Kudos to you, Flyers. It seems as though my 12 Days of Flyers Christmas has motivated this team to start off this road trip 3-0, and all of a sudden this team is on its longest winning streak OF THE SEASON. Want the bad news?
The teams we beat were Tampa Bay, Carolina, and the Islanders.
Let's face it, this tsreak really isn't that impressive, but at this juncture of the season, a win is a win is a win. Forget the fact that poor defense and goaltending from Mike Smith gave us the win in Tampa, forget that we blew a 3-0 lead with eight minutes left and barely won in a shootout in Carolina, and forget that without good goaltending from Michael Leighton, we lose that game on Long Island. Forget that many, many, miscues over the past few games, forget the too many stupid penalties and dumb turnovers, forget the fact that we played three of the six worst teams in the East Conference, one of the others being Philly themselves, the others Florida and Toronto.
Forget all that because a win is a win at this point, no need to fret on what this team's doing wrong because it's the same old crap they've been doing wrong all season. The question is, how long can this "crap" be avoided so that the Flyers can keep winning and move up the standings?
It'll be an interesting week in Flyer country, as the team enters the second half of the six game road trip. Only difference with these three games this week is that they play three teams in "playoff" positions in the East; the Rangers, Boston, and Ottawa, all teams that are capable of exploiting bad mistakes, sloppy, uninspired play, and lack of effort. This team still exbihibts that, regardless of what the wins and losses of recent days say, and if the play of this weekend holds up, the losses will mount again.
Thumbs Up This Week
This is a new segment where I give three thumbs up and three thumbs down to the Flyers each week.
1. Michael Leighton- He was hung out to dry in Carolina on Saturday and Long Island on Sunday, but managed to come up big in both games to earn wins for Philadelphia. Not bad for a third string goalie.
2. Blair Betts- I don't knwo why, but this team looks completly different (by that I mean better) with this guy in the lineup. He scored two huge goals at Tampa on Wednesday and is a top notch penatly killing machine, something the 25th ranked in penalty killing Flyers desperatly need.
3. Mike Richards- I've been busting you about not having balls this week, well you sure showed effort and leadeship in three wins this week, not to mention three goals and an assist over three games. Now, I want to see some intangibles from this guy, if he shows more leadership in losing, he'll find himself on here more often.
Thumbs Down this week
1. Chris Pronger- You looked slow and sloppy against Carolina and not much better on Long Island. For what the Flyers paid to get you, I expect a lot more here.
2. Oskars Bartulis- Two assists at Tampa doesn't erase the fact that you still looked lost in the offensive zone and average at best on defense. Your a nice guy and all, but you belong back at Adariondeck.
3. Scott Hartnell- Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers, outweigh the fact you assisted on both goals in the Islander game. Better than last week, but still not good enough for me.
My Flyers Picks this Week
Warning to Flyers fans, signs of good teams, the grueling road trip, and national TV (as well as cold weather) exposure loom this week. Don't take last week for granted at all.
Let's keep this short and simple, I love my Flyers and all, but we're overdue for a loss, or losses in that matter. I'm issueing this team a challenge, to prove me wrong. My predictions for this week's games are as follow, loss, loss, loss. The End.
Last Week- 1-2
Season- 8-6
Wed. at NY Rangers LOSS
Fri. at Boston LOSS
Sun. at Ottawa LOSS
Around the NHL
Atlantic- Get ready, it's going down tonight in Newark!! Pittsburgh and NEw JErsey, the class of the Eastern Conference in my opinion, do battle again, with the Penguins having revenge on their minds after being run out of the Igloo a little over a week ago by the Devils. I think Crosby and company have something to prove and return the favor to the Devils, upset victory for the Pens.
Northeast- Whos ready for the 2010 Winter Classic? I sure am, and I'm hoping the Flyers are able to make it memorable, though as you see above, I'm thinking otherwise. In any case, Philly will be traveling to hated Fenway Park to play the hated Big, Bad, Bruins. Boston is supposed to have Milan Lucic back for this game and I'm hoping for the first Winter Classic fight this year, Lucic vs. Carcillo would be my dream matchup.
Southeast- Down in Washington, last year's playoff goalie for the Capitals, Simeon Varlamov, is heading back to the AHL, with Hershey. Why you may ask? Because he is rehabbing from a lower back injury he suffered earlier this month. He is expected to be back next week, in the meantime, the Caps will have to stick it out with Jose Theodroe for their West Coast trip, kicking off tonight in San Jose (yikes!!)
Central- What a fall from grace for Paul Kariya. Ever since his heroics in the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals with Anaheim, very little has been heard from him. Kariya this past week, suffered yet another head injury after being hit by a elbow against Buffalo this week. On the season, KAriya has just 19 points in 38 games and seems to be a shadow of his former self. Let's hope for a speedy recovery and better play fro mthsi once outstanding player.
Northwest- How for real are the Colorado Avalanche? Sitting atop the Northwest Division with 50 points, Colorado was impressive in a win over Dallas on Saturday, but what remains in my mind is the 6-1 thrashign handed to them by the Capitals a couple weeks ago. Calgary and Vancouver are hot on their heels and the question remains on if the Avs have the stamina to hold on to their 2nd half lead much longer.
Pacific- Anaheim's Teemu Selanne is headed back to the Olympics, today he was selected to Team Finland for the 5th time in his career, he has played in every Olympic games since 1994, when he played as a junior before going to the NHL. Very impressive resume for the future Hall of Famer and maybe fifth time will be the charm for the Gold Medal for Teemu.
What to Watch This Week
Wednesday- Pittsburgh at New Jersey 7:00 Yahoo Sports
Thursday- New Jersey at Chicago 8:30 MSG+ 2
Friday- Philadelphia at Boston 1:00 NBC
Saturday- Washington at Los Angeles 4:00 Yahoo Sports
Sunday- Philadelphia at Ottawa 3:00 CSN Philadelphia
Monday- Los Angeles at San Jose 10:30 Yahoo Sports
Tuesday- Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 Versus
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