Dumb and Dumber

Rusty Klesla

Coyotes GM Maloney trades team's leading goal scorer for banged up DMan.

Coyotes GM Don Maloney just couldn't help himself. In a very peculiar move, Maloney orchestrates a trade exchanging former first round picks, sending Scottie Upshall and Sami Lepisto to Columbus for the perennially injured Rusty Klesla and minor league nobody, Dane Byers. The big question in all of this is, how does this deal make the Coyotes - currently 4th in the West and very much alive for a top 3 seed - a better team for the stretch run and into the playoffs...you know, like uh, for now?? Simple answer? It doesn't. It hurts the Coyotes on several levels, actually. The Coyotes lose a player tied for the team lead in goal scoring without a having young prospect or player on the roster (or in San Antonio) who can likely fill his role. Both Upshall and Lepisto are on expiring deals, and Klesla is locked up for a few more seasons at 2.9. Theoretically, having Klesla beyond this season will give the Yotes a stay at home presence on their blueline they are short on. But most importantly, and certainly not to be lost in all this is, the fact that Upshall and Lepisto will come in and contribute immediately for Columbus while Klesla will watch from the pressbox (as he is currently dinged) and Byers will report to San Antonio. So in another words...subtraction by subtraction for your team that is in the hunt for a top seed in the Western Conference playoff race?? Nice move, Maloney. We are beginning to see just how much of Glen Sather's protege you really are.

Ancillary affect? Trade away one of the most wildly popular players with the fans in the midst of your franchise trying to rebuild it's image and woo back fans during an ownership change. Replace said fan favorite with a non descript Czech DMan who has been in the league for 10 years that no one in the desert has ever heard of because he's always hurt and played only full season healthy in his entire career. Again, brilliant.

The Wolski for Roszival deal was a strange one, but this one....this one is even worse...Dumb and Dumber, Maloney.

What to watch during the break

Rangers Rookie Derek Stepan 

With the Flyers having the the first half of the week off, here are a few things to keep you occupied until Thursday.

Monday
The Trading Deadline: So far this year there have already been a lot of big names traded leading up to the deadline. A lot of pundits don't think there will be too many big names moved tomorrow, but it should still be an exciting day. I am sure there will be enough people passing bullshit off as facts on twitter to make it frustratingly interesting. I will be doing my best to get all the trades out via our twitter account, so if you can't be near a computer and have a smart phone you can follow us for all the updates ( https://twitter.com/#!/the_ICU_news )

Blackhawks-vs-Wild: VS has this game and both teams need the win. In the extremely close West race, both teams have 72 points, but only the Wild are currently holding a playoff spot. The Blackhawks are playing well of late, winning their last four games, and the Wild are playing .500 over their last eight games. 

Tuesday
Sabres-vs-Rangers: VS picked another good one. The Sabres are fighting hard to get into the playoffs of their slow start. With a win, the Sabres would pull within three points of the Rangers who sit in 7th, and still have two games in hand. The Sabres have only won two of their last five games, but so are the Rangers who have dropped nine of their last 13 games. 

Wednesday
Penguins-vs-Maple Leafs:Although I am positive VS picked this game to show off Crosby and Malkin, neither will be in the line, again. The loss of their two stars is finally starting to take its toll as the Pens have dropped eight of their last 11 games. Despite their poor play, they have been able to hold on to 4th place in the East, and the Rangers aren't challenging them for 2nd in the Atlantic. The Leafs are trying to get back into a playoff position, where they have been since an eight game losing streak in November. The Leafs have already been involved in five trades since the New Year mainly receiving draft picks in return for bodies, which would lead many to believe that they were sellers this year, but they are only five points out of a playoff spot.

Flyers - Senators In-Game Recap

Sorry this is a little late, but I just finished the game so here it is...

1st period
Zherdev Breakaway - Trying to prove that he deserves a spot on an NHL roster +1
Defense - keeping everything to the outsides +1
Richards' Line - Good scoring chances and Richards getting physical around the net +1
Power Play #1 - Couple of good chances by the D, no one in front of the net for 1st PP unit -1
Neutral Zone - Couple of bad turnovers, one leading to Ottawa's first scoring chance -1
No Icing - Carter beats Ottawa D to cancel an icing call +1
Claude Giroux - Starting to throw some nice checks +1
Power Play #2 - This drop pass shit is getting on my nerves, dump it in and go get it -1
Erik Gustafsson - Looked in his first NHL period, no major mistakes and good positioning +1
Scott Hartnell - What a beautiful half-slapper for the opening goal. Great pass by Giroux. Didn't know Hartnell had that shot in him +2
Three Shots - That is all the Senators had all period +1

1st Period - The team looked alright. They were not as dominant as they should have been against the worst team in the NHL, even though there was a 12 shot differential. +6

2nd period
Power Play #3 - Anderson with a good save on Briere, 1 shot on goal, fucking useless -1
Nodl - Nice steal at the blueline leads to a chance +1
Carle - Bad turnover in is own end. luckily Boosh made the save on a botched deke -1
Failed Clears - Three in a row on the same shift -1
Power Play #4 - Pretty sure they were out shot, it is getting worse and worse -1
Erik Gustafsson - Still looking good in his first game. +1
Penalty Kill #1 - What the hell was that? Richards and Timonen just got abused in the corner -1
Zherdev - Showing off his speed beating two Seantors to the puck and generating a scoring chace +1
Peter Laviolette - Juggling the lines like crazy. Apparently the "give a shit" speech through the media didn't work -1
D to O - Struggling to get clean a clean exit out of the zone -1
Eric Condra - Congrats on your 1st NHL goal. The Flyers get what they deserved. Stupid passes in the O zone and poor play in the D zone. -2
Sean O'Donnell - Two bad passes in the his own end leading to multiple scoring chances, wouldn't be surprised if the Sens add one more this period. -1
Final Two Minutes - That was embarrassing. 2-on-3 rush and the Flyers can cover the second man. A bad turnover in the neutral zone. Getting abused in their on end. The Sens should have picked up another goal or two there. -3

2nd Period - Well the last 10 minutes of that period were just sad. Team looks like they just gave up. I still expect them to win the game based on talent, but I kinda hope they get blown out in the third so they might learn something from this game. -8

3rd period
And It Countinues - Flyers give easy access to their zone and then have a bad turnover which turns into a great chance. -1
Meszaros & O'Donnell - Struggling this game. Multiple bad passes and bad decsions on coverage. -1
Richards- Verteeg-Zherdev - Appears to be the only line prodiceing any (but only a little) offense this period -1
Flyers Announcing - Please shut the fuck and tell it like it is. The Flyers just are not into this game -1
Erik Gustafsson - Still looking good in his first game, too bad it will probably be his only game +1
And It Still Countinues - Failed clears and bad D lead to more scoring chances -1
Chris Phillips - Weak shot from the point finally gets the Sens up by two -1
Shots On Goal - Flyers are getting dominated since the end of the first -1
Penalty Kill #2 - Sens were able to get some nice chances, but Flyers killed it off +1
Giroux Hit Hard - There was a small response by Hartnell and Gustafsson, but not enough for me. -1
[B]Erik Gustafsson[/B - Despite the above post, ill give him credit for stepping up for his teammate in his first NHL game +1
Penalty Kill #3 - The penalty is bullshit. Taking notes Philly? That is how a power play works.-1
Peter Laviolette - Is fucking pissed. Lets see what he can do with three days off. +1

3rd Perod - Well there was a total lack of effort all around. The Flyers were dominated at times by the worst team in the NHL. Luckily the Flyers are not desperate for points, and ca afford to have off games. -5


I hope they enjoy the Carnival, because Peter should be pissed after he called the team out in the media and got this kinda response. Even though Zherdev had a good game it was a fluke that he got on the ice at all, so I think he will find himself back in the press box. Hopefully Laviolette can use the extra days off to get the team motivated again. I really think the power play will benefit from dumping the puck in more. Gustafsson looked good in his first game.

Islanders - Flyers in game recap +/-

1st PERIOD 
Great Start - Peter Laviolette rolled all four lines out to start the game, and all four lines look dominant. The team had nine shots on goal in the first eight minutes, and the Islanders had blocked seven shots. Great to see from a team that sometimes has problems getting out of the gate, and for that I'l give them a +2
Forecheck - It only took :12 seconds for the Flyers to get a shot on goal off of a dump in, unlike on Tuesday night where it took 54 minutes. They did a much better job applying pressure during the first, resulting in a few turnovers and more scoring chances. +1
Frans Nielsen - First he skated right by Powe and his weak stick check. Then he left Carle standing still on the half wall. Then he beats Bob from a bad angle. All around a bad goal to give up after starting so well. That is a -3 for each player that looked bad on this play, and I'm gonna throw in another -1 for giving up the first goal of the game. -4
Penalty Kill #1 - Always a positive to kill of a penalty, but that is their job. They get a +1 for generating excellent scoring chances while down a man. 
Hip Check - When was the last time se saw a great hip check from a Flyer? How about from a forward? Claude Giroux earns a +2 for the great hip check and showing off his ability to skate backwards. 
1ST PERIOD TOTAL = Even though the Flyers are trailing on the scoreboard, they played good that period and have something to build off of going into the second period. +2

2nd PERIOD
Game Tying Goal - Great shift by the Richards line. Great retrieval on the dump in. Great shot by Richards. +2
Frans Nielsen - Can someone please hit this guy, he is absolutely dominating the Flyers.-2
Hartnell- Richards - Versteeg Line - Looking great tonight. After scoring the goal they had three more great shifts in a row. Probably should have had more than one goal that period. Probably Richards' best game in weeks. +2
Forecheck - Flyers are again doing a good job on pressuring the D. Hartnell has been doing a great job of getting in on the forecheck. +1
Odd Man Rushes - They gave up too many that period. The period started with a 2-on-1 rush for the Islanders. -1
Bob - He has done a much better job of handling the puck this game. He also made a couple of great saves in close. The D, and the posts, have also helped him out. +1
JVR Goal - Amazing behind the back pass by Giroux and and nice finish by JVR putting the Flyers up for the first time. +2
Claude Giroux - Great period. Good assist, great back check and shot block. +1
Failed Clears - Multiple failed clears this period. It hasn't cost them yet, but it will eventually. -1
2ND PERIOD = They built on what they started in the 1st. Great forecheck and physicality payed off with two goals. Only a few negative that period. Lets see if they can get a sold 60 minute game in tonight. +5

3rd PERIOD
Bob - Another series of good saves. +1
Carter Goal - Giroux is on fire tonight. Anyone on the ice with him tonight is benefiting from his play. +1
Martin Goal - Carle beat on the dump in and no one picked up Martin. The Flyers didn't have a chance to enjoy that two goal lead. -2
Power Play #1 - Looked alright, but still can't convert. -1
Islanders Pushin - Aside from the two minutes on the penalty kill, the Islanders have been pushing since they score their last goal. Hopefully Laviolette can remotivate his team during the TV timeout. -1
Pronger Injury - Blocked a shot with his right hand, hope it isn't serious. -/+
Uninspired Play - After two great periods, they just didn't look nearly as interested in the 3rd. Lets hope they can get out of the last two minutes. -1
Bob Miscue - Bob's miscue behind the net leads to a turnover -1
Tying Goal - With :27 seconds left the Islanders tie the game off of the Bob turnover. I felt that coming. -3
3RD PERIOD - The Flyers got what they deserved. They took their foot off the gas and let the Islanders back into the game. After building the lead in the second they let it go to waist in the 3rd. -7

OVERTIME
Timonen's Chance - Nice pass and nice move by Timonen.+1
Claude Giroux -Still a beast in OT. Great decisions making with the puck +1
Meszaros' Goal - Great patients by the entire line and agreat shot by Meszaros. +2
OVERTIME - The game never should have ended in OT, hopefully the Flyers will learn to play for the entire 60 minutes soon. +4

You see in this world there's two kinds of people...

...those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
When Blondie said those words, it was a good thing to be the guy with the loaded gun, but I am not so sure that the Flyers couldn't benefit from a little more digging.

The Flyers are a team full of loaded guns; nine players with at least 10 goals, four players with at least 50 points, 12 players with at least 20 points, and seven players with shorthanded points. The Flyers are also third in the league in goals per game (3.27), third in goals for (198), and the best in the league at winning games that they score the first goal (.824%). All the numbers prove that the Flyers know how to put the puck into the net.

What Really Grinds My Gears

I had all intentions of writing a recap for the Flyers-Rangers game when I sat down to watch the game, but right before I turned the game on I ate about 3/4 of a baked brie that my lady cooked. That sent me into a food coma that left me almost as cognizant as the Flyers in the 3rd period of yesterdays game. The game really wasn't that exciting, but at least the Flyers picked up the two points. So, since I wasn't in the proper state of mind or properly stimulated to write a recap, I bring the first installment of:

What Really Grinds My Gears

You know what really grinds my gears?

1) Asinine NHL Planing: Its Hockey Day In America! So the NHL plans five games for three time slots on two channels. Sounds great. Run two games at 1 and two games at 4 and put one on VS and one on NBC in each time slot, and then run the outdoor game at the regular time of 7. I guess that made too much sense for the NHL, so they decided to run three games at the same time and put them all on the same channel. What the fuck? So if you are a fan of one of those six teams and don't live in your teams area, you miss the game. Great planning NHL.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do…

ST. Louis Blues Send Former First Overall Pick Erik Johnson and Defensive Specialist Jay McClement to Colorado for Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart.

Chris Pronger Part II? And Flyers fans seems to think their organization doesn’t have patience.

Development hindered by a freak golf cart accident, Erik Johnson has been a bit of an enigma to the St. Louis Blues and to the NHL as a whole. Immensely talented, though often times suffering from confidence issues, some observers are quick to point out that EJ has yet to ‘put it all together’. What’s magnified EJ’s situation is that rookie Alex Pietrangelo has come in this season and played lights out for the club, reliable in both the offensive and defensive end.

Flyers - Panthers Recap

1st Period
After brining the game to a stop last night in Tampa, the Flyers looked happy to be able to stretch out their legs against the Panthers. After turning in a good performance the night before, Dan Carcillo was promoted up to the Richards-Versteeg line and showed his gratitude by assisting on Richards' first goal in the last 10 games. For the second shift in a row, Richards received a nice set up pass form Versteeg and was able to score on the second one, giving Versteeg his first point as a Flyer. The Flyers second goal was a result of patience and good passing. The defense cycled the puck in their own end as the forwards changed lines and then the team executed a perfect rush up the ice. Coburn started the rush with a pass to Timonen who found Hartnell at the blueline. Hartnell cruised in slowly from the left point as Nodl crashed the net and Briere rushed up the right side. Hartnell snapped a quick pass to Briere who hit Nodl directly in front of the net for an easy tip in.

Flyers - Lightning Recap

The Flyers traveled south to Tampa and earned an important win against the team chasing them for first place in the Eastern Conference, and James van Riemsdyk record his first Gordie Howe hat trick. Maybe JVR's first NHL fight got his blood pumping, because he was the Flyers' best player the rest of the night. He scored the Flyers' first goal less than a minute after being released from the penalty box , and picked up an assist on the Flyers second goal from his new home on the point of the Flyers' second power play unit. I have to admit that I am still skeptical about JVR's presence on the point of the PP, he seems hesitant to use that 101 mph slap shot that earned him a spot on the PP. Even his assist last night came off a well place wrist shot as he crept in from the point. 

It was great to see JVR dropping the gloves to defend teammate Claude Giroux, who was taken down on a questionable hit by former Flyer Randy Jones. JVR skated in and gave Jones a hard elbow and some lip in response to the hit, and Jones immediately drop the gloves. JVR may not have been looking for a fight, but he held his own. Jones eventually got the take down, but not before JVR landed a few punches.

Adding Kris Versteeg what's not to like

Flyers GM Paul Holmgren does it again with what this blogger terms a ‘Holmgren Signature Move’, striking 2 weeks before the deadline. Before the desperation level among NHL GM’s reaches a fever pitch during the trade deadline’s proverbial 11th hour, Homer sends a first and third round draft pick in the upcoming draft to Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs for Kris Versteeg, an exciting and gritty player with a Stanley Cup ring. The deal made sense for both GM’s, as both teams walked away with fair value towards their respective clubs needs, a rarity in today’s NHL trading landscape.

Holmgren isn’t ever adverse to adding vets, but if Holmgren has shown us anything, it’s his willingness to add pieces to this team that make sense for the present and the future.

This latest deal to add Versteeg is no exception. Potentially one of Homers finest moves, it makes sense on a variety of levels, let’s take a look:

The Devil's Advocate

On Saturday January 8, the Devils capped off a four game losing streak by losing back to back games to the Flyers. That night the Devils went to bed with 22 points (10-29-2) and 27 points out of a playoff spot. Exactly half way through the season and the Devils had 22 points, and everyone (including me) dismissed them for the year. Well, the Devils decided to turn their game around starting with game 42.

Since the two losses to the Flyers, the Devils have picked up 26 additional points in 15 games, going 12-1-2. They picked up more points in the last 15 games than they did in the first half of the season. That is one hell of a turn around. If the Devils continue at this pace, they will pick up 71 points in the second half of the season. Combine that with their first half output, and that gives them 93 points, which would have been good enough for sixth in the East last season and seventh in our projected points standings.

It won't be easy for the Devils to keep up this pace, 18 of their last 26 games are against teams that are currently in a playoff spot or fighting for one. Although, nine of their last 15 games have been against similar opponents and it hasn't stopped them from winning. So you can't say that the schedule is going to slow them down. It doesn't seem possible for the Devils to keep up this pace. They played so poorly the first half of the year I just expect them to slip back into it at some point.

I really don't expect the Devils to make the playoffs, but it is not a foregone conclusion like it was a month ago. Flyers fans enjoyed the Devils' misfortunes for the first half of the season, lets hope we can enjoy them missing out on the playoffs and a high draft pick.

They're All Gonna Laugh at You...

Unless You Beat the Shit Out of the First Person that Laughs.

First off, lets gets some of the numbers out there for you to digest:
taken from ESPN.com
346 total penalty minutes:

163 for the Penguins
183 for the Islanders

16 fighting majors:

1st Period: Michael Haley, Craig Adams, Eric Godard, Trevor Gillies
2nd Period: Josh Bailey, Pascal Dupuis, Travis Hamonic, Mike Rupp, Matt Martin, Maxime Talbot, 
3rd Period: Brent Johnson, Maxime Talbot, Michael Haley, Michael Haley, Andrew MacDonald, Joe Vitale

21 Game Misconducts:

2nd Period: Josh Bailey, Pascal Dupuis, Mike Rupp, Deryk Engelland, Travis Hamonic, Matt Martin, Matt Martin
3rd Period: Eric Godard, Eric Godard, Craig Adams, Michael Haley, Michael Haley, Trevor Gillies, Trevor Gillies, Maxime Talbot, Zenon Konopka, Kris Letang, Kyle Okposo, Brett Sterling, Jack Hillen, Ryan Craig

2-11 Flyers - Hurricanes Recap

It was nice to see the Flyers' dormant powerplay strike twice tonight, but I thought they should have been able to blow the game open with all the opportunities they had. Coming into this game, the Flyers power play had only converted on four of their last 32 opportunities (12.5%) Last night they scored two goals on six opportunities, which was only the ninth game of the season in which the Flyers scored multiple powerplay goals. Against a Canes' penalty kill that is ranked 23rd in the league and gives up a goal 21% of the time, the Flyers' powerplay still looked ineffective the majority of the time. 

I singled out Jeff Skinner out in the pregame write up as a player to watch. He was on the ice for the Canes lone goal, he drove the net taking Chris Pronger out of the play, but that wasn't the play Flyers' fans will remember him for. Twice in one shift Braydon Coburn threw Skinner to the ice like he was a child. Skinner showed the lack of restraint and maturity that can come with being 18 years old, and picked up a charging penalty a few seconds later when he left his feet on the hit when he tried to get a little revenge on Coburn. But who can blame him for jumping to hit a guy that is seven inches taller he is? He continued to show off his age by interrogating the ref on the way to the box, and then later harassing the ref for not getting the call when he was clipped with a high stick. Eventually the ref skated to the Carolina bench and told the Canes' head coach Paul Maurice "Tell him to be quiet," referring to Skinner. The kid has talent, but like a lot of young players in the NHL, he needs some veteran leaders to show him how to conduct himself on the ice. 

I was very relieved to see Claude Giroux return to the ice after taking a slapshot to the outside of his knee. He went down hard and missed a number of shifts afterwards. He returned to the game and looked fine, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was sore for a couple of days and isn't 100% on Sunday when the Kings come to town. I thought Coburn played a great game. It is always nice to see him use his size to gain puck control. Brian Boucher also played a good game, although he wasn't able to pick up that illusive first shutout of the year. There were a few plays that he lost sight of the puck when it got in close around the net and I don't recall any spectacular saves that he was forced to make, but he made all the save he had to and lead the team to their league leading 36 win of the season.

2-10 Flyers - Hurricanes Pregame

After a lengthy five day break, the Flyers are back in action tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes are coming down from Newark, New Jersey where two nights ago they lost to the Devils in overtime. The Canes gave up a game tying goal with less than three minutes left in the game, and only made it to overtime because of a couple of great saves by Cam Ward. The defeat was the Canes third in their last four games. The one win was against the Thrashers which lifted the Canes into eighth place in the East. A win tonight could bring the Canes within one point of the Rangers and widen the gap on an idle Thrashers team. The Canes will have to play better than they did against the Flyers in November, losing 2-3 and 8-1 in the span of eleven days. 

The Canes' biggest threat is Eric Staal. His 26 goals and 45 points lead the team, and his 28 assists are only one behind team leader Tuomo Ruutu. Stall has averaged a point per game over his last 18 games. Despite being a top ten point producer in the NHL this season, Staal is -11. Another player to keep an eye on is 18 year rookie old Jeff Skinner. Skinner is currently second on the team in points with 43, and third on the team in power play points with 16. Although these two have only combined for one point in the two previous games against the Flyers this season, they should still be the focal point for the Flyers tonight. 

The last time the Flyers had a break this long, they were dismantled by the Canucks 2-8 in their first game back, I don't foresee the same happening tonight. The Flyers' top two scoring lines have had a filed day against the Canes this season. The Briere-Hartnell-Leino and Carter-Zherdev-Giroux lines both have five goals and nine points in the two games, which accounts for all 10 of the goals the Flyers have scored against Canes this season. I doubt the Canes defensive core, which is -18 for the season, and Cam Ward, who has started the last 13 games, can keep either or both of these lines off of the scoreboard tonight.

Atlanta Crashers

All during the month of December, every time I turned on any NHL related broadcast or recap show, all the talking heads were telling me how Dustin Byfuglien was the leading candidate to win the Norris Trophy and how he was going to lead his team into the playoffs. And every time I heard it, I just shook my head. Sure he was on pace to shatter his previous season high in goals (19) and he was second to Mike Green in goals by a defenseman, but was he helping his team out defensively? I never saw much evidence of it. So far this season Byfuglien is a +1. How the hell can you be the front runner for the Norris Trophy when you are a +1? To be fair, he was +7 when the pundits were singing his praises.  But since the calendar flipped so has Byfuglien's game.

On December 31, Dustin Byfuglien had 39 points, 14 goals and 25 assists through 40 games. In the 15 games since the new year, Byfuglien has two points in 15 games. He had a goal in the first game of the year and a goal in last nights game, that leaves 13 games in between with zero points. Last night he had one of the worst turnovers in I have ever seen a defenseman make in his own end. Skating across his own crease he decided to attempt a drop pass to his D-partner who was around the face off circle. To bad the Maple Leaf's forward was five feet behind him and ready for the easy goal.

The rest of the Thrashers have followed Byfuglien's lead and have only won four games since January 1. They have been outscored by 25 goals over that time frame and lost their playoff spot to their divisional rival, the Carolina Hurricanes. Ondrej Pavelec has been in net for this entire stretch, so he might be a little tired, but Chris Mason is coming of IR on Friday, which might bring a little relief. The bad stretch can't be blamed on Pavelec, the Thrashers are only averaging 2.2 goals per game since the new year, down from 3.6 before that.

You can't even blame the Thrashers downfall on Byfuglien. The team has looked completely uninterested in committing any extra effort to the cause of winning. Players stand by with no response as teammates a run illegally, forwards refuse to go to the difficult areas of the ice and pay the price to score goals, and defenseman make asinine plays in front of their own net. If the Thrashers have any hope of making the playoffs for only the second time in their teams history, someone on the team needs to step up and set an example for the team to follow. Maybe it is time for Byfuglien to live up to all that praise he was receiving early this season, and by the man that steps up and shows his team how to win again.

One Team's Misfortune, Is the Flyers' Gain

After an eventful weekend, here are five ways that the Flyers and their fans benefited from other team's misfortunes over the weekend.

1) Evgeni Malkin out for the season:
Now, I am not encouraging fans to cheer at the season ending injury of a rival player, but it is impossible not to see how this injury helps the Flyers. Malkin has enjoyed success against the Flyers over the course of his career, he has 43 points in 30 regular season games and 14 points in 11 postseason meetings. With the Flyers being eliminated by the Pens twice in the past three years, you have to start measuring the Flyers against the Pens as the playoffs grow closer. Without Malkin the Flyers look to be the better team, by a good margin. The Pens will no longer be able to combine Malkin and Crosby when they are desperate for a spark, they will have to depend on Crosby and contributions from secondary scorers. Take Malkin and Crosby away and the Pens only have four players with double digit goals, and three of those only have 10 goals. Crosby is also trying to recover from a concussion, or two, and is not guaranteed to be 100% the rest if the way. I fully believe that Crosby has the will to carry his team in the playoffs, but they are defiantly not as scary any more. 

2) The Avalanche signed Peter "The Foot" Forsberg:
Well, we dodged a bullet there. There was part of me that just knew the Flyers would go after him. He was only going to sign in one of two places, and the Flyers gave him a better chance at getting deep into the playoffs than the Avs. I am not going to deny that Forsberg is extremely talented and had some awe inspiring moments as a Flyer, but at the age of 37 and three and a half years removed from any NHL experience, it just wasn't worth the risk. How long until he misses a game with an injury? Less than a week? Even though the Flyers could use another forward capable of scoring heading into the playoffs, Forsberg was not the answer.

3) A schism in the Bruins locker room:
One of the biggest threats to the Flyers advancing out of the East this season is the Bruins. The team is playing great so far, Tim Thomas is playing out of his mind again, and the team has given up the fewest goals of any team in the NHL (119) because of it. On Thursday, Bruins forward Daniel Paille laid a blindside hit on Stars rookie Raymond Sawada that was similar to a hit that Matt Cooke put on Bruins forward Marc Savard almost a year ago. Sawada, playing in his first game in the NHL, is now sidelined indefinitely with a concussion and separated because of the hit. Andrew Ference spoke out condemning the Paille saying "It was a bad hit. We can't be hypocrites when your own team does a hit like that, which the league is trying to get rid of." Paille openly defended the hit the next day, and took exception to the comments from his teammate. Of course, all players involved are now saying that there is no split in the locker room. For a team that is rebounding from a monumental collapse to end last years playoffs, there could be some doubts still floating around in the heads of the players. Hopefully this dispute over a hit will lead to further disputes amongst the team and full on schism. 
A side note: Marc Savard is out for the season with a concussion.

4) The Rangers start to fall:
The Rangers have now lost four games in a row, and have only managed three wins in their last 10 games. Its not that the Rangers scare me down the stretch or in the playoffs, but it sure is fun to watch them lose. I think all Flyers' fans can smile at the thought of the Rangers' playoff hopes coming down to the last week or day of the season, again. The Rangers are healthy for the first time all year, so they do have a good chance to pick it up and make it comfortably into the playoffs. But if you are like me, you find great joy in watching the Rangers slowly slip down the standings and closer to ninth place in the East.

5) The Devils start to rise:
Ilya Kovalchuk finally decided to play hockey. Thankfully it was 41 games into the season before he figure out how. Kovalchuk has 12 points in the last 11 games, but only 20 points over the first 40 games of the season. Normally the Devils winning is not a benefit to the Flyers, or their fans, but at this point the Devils winning only hurts themselves. In just one week the Devils have jumped three teams in the overall standings and move further and further away from the number one overall pick in this years draft. 
A side note: Martin Brodeur had to pull himself from the game tonight with a knee injury. Hopefully it is season/career ending, not that I encourage fans to cheer at the season ending injury of a rival player.

2-4-11 Predators - Flyers Recap

First off, I would like to thank Comcast for losing their HD feed half way into the first period. Since I had to DVR the game, this technical difficulty forced me to miss the majority of the game. So for that reason, my recap will be a little lacking, but I'll write about what I saw.

It was nice to see the Flyers start the game out with more jump and purpose than they did against the Lighting two nights earlier. James van Riemsdyk registered the Flyers' first shot on goal 17 seconds into the game, whereas on Tuesday the Flyers were down 2-0 before they registered a shot after two minutes had passed. It was also nice to see the Flyers score a few goals after being shutout of the fourth time this season. Jeff Carter was rewarded with a goal for applying good pressure on the forechecking and winning a puck battle behind the net. Carter was able to beat Predators' defenseman Alexander Sulzer to the puck and push it along the boards to former Predator Kimmo Timonen who eventually got the puck back to Carter along the half wall. After losing the puck battle, Sulzer failed to guard Carter and opted to mark Claude Giroux instead, who was already being guarded by two Predators. Carter made him pay for his mistakes with a beautiful wrist shot past the Preadators' backup goaltender Anders Lindback. 

The Flyers failed to protect the lead, allowing Marcel Goc to tie the game less than minute later. This goal started with a weak check attempt by Scott Hartnell at center ice. After allowing defenseman Cody Franson to skate by him, Hartnell skated directly to the bench, leaving the rest of the team to deal with the results of his poor effort. The Flyers were still alright at this point as it was a 3-on-3 rush. Franson was able to split Ville Leino and Timonen at the blue line and then draw pressure form Matt Carle as Timonen peeled back to his side of the ice. Franson let a wrist shot go and Sergei Bobrovsky pushed the rebound toward the circle on Timonen's side. Timonen failed to pick up Goc who was left with an easy goal.

Leino's good work on the power-play put the Flyers back into the lead seven minutes into the third period. Leino picked up a rebound and positioned himself behind Lindback's net. Leino passed the puck to Mike Richards who quickly put a shot on net. The shot deflected of Carter, who was set up in front of the net, and bounced directly to Leino who lifted it over Lindback's left pad and into the net. The goal came from in close and was anything but easy. 10 minutes later Leino would show off his skills again. 

The Flyers' third goal was the result of great work along the boards by Carter, Leino, and Giroux. The trio worked the puck behind Lindback's net twice before Giroux found Leino crashing the net. Leino received the puck about 15 feet directly in front of the net. Martin Erat came sliding across to block a shot, but Leino didn't shoot the puck. He quickly spun to his backhand and beat Lindback glove side high. It was a beautiful goal that showed the talent that Flyers' fans grew to love during last years playoff run. 

Before Leino scored the game winner, the Predators were able to tie the game at two. This goal was scored on the power play, and started with a slap-shot from Shea Weber who registered a 104.8 mph slap shot at last weekends All-Star festivities. Bobrovsky was able to make the save, but left a rebound to his left. Joel Ward was able to fight through a stick check by Timonen and deposit the rebound past Bobrovsky.

The win gave the Flyers a three point cushion on the Pittsburgh Penguins who host the Sabres tonight. The Flyers played better than they did on Tuesday night, but could still improve on their performance. The Flyers' next game is Saturday against a very good Dallas Stars team that has lost two games in a row, and will be looking to get back into the win column.

Flyers - Lightning Recap

Even though it was the ex-Flyers that struck early, it was the current Flyers that lost this game. Simon Gagne had two assists before two minutes had passed off the clock and Steve Downie added a third goal before the end of the first period. Steven Stamkos scored his league leading 39th goal in the third period to push the lead to four. 

It is hard to pick a Flyers that had a good night. Brian Boucher played well after coming into the game to start the second period, but the Flyers couldn't get a puck past Dwayne Roloson who recorded his second straight shutout. The rest of the Flyers appeared to want to extend their break an extra two days. There were a few shifts from the Hartnell-Briere-Leino and Zherdev-Giroux-Carter lines that showed promise, but they were few and far between. The Flyers had trouble all night getting the puck through the neutral zone, and once they did they had an even harder time maintaining possession in the offensive zone. It was this struggle for the blue line that cost the Flyers two early goals. The lightning capitalized off two turnovers, the first in the neutral zone and the second just over the blue line. The third period passed as the Lightning sat back with all five men playing defense for the majority of the period.

You have to give credit to the Lightning for coming out of the break ready to play. They dominated the the mjority of the game, even though they were out shot by the Flyers 38-22. The majority of the Flyers' shots came from bad angles. The Flyers earned four power plays but were unable to capitalize on any of them, mainly due to over passing the puck and a lack of traffic in front of Roloson. 

In my pre-game write up, I said that the Flyers had to stop the Stamkos-St. Louis line and not spend a lot of time in the penalty box. They did both of those, limiting Stamkos to one shot on goal, which he scored on, and only taking two minor penalties all night, which they killed off. I am sure there were some players who had good nights, but I didn't feel like looking for them. The team should get credit for holding Stamkos St. Louis quite for most of the night. 

Hopefully the Flyers will be ready to play on Thursday night when they host the Nashville Predators.

Flyers - Lightning Pregame

The top two teams in the East face off on the first night back from the All-star break, in what should be a good battle if both teams come back from the break ready to play. The Flyers sit atop the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference with 71 points, while the Lightning are leading the Southeast Division with 67 points. After sweeping all four games last season, the Flyers have lost both of the previous meetings this season; both in Philly and both by one goal. The Lightning are playing in the third game of a 12 game home stand, where they are 16-4-2 so far this season. The Flyers have played well on the road this season going 17-5-3, and particularly well as of late winning seven of their last eight road games. In their last meeting, the teams combined for 15 goals and the Flyers' wasted multiple two goal leads.

Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos have been tearing it up against the Flyers this season. St. Louis has seven assists in the two games, including assists on every power play goal the Lightning have scored against the Flyers this season. Stamkos has four goals, all assisted by St. Louis, including a hat trick. Stamkos was on a hot streak over the 10 games before the All Star break, picking up nine goals and 10 assist. The Lightning penalty kill has been hot as of late, killing 16 of the last 17 penalties, the Flyers have yet to score a power play goal against the Lightning, while Tampa Bay has scored three goals on 15 power plays against the Flyers. The Lightning power play has been struggling since the New Year, only scoring five goals (5-43) in the 13 games. I expect to see Rolson in net who has gone 7-2 since being traded to the Lightning. He has not faired as well against the Flyers over his career, losing seven of his 10 games against them.

I expect Nikolay Zherdev and Jeff Carter to have big games against Tampa. Zherdev has three goals and an assist against Tampa this season. He was able to pick up those points despite limited minutes (10 per game). Since then Zherdev's minutes have increased since finding chemistry with Carter, their line has been the hottest on the team since the new year. While Carter has not found success against the Lightning this season, just one point he has a history of scoring goals against the Lightning over his career, picking up 14 goals and five assist in 22 regular season games. Carter is also the most productive Flyer when the team has more than three days rest before a game, eight points in six games this season. 

Stopping the Stamkos line and cutting down on penalties are the keys to beating the Lightning tonight. Stamkos and St. Louis have 12 points against the Flyers this season, while the rest of the team only has 20. Tampa has the seventh ranked power play in the league this season, and if given nine chances again the Flyers have no chance of winning. The Flyers also need to come out with a purpose tonight, they have had a history of struggling to get back up to speed after breaks. I expect Peter Laviolette to have his team ready to go after the break, and see the Flyers leaving Tampa with the win.