Flyers Start Road Trip Off Right

The Flyers held onto a win last night as Brian Boucher got his 2nd start as Flyer in Los Angeles last night. He was pretty solid albeit the first goal, and the Flyers looked really good as a team. Notable performances include Richie’s line with Hartnell and Pyorala, Oskar Bartulis, and of course the Betts line centering Carcillo and Lappy.

I’m not going to be able to cover the Flyers this weekend as I’ll be out of market because I’m visiting Pittsburgh this weekend. Look for more updates beginning of next week possibly, although a certain band is going to be in town for a 2 night stint and I’ll be at both.

 

Flyers End Devils’ Streak at Home

The Devils came into the Flyers house last night looking to make history but came up short as the Flyers played to a 3-2 victory last night. After a great ceremony honoring Flyers great Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, The Flyers jumped to a 1-0 lead with Darroll Powe putting a puck past Marty Brodeur with a great pass from Giroux after a great read from Asham. Some game notes:

 

Flyers Honor Schultz Tonight at Home in Atlantic Division Action

Weekend was crazy and I’m a busy student so sorry for lack of updates…

Philadelphia Flyers legend Dave Schultz will be inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame in a pre-game ceremony tonight when those New Jersey Devils take the NJ turnpike south and across the bridge to come into our house up 7 points in the division. Flyers got to a 5-game winning streak after beating Ottawa on Thursday, yet it ended quickly in Buffalo on Saturday in what became a frustrating 3-2 loss to the hands of Ryan Miller and the Sabres’ powerplay. Jeff Carter notched the first shorthanded goal of the season in the 3rd period but they could not surmount Miller’s excellent goaltending as he saved 29 of their 31 shots.

Oskars Bartulis made his debut last Thursday and has been playing pretty well. Expect him to be getting more playing time and possibly having Syvret bumped back down to the Phantoms. Laliberte also was sent back down to the Phantoms this weekend as Cote played in Saturday night’s game as well due to JVR being out with the flu. James Van Riemsdyk will be back tonight, though.

Apparently New Jersey is going for a win to tie a league record of opening their season without a road loss (9 games). Let’s hope the Flyers put an end to that just like we did in our first game of the season. It’s going to be a full crowd tonight for Schultz and the Flyers, and hopefully the defense can keep Parise off the puck. Timmonen matched up pretty well against him last time, hopefully they can do the same. Going up 2-0 against the Devils right now in the season series would be great to cut their 7 point lead down and help make a push to move up in the standings. They are playing more games and only have 4 days off within the next 12 days so if this young team can get the wheels rolling, they will be hard to stop. They’ve played better hockey when they had small layoff time, but I think they haven’t played their best yet. November and December could be good months to do that to get some momentum going into January for the Olympic Break.

 

Emery and Co. Take on Senators

It wasn’t too long ago that Ray Emery was nestled between the pipes in Ottawa and leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals. He faces his former team tonight at a Wachovia Center that is sure to be rocking as the Philly Phaithful looks to see their team go for 5-straight wins after a week where the Phillies lost their title defense and the Eagles lost to the Cowboys. The standings picture hasn’t changed much over the past few days for the Flyers as they have played a league-low of only 14 games. Taking into account they have games in hand, this game can be considered very important since it is against an Eastern Conference opponent in which the Flyers still sit 6th in. They are still 4th in the Atlantic division, but they are literally a couple games away from each team. Let’s hope they bring the noise tonight.

James Van Riemsdyk, Danny Briere, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, and Ryan Parent all practiced this week yet the only probables out of that list are really JVR and Briere who are expetected to play. Parent’s groin is still bothering him and Tollefsen suffered a mild concussion in the Blues game so he most likely won’t play until at least next week. Oskar Bartulius is still called-up from the Phantoms so he should get the start tonight.

Recap tomorrow most likely.

 

The Flyers Season So Far…

With a extremely busy weekend for myself combined with the lack of internet during a good portion of it, I’m back with a few quick tidbits for a weekend recap:

-Flyers won their 3rd straight with a convincing win on Friday night where they got to Buffalo’s hot goaltender Ryan Miller.
-Flyers won their 4th straight in a shootout win on Saturday night hosting the St. Louis Blues. Claude Giroux’s move was dazzling, and Pyorala scored the winner in the 4th round.
-Tollefsen suffered a mild concussion on Saturday night and Van Riemsdyk fractured the tip of his left pinkie finger. Van Riemsdyk should be back soon, but probably not going to make their next game at home against Ottawa on Thursday. Tollefsen most likely will not play, and if Ryan Parent cannot as well, expect Bartulis or possibly Bourdon to come up from the Phantoms.

 

Flyers Take on the Flu and the Sabres Tonight

*Image courtesy of The Best Page in the Universe.

These long breaks in this wacky schedule may have been a good thing because many of the Flyers are still suffering from the flu. Notable Flyers who missed yesterday’s practice with the flu were: Matt Carle, Dan Carcillo, Arron Asham, Danny Briere and Ryan Parent. Carter has been playing through his symptoms all week and Lappy also did so on Thursday.

The Flyers are going to be down on their energy tonight and it is no secret that they’re going into a hot team’s house looking for a win after a week of having numerous players from all four of your lines sick. It’s going to be an uphill battle all night tonight, and Ryan Miller has been outstanding so far in goal for the Sabres this season. Playing this team at this point is a lot different than hosting teams like the Hurricanes and Lightning.

There’s not much else to say except the guys need they come out to play tonight and Emery has to be sharp if they want to win this game. The powerplay has been real hot as of late, so hopefully if they get the opportunity on the man advantage, they punch it in. These games are just as important now as they are in March so let’s keep our winning ways up and go for 3 straight. Game recap and such tomorrow or Sunday depending on how the weekend goes.

 

Another 6 Goal Performance

The Flyers have been put in the back seat for the most part in the Philly sports area. The Phillies are fighting for their lives to claw their way back to a World Series title, and the Eagles have hit the halfway point of their season and just reached first place after beating the Giants this past Sunday. However, it may be a good thing considering they lost two of their top forwards and were not playing well the past few weeks. Last night’s 6-2 routing of the Tampa Bay Lightning is their second straight 6-goal performance by the orange and black leading to a very decisive win.