all of the afformentioned teams can beat us with how terrible we are right now. Unless we put in one hell of an effort, which doesn't seem possible right now, we will loose the next four games. I'm going to take the high road and say we will win 2 of the 4, if not 3 of the 4. Hopefully we can get back on track and play like a real team in the next week.

Lastly, trade rumors are flying around about Carter possibly being moved. I think this is a smart move, since he just doesn't seem like he knows what he's doing on the ice anymore. He is an amazing player, but in order for him to get back into true form he needs a new venue. Players most talked about possibly coming to Philly: Eric Staal and Bobby Ryan. I want Ryan, but it would be more likely that Staal will show up because of Lavi. As usual with the Flyers, who the heck knows who could end up coming in. Anyways, let's see a great effort tonight and continue it into Pitt tomorrow!

GO FLYERS!!!

...

My mother always taught me "if you have nothing good to say, don't say anything". See you after the weekend...

Fun Fun Fun; Canucks in Town Tonight

So we have hockey back after a four day hiatus. As I sit here staring at the mounds of shit paperwork on my desk I will make this quick.

Philly vs. Van. at 7:00 at the Wach. Watching on Center Ice. Luongo should not be in net since he played last night, although they do ride him like Tiger Woods has been with his hoes (baaaazzzzzinnnngggg), which leaves Raycroft playing. Colorado and Toronto's outcast... If we don't light this guy up, I give up, until Saturday. Watch for Briere back in the line-up tonight. Let's play lights out hockey guys.

GO FLYERS!!

All the Talk, EVERYWHERE

Alright. I know it's been a LONG time since I put up a post, but I was testing to see if I was at fault for starting this blog right when the Flyers started sucking the big one. Since they won one and lost one, I figured that my superstition is not warranted. But even still, losing 5 out of the last 6 is bogus.

Anyways, I'm going to talk about what EVERYONE is talking about the last couple of days. Some great quotes came from our future captain, Chris Pronger, yesterday and it has been the talk of the town. Finally someone unlike the laid back Richards and Stevens is speaking up. I LOVED everything Pronger had to say, and honestly, I didn't think he had as dirty of a mouth as he does. It was F this and shitty play, and so on and so forth. The only reason I am writing this today is because I just found a quote from Richards that sums up the HUGE difference between the two. First, a couple of the great quotes from Prongs:

“He’s [Richards] been here four years and sees how things have progressed from being a shitty team to a pretty good team, to having even higher expectations."

“How could we have won that game in Atlanta?” Pronger asked. “Could it have been that [3-minute] power play? Absolutely! Could it have been not to take that fucking penalty-and go down 5-on-3? Absolutely! How about scoring some goals 5-on-5?"

“We need to make it fucking happen on Thursday,” Pronger said. “It needs to fucking happen now, so we can get over that hump and get this ship headed into the right direction.”

Now that's some positive and aggresive talk that I like to hear from someone, but it pisses me off that it's our best defensman and not our Captain or our Coach. Here is the quote I just read from Richards that he rolled off his dumbass tongue yesterday.

"We went from being the worst team in the league" to "a team that is kind of a contender now," Richards said.

KIND OF A CONTENDER?!?! Are you kidding me Richards...KIND OF A CONTENDER!!! In no way should Richards, while talking about the team he leads, leave it at kind of a contender. "A TEAM THAT IS GOING TO WIN THE CUP NOW!" is the proper response dildo. Don't get me wrong, I love Richards as a player, but right now, it is him and Stevens that need to straighten things out and get this team going again. If he doesn't have the balls to get in some players faces and make things happen, then we may need to demote and promote Prongs to take the helm. Either way, I have this feeling if we don't pick it up soon, it's either goodbye Stevens, demote Richards, or possibly both.

Okay, so enough of my complaining. We've got a "winnable" game tomorrow against Vancouver coming to town. Honestly, I would say it's a sure win game, but not with the style of play we are showing. Game time is 7:30 at the Wach. Let's see something good.

GO FLYERS!

Uninspired Hockey All Around

So, as I said in my last post, I went to the Pitt. vs FLA game last night. I was SO happy to see Florida walking all over Pitt, that was until the 3rd period when one goal by Pitt completely turned the game around and they ended up winning in OT. Florida had a solid two goal lead, and as my fellow Flyers fans will know, a two goal lead is nothing these days in hockey, and always leads to the team sitting back and eventually losing. Anyways, that's enough about that game, onto the pathetic game against COL last night. (P.S., I saw the new Panthers third jersey in person, and it is awful, and so many stupid FLA fans bought it last night, I deff. threw up in my mouth a little). Final score: FLA 2 - Pitt 3 OT.

While I was sitting watching the sad third period of the FLA game, I was constantly checking my phone for updates on the Flyers game. First update I checked, the score was already 2 to 0, and Emery had only faced 4 shots. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? As soon as I saw that, I knew it was either going to be a track meet of a game, or COL was going to have their way with Emery's ass. From what I've read today, Philly again just looked like they did not want to be playing hockey. I don't want this to be a recurring theme throughout the year, but so far it is, and it pisses me off. Again, I will call for Stevens head. If he can't get these guys out on the ice working their asses off to win a game when they need to win one, then why the hell is he behind the bench. I also heard that the "AHL" or 4th line was the most energetic line on the ice for us. That's just sad. Yes, I know these guys are trying to earn a spot on the team, but shit, that's pathetic. I still believe we need a coach to come in and won't be afraid to show a little emotion, and really rip these guys when they play the way they have been playing. Hopefully we will see something better tomorrow when we visit the Islanders, and we BETTER beat them, since my friend who is a huge Islanders fan is coming into town on Thursday for Thanksgiving. And FINALLY I will have NHL Center Ice at my new place by the end of the day today, so I should be able to watch every game for the rest of the year. Final Score: COL 5 - Flyers 4.

Now, I don't give a shit if we have a game tomorrow, I want Stevens to get this team on the ice this afternoon and push them until they puke; he needs to show them we will not accept this lackluster crap we have been seeing.

Looooonnnnngggg Weekend/Col Game

So there was nothing enjoyable about my weekend. I actually stayed at the bar for the entire SJ game just to watch them get there balls stomped on. While watching this horrible site my consumption of alcohol continued to steadily rise the entire time; not thinking about the fact that I had to move on Saturday, and was getting up at 7 in the morning. Needless to say, the move was not exactly fun, but it never is. Final score, 6 to 3 SJ wins.

After an exhausting day, I was just looking forward to watching the orange and black do a number on PHO. I proceeded to hit up my usual watering hole for the game, and yet again, watched as Philly dropped a tie game in the 3rd period. I don't know what the deal is, but I'm going to start pointing my finger at John Stevens again because he needs to get on this team's ass and get them pumped for games. They came out in the PHO game with no emotion and it seemed like they didn't really want to win. Also, we lost Betts and Powe for a little while (how the hell does Betts throw out his shoulder again "reaching for a puck"?) Anyways, this is not a good thing as Betts has been a masterful PKer. So there it was, Final score, 3 to 1 PHO wins (and a bogus "empty net" goal call on Pronger.)

Onto tonight; Philly visits Denver to take on the Avalanche. Right now COL is sitting pretty at the top of the Northwest division and 3rd place in the West. Anderson has been like a god for them this year, as well as a pretty good team effort with 7 players at 10 points or more, lead by Stastny, Wolski, and Hejduk. We also get to see if Duchene is the real deal, which he seems to be. Now, I'm not going to lie, Colorado is my team from the Western Conference. I don't follow them at all like the Flyers, but I do cheer for them out there; now with saying that, I would LOVE to see the Flyers beat the living shit out of them tonight, because we need it more, and because the Flyers are the greatest team in the Universe. With that said, I predict a 6 to 1 routing of the Avalanche.

On a personal note, I will not be able to watch this game tonight since the owner of my company just gave me 2 of his season tickets (dead center ice, 12th row) for the Panthers vs. Penguins game tonight. It would be great to be able to watch Pitt get beat in person while the Flyers take care of business in Colorado.

GO FLYERS!

Please Refer to the End of Jaws

I am feeling extremely unmotivated today. Gotta move all of my crap to a new appartment tomorrow, so that's going to be hell, but once there, the joys will be plentiful. Anyways, onto the topic of tonight's game. We visit the Shark Tank to play against the number one team in the NHL, SJ Sharks.

This team scares the crap out of me. With a number of players that will more than likely be playing for their respective countries in the Olympics, it should be interesting. The Sharks just finished off a four game road trip that wasn't exactly good to them. At home, they still have not had a regulation loss. Not good. But hey, Philly loves to be the team to shatter dreams. With Nabokov in net, and players such as Marleau, Thornton, Heatley, Boyle, and Clowe, nothing is going to be easy. Also, Philly lost 4 to 1 in the last meeting, and Philly has won one game in the 2000s, and haven't won in the Shark Tank since 1999. Time to kill that.

As for Philly, we are one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now along with SJ. Although the standings don't show it, we also have 4 to 5 games in hand over all the other teams. Look for JVR to keep up his streak, Richards to lay down some big hits and hopefully big points, Carter to get going, and of course the Pronger/Carle pairing in the back. This will be Carle's first return back to the lands of SJ since his departure to Tampa Bay. Time for him to shove it right in their face for letting him go, and pot 2 goals and an assist with a plus 3. Alright, that's enough. Everyone enjoy your weekend and hopefully I will be speaking with you all on Monday with 4 more points in our pockets.

GO FLYERS!

Well, That Was Interesting

Quick and easy, busy day at work today.

That first period was just flat out ugly, and someone needs to give Boosh a slap on the wrist for that sad, sad excuse of a goal he gave up. L.A. should have only gotten a half a goal for that one. Also, it seemed like the team was trying to adjust to the ice surface...I hate teams that play in a warm climate and also have basketball played in their arena. Anyways, after giving up that pathetic goal, it seemed to pump life into the entire line-up. Play got better throughout the period.

The second period was nice to see, although it really was a lot of back and forth. But watching Philly finally come from behind and take the lead was awesome. Something most of us Philly faithful don't get to see very often. Also nice to see Pyorala get his first goal; here comes a streak of 10 straight games with goals, I can feel it.

The third period was all BOOSH. Although the team fell back on their heels once they got that deadly two goal lead (I hate it when they have a two goal lead), Boosh was playing well enough stopping all but one of the 21 shots fired at him. He deff. gained some of my trust back with that. Oh yeah, and Reemer with another game winning goal is starting to get really really nice to see.

Overall, it wasn't that great of a game, but the two points are ours and we are now off to the Shark Tank, which is never fun. I'll be at the bar for that one...

I Fart in Your General Direction, Silly Kings

And so as everyone already knows, the first game of the five game road trip begins tonight against the Kings. Surprising to almost everyone, the Kings are one of the best teams in the league so far. The incredible play of Kopitar has had quite a hand in this matter as he leads the NHL in points. Now, in my opinion, this is a good thing. This team has pretty much zero secondary scoring, although they do have a good line to muck it up with our work horse line. I expect to see either the Richards line or the Giroux line really light it up tonight.

Another positive fact is that a prominent defenseman and forward are out with injuries. Now I never like to live off the fact of that, but whatever, I will more than happy too tonight. Expect to see a very good powerplay from Philly playing against a terrible penalty kill from LA. If they take even 2 penalties, I expect to see 2 powerplay goals.

And we get to visit the piece of $(*& Randy "I bet against the Flyers the whole time I played for them" Jones. So far in four games he already has four points. The little bastard also potted a shorty in their last game. I really hope someone beats the crap out of him early in the game since we ARE paying half his salary. We will also be seeing the old man himself, Handzus. I'm just as surprised as you he hasn't blown out a hip yet, but good luck to him once Pronger lays him through the boards.

My prediction on the game tonight: Philly 6 - LA 2

Richards: 2g, 2a
JVR: 1g, 1a
Carter: 2ppa
Powe: 1g, 1a
Giroux: 2g, 2a
and some other random assists handed out, probably to Pronger and Carle.

GO FLYERS!!! Time for six in a row (including Monday's win)

Oh No

I just felt like taking a look ahead at this nice little road trip that we have coming up and I don't like what I see. So we have games every other night, with a back to back this weekend. The teams we play, in order are L.A., SJ, Pho, Col, and finish with NYI. Two of the five shouldn't be a problem. But look at the standings for the other three:

That's just scary. A number 1 and 2, with a 4. Luckily the back to back is Pho on the second night which as I said before should be rather easy.

Now I already hear it..."Blah blah blah, L.A. and Col really aren't that good and are just lucky right now." Personally, I would like to believe that, but then again they are almost a quarter through the season and still sitting near the top of the West. I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but our boys are going to have to work their asses off the next week to come out of this with more than 4 points. I believe they can, and I also believe they can come out of this with 10...We will just have to wait and see...

No Record for You NJ

After a great ceremony for Dave Shultz induction into the Flyers HOF, we had a pretty impressive hockey game. The most impressive part to me was the work ethic and skill of our defense. We finally actually looked like one of the best defensive teams in the NHL.

I believe the total was 26 blocked shots, and while watching our penalty kill, it was AWESOME to see how many guys (especially Betts and Laperriere) sliding down on the ice to make sure the puck wasn't getting to the net. Emery was doing his part, a couple impressive saves, but for the most part he was not really challenged.

I ate my words of being upset that Giroux was moved to the 3rd line, since he had 2 assists (although one was on the power play). But even still, Powe/Giroux/Asham still looked very good. All in all, it was a good game and if we put that kind of skill and performance on the ice through this west coast field trip we will walk away with a lot of wins. Some quick stats to note from last night:

Powe, JVR, and Hartnell all netted goals.
Giroux had two assists.
Emery moved to 11-4-1 (with a .923! SV%)

Next game is tomorrow against the Kings at 10:30. LET'S GO FLYERS!

The Devil Comes to Philly...

Alright, so as most, if not all should know, Dave "The Hammer" Schultz (badass nickname) will be entered into the Flyers HOF tonight. Congrats to Schultz and his four incredible years with the team.

Now, after that introduction and the motivation that Philly should have to stick the big one to NJ tonight, I expect things to get going fast and very dirty. Some eye gouging, haymaker, punch in the liver action. The only way that Philly can survive the 9 game win streak(!) that NJ has on the road will be to force the Jacques Lemaire BS game play style into the Flyers "We are too fast and physical for you" style of play. If the Flyers don't score one in the first 10 and two before the end of the first, I will be nervous. JVR will be back in the line-up running with the usual Briere and Carter line. Pyrola has somehow jumped onto the Richards, Hartnell line (which I do not agree with AT ALL) and Giroux gets dumped to the 3rd line. I really like Giroux and think he can play if they give him enough games and time to learn how Richards and Hartnell play. Anyways, as I said, we need to come out fast and crazy (I want to see a Car-Bomb domination of Clarkson in the first 5 min.), then we will walk over NJ and the burning hot coals they have brought with them like those crazy Africans (or whatever) from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Gentlemen (and Ladies), tonight will be a fight. Get ready to crack open those beers, or Svedka, and let's watch a great Philly victory.

P.S. The game is on Versus at 7:00 EST for those of you who aren't screwed by Direct TV.

Monday's Blow

Just a short recap of the game on Saturday.

Flyers first period = Sad

Flyers second period = Just as sad

Flyers third period = Crap, now we need to play...crap, it's too late, but Jeff Carter still worked it on the shorty...

In a nutshell, Philly kind of needs to come and actually play for 60 minutes if they want to win a game, and no stupid penalties, yeah, I'm looking at you Car-Bomb. I still like you as a player, but just not in that way...

I'll have a pre-game write up later today for the game against the Lava-like hot Devils, it may not be pretty, but a big bounce back win would be nice...

Flyers vs. The Slugs

Since I don't know the next time I will be in front of a computer (I never get on mine at home) I figured I would make my pre-game post now.

So tomorrow at 7:00 P.M. EST, the Flyers will be taking on the Buffalo Slugs, crap, I mean Sabres. Looking at the past 5 games, since that's all I care about, the Flyers are 5-0-0, and the Sabres are 2-3-0 including a loss to the Flyers last Friday. That was the only game against the Flyers so far this year and the score was 5-2. The Flyers are looking to keep their win streak alive, and they are also playing the team they are tied with in the Eastern Conference right now (so they better f-ing win). Here are some small notes going into the game:

Flyers Players to Watch:

Refer to previous post, + Ray Emery and Daniel Briere.

Also how Parent and Tolle will play coming back from injury.

Sabres Players to Watch:

Tim Connolly: 4g, 11a, 15pts
Derek Roy: 3g, 9a, 12pts
Jason Pominville: 4g, 7a, 11pts
Ryan Miller: 10-2-1, 1.82 GGA, .940 SV%

The one out of those that scares me to death is Ryan Miller. Although I do believe stellar defense has been a large help for him, he is still an incredible goaltender.

Anyways, I do expect this to be a very good and hard fought game by both teams. Look for the Flyers to come out fast and quick, and also to put a lot of pucks on Miller. You never know what can happen when you throw pucks towards the net (see last game/Betts). I know I will be enjoying a cold beer and watching this game open to close.

GO FLYERS!!!

Introduction and 5 Straight Wins

So, I decided with all of the information that I read about the Flyers and because I love the that I would start a Flyers blog, since I read about 5 different ones every day. Anyways, I'm Sean, a diehard Flyers fan that is stuck in south Florida and only gets to see them play live two times a year against the god awful Panthers. Enough about me time for some Flyers stuff.

So, as I write this, the Flyers are in the process of destroying teams that, well, they should be destroying. During this streak which started October 31st, we have a 6 to 1 win over Carolina (worst team in NHL), a 6 to 2 win over TB, a 5 to 2 win over Buffalo (when they were slumping), a 2 to 1 win over shitty St. Louis, and a 5 to 1 win over Ottawa. That makes it 24 to 7 goals for vs goals against. Now that is impressive, but to keep that up will be tough. On to some player stats over this streak:

Mike Richards: 2g, 2a, 4pts, +4
Jeff Carter: 2g, 5a, 7pts, +5
JVR (Reemer): 3g, 4a, 7pts, +5
Scott Hartnell: 3g, 4a, 7pts, +5
Chris Pronger: 1g, 7a, 8pts, +8
Matt Carle: 1g, 2a, 3pts, +8

So, interesting to see some of those, especially from Mike Richards doing so, so compared to the rest, even Carle is 1 point less, but +4 better. Personally I'm starting to think it's his linemates through this stretch, but he could also just be on a mini-semi cold streak. Anyways, that enough for the first post. I will try to post 3 to 4 times a day, except on weekends I'll be lucky to get even 1 post a day in (usually too much time spent drinking and playing Modern Warfare 2). Feel free to comment and let me know what you like and dislike. Peace.

(Oh yeah, and shout outs to Ryan and Fran over at Flyers Goal Scored by..., and Matt over at The Orange Army for getting me to want to start the whole blogging thing)