Hockey Hangover

I hate the Florida Panthers. I have no idea why we cannot play against them AT ALL. I believe in the past 3 years, we have been able to win one game in Florida, and that one game I missed. It was a disgrace to be at that game the other night. The defense was HORRIBLE, the goaltending was even worse, just a complete shit show. The offense looked decent at times, but not great. I will still give the team a pass on this one, but there better be a big turn around tonight. I'm not going to go much further into the game except to make the point that Scott Hartnell needs to be benched NOW. I don't care if we call someone up, or play Powe hurt, anything will be better than watching Hartnell skate around lost, taking stupid penalties and turning over the puck non stop. I believe it was the 4th goal that Hartnell didn't back check hard and it led straight to a goal. He just doesn't seem to have the heart to play anymore. And most of his penalties just come from him being lazy. I'm sick of it and he needs to be taught a lesson. Just give him a couple games in the press box and maybe he will smarten up. It's just not going to work for us. Anyways, moving on.

Tonight we play the Buffalo Sabres who have been realing pretty bad lately. They dropped the division lead to the Senators before the break and then followed it up with a loss to Pitt and Wash. They are an easy target and as they always say, KICK THE DOG WHILE IT'S DOWN! Miller will be in net for sure, and if we pepper him with shots right from the beginning and possibly pot one or two, he will be completely off his game. We cannot allow him to get into his groove because then he is almost impossible to beat. I am really looking forward to this game since the last one was such a let down.

I am hopeing that Lavi will be smart and quit switching up the lines so much. Give these guys some time to get some chemistry. Or else, switch them and let them all play together for more than one game. Here is my ideal set up, just personally:

Gagne-Richards-Briere
JVR-Carter-Giroux
Asham-Powe/Lieno-Hartnell (But place Lieno in Harnell's spot if Powe is healthy)
Carcillo-Betts-Laperriere

First line is just deadly with all our best players except maybe Carter. Second line is two good playmakers that can feed a true goal scorer. Third line is grit with a little skill, and the fourth is just a power house. Why not give it a try?

Anyways, I hope we can actually make something happen tonight. This is a big game with Buffalo just ahead of us in the standings and we can pull closer with this win. Also, we have Boston 2 points behind and Atlanta 3 points behind. We need to pull away NOW! What better way to go into a four game home stand than with a nice win against a team we need to beat. Let's see it happen. My prediction, 4 to 1 Flyers!

LET'S GO FLYERS!!!