Lightning Jolt Flyers Back To Reality

"We had a lot of zone time," Philadelphia Flyers' head coach Peter Laviolette said on nhl.com after losing 4-0 on the road to the Tampa Bay Lightning in their first game back from the All-Star break. "We had 40 shots, maybe 80 attempts. It was one of those nights."

           Dwayne Roloson of the Tampa BayLightning has been playing
some of thebest hockey of his storied career.

It truly was one of those nights for the Flyers.

Flyers analyst and colour commentator, Chris Therien warned fans about this scenario in a video preview to the game on Flyers TV.

The score certainly doesn't portray the correct picture though as the Flyers dominated most of the game-play.

The shot total resulted in a tilted lop-sided favor to the Flyers who out out-shot the Lightning by almost 20 in a 38-22 losing effort and went 0-4 on the power-play to increase the "orange-and-blacks" power-play woes.

Newly aquired 41-year-old veteran goaltender, Dwayne Roloson earned his fourth shut-out in his brief tenure with the Lightning and last night's 38-save performance is making club GM, Steve Yzerman  look like a  front-runner for the GM-of-the-year award.

Kudos to the Lightning for a game well-played.

After 50.

The Philadelphia Flyers are having quite the season through 50 games and their numbers can prove the Flyers' worth.

With 71 points (33-12-5), the Flyers are in a virtual tie with the Vancouver Canucks (31-10-9) in their bid for the President's Trophy- awarded to the team with most points at seasons end. However, the Flyers have two wins over the Canucks and have scored nine additional goals over Vancouver as well.

The Flyers won all but two games in January and ended the month with wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens. The victory over the Blackhawks was special yet bitter-sweet as the Hawks managed to beat the Flyers last spring in six-games to win the Stanley Cup. Beating the Canadiens iced the season series three games to one. That win gave the Flyers their 1,000th home-ice victory making them the first expansion team to reach that mark and also let the Flyers' three All-Star Weekend representatives enjoy the weekend on a high-note. Danny Briere notched two goals in Raleigh, N.C. for Team Lidstrom while Claude Giroux played against Briere on Team Staal  and also had two points with a goal and an assist in a losing effort (11-10) to Team Lidstrom co-led by head coach, Peter Laviolette.

The club also had off-ice success in the head office as the Flyers extended some key contracts with Jeff Carter (44 points, 23G:21A), Claude Giroux (47 points, 19G:28A), and club GM Paul Holmgren who almost single-handedly crafted the Flyers into what we are seeing today.

And if all these numbers weren't enough to convince hockey fans that the Flyers are playing well then perhaps rookie goalie sensation, Sergei Bobrovsky can. Bobrovsky, or "Bobs," started the season as an unknown Russian and quickly turned heads in the pre-season and cranked the heads all the way around with a major first career win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on opening night as the Flyers beat the Penguins on the road and crashed their grand opening of  new state-of-the-art stadium.

"Bobs" has since improved his English and has strung together 21 wins and leads all rookie goaltenders in that same category. His save percentage dropped slightly during a short slump but since rebounding, he is back to form and has seemed to take an edge for the No.1 starters spot over teammate Brain Boucher.  "Boosh" has also played with the same magic he casted over the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins in the post-season last year as he helped to guide the Flyers to the Finals before being forced out of action against the Bruins due to a serious knee injury. The Flyers rallied from a three-game deficit to storm back and beat the Bruins in game seven in a remarkable game that showcased the Flyers ability to rally after going down 3-0 in the final game and come back to win the series and become only the third team in professional sports history to achieve the milestone.



The Flyers have eight players with 10 or more goals on the season and 10 players with 20 or more points. They are 28-8-2 versus Eastern Conference teams and have an impressive 12-2-1 record against their division rivals.

The Flyers have been able to avoid the injury bug for the most part, minus the brief absence of veteran Chris Pronger who needed surgery to repair a broken foot. Their highly touted defence core was able to cover his absence brilliantly however as they continued on without him in the line-up and stuck to their game plan. Arguably their brightest new season aquisition, Andrej Meszaros currently leads the NHL in plus/minus with a plus 28 and was a stand-out fill-in for Pronger's recovery time.

The future looks bright for the "orange and black" and if these numbers are a tell tale sign of things to come then it would be a safe assumption to assume that they will get into the post-season a little easier than by a save in the shoot-out by Mr. Boucher over the New York Rangers.

Three More Years!

The Philadelphia Flyers official website announced Tuesday that the club has re-signed GM Paul Holmgren for an additional three years in which Holmgren is currently working his sixth year as club GM after taking the place of former GM Bobby Clarke.

This is great news for the organization as Holmgren has taken this team to another level and has their path set on dynasty mode since his first year as GM where he was left with a team in ruins after finishing dead last in the standings the season before.

With Holmgren's hands dirty in the signing's of Danny Briere, their current defensive core and the eventual scouting of team captain Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux- who is this year's lone All-Star selection out of Philadelphia, I think that it is safe to say Holmgren has some credible hockey sensibility.

The Flyers currently sit atop the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference and are a single point behind the Vancouver Canucks for the President's Trophy race. Plus, with a win tonight over the visiting Washington Capitals, the Flyers will be the first team to achieve 30 wins this season.

The Guardian Project - The Flyer

Of all The Guardians that Stan Lee has revealed to the National Hockey League, The Flyer is by far the stand-out of the group. He's packed with the ability to fly, move objects through thought prowess, has ultra-sharp vision and can manipulate an enemies mind. The Flyer even has a pet eagle made of titanium through whom The Flyer can see from the it's eyes.

I'm pumped to watch the full movie release at the All-Star weekend in Raleigh, N.C. on January 30th. The movie will show all of The Guardians in full action and I'm not sure if they are plans to continue the stories but I hope that the stories are furthered because they've put a lot of thought and creativity into these superheroes.

I could even see the NHL pay some well-built men to dress-up as the superheroes and serve as new team mascots. Then again, Gary Bettman has a way of sucking the fun out of almost everything within the league but perhaps The Flyer can change his mind.