FLyers in DC Dec 31

December 31, 2005

The Flyers play the Capitals today at 1pm in Washington DC, the last game for each team of 2005. The Flyers are coming off a 4-3 OT win against the Hurricanes on Thursday. The Capitals are coming off a 7-2 loss to the Devils on Wednesday. This is the second meeting between the two teams this season. The Flyers won the first, 8-1 on November 3 in Philadelphia.

Injuries for the Flyers include Robert Esche, Joni Pitkanen, Eric Desjardins, Keith Primeau and Turner Stevenson.
Injuries for the Capitals include Jeff Friesen and Brent Johnson.

Antero Niittymaki and Olaf Kolzig will be the goalies for the game.

Jon Sim has been a healthy scratch for the Flyers the last two games.
A win by the Flyers will extend their winning streak to 6 games, tying their longest streak of the season.

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Flyers Tour the Pentagon

December 30, 2005

Flyers visit the Pentagon
Coach Ken Hitchcock gives Derian Hatcher a quick history lesson.

With a day off after three games in four nights, the Philadelphia Flyers got a tour of the Pentagon on Friday as they arrived in Washington D.C. on Thursday night in preparation for a game against the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon. The entire team and coaching staff was treated to the tour courtesy of the United States Army. - PhiladelphiaFlyers.com

Injury Update Dec 30

December 30, 2005

Turner Stevenson is out with a right hip flexor and is listed day to day. He underwent surgery on his hip October 18, returned to the lineup about a month later only to re-injure it. Since then he has started several games only to play a couple shifts in each. The problem is no that the hip is injured but there is pain in the hip. Stevenson was reexamined by the doctor who did the surgery and the hip looks fine.

"It's good news and bad," Stevenson said. "They don't know what is causing this problem. This is very frustrating. The doctor says I am fine, but I know something is wrong."

He will be with the team in Washington, but doubtful to play.

Joni Pitkanen is slated to be out 4 to 6 weeks from December 5 with a sports hernia. He will skate with the team this weekend, but will not play.

Robert Esche has been out since December 15 with a groin pull. He is scheduled to return in the next week or so.

Eric Desjardins has been out since December 7 with a right shoulder subluxation. He is slated to return sometime in February.

Ryan Ready suffered an Abductor strain on November 29. Apparently he is healthy again, he has been returned to the Phantoms.

Keith Primeau is still having post concussion symptoms. Every few weeks or so he is reported to be showing improvement. The problem with his improvements is that they are too small to count in the big picture.
Primeau has been out since October 30. The past couple weeks he has been taking medication to help reduce his dizzy spells. He is skating, but still getting dizzy spells. The current improvements are that the dizzy spells are not lasting as long as they use to.

There has been some talk about replacing him if he canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t play this year, getting a solid checking center after January if he does not improve.
I just donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t see the need. The Flyers have Carter, Richards, Handzus, Forsberg and Umberger. Five centers not counting Primeau. If the Flyers get healthy even without Primeau, this is the team to go with. Right now the only thing the Flyers need is a defenseman. Pitkanen will be back in January and Desjardins will be back in February.

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deja vu - Flyers over Hurricanes 4-3 OT

December 30, 2005

The Flyers talk another one in overtime 4-3 against the Hurricanes.
The second game in two nights Sami Kapanen scored in overtime to win it for the Flyers. Brian Savage scored his third goal of the year, his second in two days. Freddy Meyer scored his first goal ever in the NHL. Simon Gagne took sole first place in the league lead with goals with his goal in third to tie the game.

"I think there's a tremendous feeling of team in the locker-room," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Nobody wants to be the person that lets the other person down right now. If you stay with that feeling, you can take a long run."

We can only hope.

One thing that really surprised me in overtime was the lack of any effort on the part of the Hurricanes. The third period had turned into a track meet, continuously up and down the ice. In overtime they were just standing around, literally. The Flyers were able to take advantage of this with Kapanen putting away a rebound off his first shot.

Overall both goalies played very well.
A scary moment for Mike Rathje in the third period. He took a puck in the throat from former Flyer Rod BrindÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Amour. Rathje fell instantly, after a couple minutes was able to get up and eventually return to the game.

Special teams almost cost the game for the Flyers. Giving up 2 goals on the penalty kill and not being able to score on the power play made the game tight. The Flyers are now 0-23 on the Power Play the last four games.

Kapanen, Cullen and Gagne were the three stars.

Jon Sim has been a healthy scratch the last two games.

13 of the last 15 Flyers games have been decided by one goal. This has made the games, at least from a fans perspective very exciting.
The Flyers will not practice on Friday, instead will take a tour of the Pentagon.
Flyers play the Capitals in Washington Saturday afternoon.

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Flyers in Carolina Dec 29

December 29, 2005

The Flyers have no time to rest as they head to Carolina to play the Hurricanes tonight.
This is a big game, both teams leading their divisions. A win for the Hurricanes would put them back in second place in the conference and drop the Flyers to third.

The Flyers are coming off a 4-3 OT win in Atlanta against the Thrashers last night.
The Hurricanes are coming of a 6-2 loss in Ottawa last night against the Senators.

The Hurricanes lead the season series 1-0 beating the Flyers 8-6 on October 28 in Carolina.

Injuries for the Flyers should be the same as last night, Robert Esche, Turner Stevenson, Eric Desjardins, Joni Pitkanen, Ryan Ready and Keith Primeau.
Injuries for the Hurricanes include Andrew Ladd and Josef Vasicek.

I am thinking this will be a slow game with both teams playing last night and traveling.

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Flyers over Thrashers 4-3 OT

December 29, 2005

The Flyers won 4-3 in overtime last night in Atlanta against the Thrashers.

Goal scorers for the Flyers were Simon Gagne, Brian Savage, Branko Radivojevic and Sami Kapanen. Kapanen scored the winning goal 13 seconds into overtime.

Antero Niittymaki was average the first half of the game, but then had a great second half making some big saves.

One fight in the game, Mike Richards vs Garnet Exelby. It was a close fight, but I would have to give the edge to Exelby. Richards had a strong game, one fight, one huge hit on Ronald Petrovicky and an assist.

Stars of the game were Kapanen, Niittymaki and Michael Garnett.

GarnettÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s shutout streak ended at two games when Gagne scored early in the first period.
Jon Sim was a healthy scratch. The first healthy scratch the flyers have had in about a month.
The win moves the Flyers into second place in the Eastern Conference.

GagneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s goal keeps him tied for the NHL lead in goals with Eric Staal. ForsbergÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s assist on that goal keeps him tied for the NHL lead in assists with Joe Thornton.
Just looking at some other stats, Gagne lead the league in even strength goals with 17.
Mike Knuble leads the league with first goals scored with 7.

There was a big hubbub yesterday about breaking up the Forsberg-Gagne-Knuble line. After all the buzz, the change lasted one shift.
Asked about it Ken Hitchcock said. Ã¢â‚¬Å“That was giving you guys something to write about.Ã¢â‚¬Â

ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s just funny.

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Flyers acquire C McLeod from Coyotes

December 28, 2005

The Philadelphia Flyers acquired center Kiel McLeod from the Phoenix Coyotes for right wing Eric Chouinard in a trade of minor leaguers on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old McLeod has an assist and 33 penalty minutes in 28 games this season for the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League.

"Kiel is a big kid and we think there is some potential that has yet to be tapped into," Flyers assistant general manager Paul Holmgren said. "He is a player that our scouting has been enamored with because of his size."

The 6-foot-6 McLeod, who signed as a free agent with the Coyotes in 2003, will report to the Flyers' AHL affiliate - the Philadelphia Phantoms.

Chouinard, originally drafted in the first round of the 1998 draft by Montreal, was scoreless in one game with the Flyers this season and had seven goals and seven assists in 14 games with the Phantoms.

Another Center, just what the Flyers need.

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Flyers in Atlanta Dec28

December 28, 2005

The Flyers continue their long road trip tonight in Atlanta.

The Flyers are coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Panthers in Florida on Monday.
The Thrashers are coming off a 4-0 win over Montreal on Monday.
This will be the third of four meetings between the two teams. The series is tied 1-1.

ThrasherÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s goalie Michael Garnett will be trying for his third consecutive shutout.

The big buzz about the Flyers today is the breakup of the Flyers top line. Basically it is just moving Mike Knuble to another line. Lines would be Forsberg-Gagne-Umberger, Carter-Knuble-Eager. The Forsberg-Gagne-Umberger line showed some good energy Monday in Florida and I am interested to see how well it will work.
The other two lines would be Handzus-Radivojevic-Brashear/Kapanen and Richards-Savage-Sim.

Sami Kapanen will be back missing the last game with the Flu.
Chris Therien missed practice yesterday with the Flu.
Therien might not play, other injuries for the Flyers include Robert Esche, Turner Stevenson, Eric Desjardins, Joni Pitkanen and Keith Primeau.

Injuries for the Thrashers include Brad Larsen, Peter Bondra, Steven Shields, Mike Dunham.

With Therien missing practice, Brashear for the second time in the last two weeks practiced on defense.

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Flyers Player Blog

December 28, 2005

Everyone seems to have a blog nowadays, even the Flyers. At least a Players Blog.
Jon Sim had blogged for the Flyers the first part of the year.

Now Mike Knuble has taking over that duty.
Read how Knuble slept on the plane. How he never got to see the beach and how good it is to get humidity in your lungs. The team was excited to get in their beds, too.

Too bad they donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t allow comments.

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