I know that yesterday I wrote a post that was slightly optimistic, but today is Monday, so I'm going to pull back the curtain and show you exactly how bad things could get. If you didn't know already, we have an NHL Simulator here at the FGSB office. It's highly technical and complex so I won't waste the time trying to explain to you how it works - it's kind of like Quantum Leap meets Everybody Loves Ray - but for the sake of science we're running a simulation of a Flyers season parallel to their actual one. Well, slightly ahead of it actually. The results have not been promising. After last night's game against the Thrashers, in the simulation season, the Flyers were 14-10. Not much different than the real Flyers current record of 13-10-1. And then came December

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View original blog post here: Flyers Goal Scored By... - A Philadelphia Flyers NHL Blog

Injuries. Slumping power-play. Troubling penalty kill. Lack-of-scoring. Goaltending issues. Lack of desperate play for 60 minutes. That explains the Philadelphia Flyers for the past two weeks. The Flyers just dropped their fifth loss in their past six games last night when the Atlanta Thrashers shut them out 1-0.

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Flyers: Must Get Back to Basics During Break

Ok Ive had some time since last nights game to think about it, so this isnt just frustration from losing 5 out of the last 7. I want John Stevens gone!! The inconsistency is just too much to take. Last night wasnt a great example, but if you've watched games over the past couple seasons, you know what I'm talking about, this team dosent show up every night. The Flyers won their first 3 games, then lost their next 3, later on, they won 7 out of 8, now they've lost 5 of 7, this simply isnt acceptable. I realize that they've been bit by the injury/suspension bug over the last few weeks, its certainly hard to win without Gagne, Briere, Betts, & Powe, but earlier this season, Pittsburgh lost arguably the best player in the league, Evgeni Malkin for 3 weeks, in addition to Chris Kunitz, Tyler Kennedy, Kris Letang, Alex Goligoski, & Jay McKee among others, and they never lost a beat. The Caps lost Alex Ovechkin for a couple weeks, and they never lost a beat. My point is that injuries are difficult to overcome, but championship caliber teams find ways to overcome them. Championship teams find ways to win.

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Flyers next coach

Don't worry your pretty little head. The Flyers are going to be ok. Remember last year when the Flyers started the season off by earning only 3 points in their first 6 games? They still made the playoffs and will again. Whether or not the coaching staff as it exists today comes with them is not really of concern to us. The Flyers are going to refocus, start getting some players back, and begin to rise to the top of the conference. They're to talented not to, no matter who's dressed as a Van Heusen model standing on the bench. This little stretch of adversity might even help build the team's character. I've never really like John Stevens as a coach - I don't like how friendly he seems to be with his players

View original blog post here: Flyers Goal Scored By... - A Philadelphia Flyers NHL Blog

TheNHLarena.com is currently running a Blog-Off Tournament. The Flyers Blog-Off can be found here. Head over there and vote for your favorite Flyers Blog. You do have to register on the forums, but its free. TheNHLarena.com is a pretty good discussion board to chat with other Flyers and hockey fans.

Im not sure how I feel about last night. The Flyers lost, but I feel like they played decent, they simply ran into a hot goalie. Although I hate when a backup plays well against us. Brian Boucher didnt face much rubber last night, but most of the shots he faced were pretty good ones, you certainly cant fault him, when you give up only 1 goal, you should win. Riley Cote is beyond horrible, sure he fights, but does he ever win? We have plenty of guys who can drop the mitts, and actually play hockey. Riley looks completely lost out there and is doing nothing to help the team win. Why not give someone like Matsumoto or Maroon a shot with the big club to see what they can do, they certainly cant be any worse than Cote

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Flyers get shutout