Game #69 Review: Flyers 2 @ Red Wings 3 3/17/09

2

@

3

As far as heartbreaking, two-goal lead blowing, regulation losses go, this one wasn't so bad.

• It feels like a game the Flyers should have won because they had a two goal lead. But really, Detroit is just better than the Flyers, and if you had told me that the Flyers would only lose by one, I would have been a little surprised.
• That being said, the Flyers really could have won this game if they had gotten more decent shots on Chris Osgood. He's terrible, and will be Detroit's downfall come playoff time.
• Martin Biron is really good. It took thirty something shots for the top team in the league tofinally get one past him. But there is an issue with Biron that has been there forever, and that is his propensity for giving up quick back to back goals. The team has got to be aware of this, and just try their damnedest to keep
• Before the deadline, it looked like there might be zero Daniels on the team. But instead we have two. And both Daniels, Briere and Carcillo, really should be fed to the lions. Carcillo was awful and completely at fault on the first Detroit goal, and Briere was not good. His problems are probably all mental at this point, and until he starts scoring he's a big hinderance. But, of course, he has to keep getting ice time if he's gonna score. Quite the catch-48.

Big three games in the next four days. Sabres, Penguins, and Devils. Three points would be nice.

Game #69 Preview: Flyers @ Red Wings 3/17/09

@

For the first time in three years, it's time to play at the JLA. And it's on Versus, the second in a stretch of four out of five Flyers games that will be on national TV. Amen to that.


Why The Flyers Will Win:

• Sure the Flyers haven't won in their last seventeen trips to Detroit. But the eighteenth time's the charm, right?
• Martin Biron has been real solid in March, and is playing with a lot of confidence having finally locked up the starting gig. Look for him to be big tonight.
• The Red Wings have a lot of question marks in goal, and a propensity for getting blown out of the water. In their last three losses, they've given up eight, eight, and six goals. If the Flyers can get a first cut in, the Red Wings have proven to be a pretty hemophiliac team, completely unable to stop the bleeding.
• The Flyers are 4-0-1 this year in games on Versus, including wins in the last four.
• The Flyers are one of the few teams that can match Detroit's offensive depth. Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Scott Hartnell, Joffrey Lupul, Mike Knuble, Claude Giroux, Daniel Briere and even Arron Asham make for quite the stacked front lines.
• Pretzels are only $1 all night long at the Joe. While this will boost morale, it will mean the locals will be too busy chewing to loudly support their boys in red.
• It's Ryan Parent's birthday, and he doesn't like losing on his birthday.

Why the Red Wings Will Win:

• The Flyers haven't won in their last seventeen trips to Detroit. No reason the eighteenth would be any different.
• Daniel Briere has been a mess in this latest incarnation. He's been slow and not even coming close to making goals happen. Until something changes he's going to keep being a huge hindrance to the team.
• Randy Jones is out for a week, and though he has his haters, he is clearly way better than Danny Syvret, who has been called up to take his place (no Guenin?).
• In case you haven't heard, the Red Wings are really, really good. They lead the league in points, and were the first team to clinch a playoff berth.

Prediction: Red Wings win 4-1. They're good.

No Fly Zone

November 5th, 1988. Ronald Reagan is president, and the nation hadn't even voted on his replacement yet. The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Zaire, East Germany (and the Berlin Wall), are all in great shape. Barack Obama is 27, and just started law school. Luca Sbisa is not even a sperm yet.

A lot of things have changed since that day, but one thing has stayed the same--the Flyers' luck in Detroit. In seventeen games in Joe Louis Arena, including two in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers have won exactly zero times. 0-15-2. Bizarre and gross, especially considering that the Flyers have the second best all-time winning percentage of any team in the league.

So what is it about Detroit that makes it such a horrible place for the orange and black?

• Does being in Detroit, the capital of industrial decline, depress the hell out of them? It sure depresses the hell out of Tim Panaccio.
• Is it an allergy to octopus residue?
• Does the Wings' lack of a third color bewilder them?
• Is it their creepy Europhilia? The Red Wings are the only team in the league where North Americans are the minority. For all the "Buy American" stuff the other Detroit industries promote, the Red Wings sure do love the importeds.
• Or does all the weirdness stem from the Flyers' second-most recent win in Detroit, a 1988 game where the Flyers were down 5-1 and came back to win 11-6. That, my friends, is weird.

Whatever the reason may be, I believe I have the antidote. It is, of course, me. The Flyers are 4-0 in their last four games with yours truly in the building, with wins over Washington, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Washington again. Not too shabby.

Luck of the Flyerish

Saint Patrick's Day is only a week away, boys and girls, and yours truly will be there in person as a lucky charm for the Flyers, especially the little leprechaun that is Daniel Briere. But while I'm at Joe Louis Arena gorging myself on $1 pretzels and celebrating my Irishness with a dozen or so $3 beers (between 6 and 7 pm), there are plenty of things you can buy to make your Flyers Saint Patrick's Day experience just as special.

The good folks over at the NHL want to make sure you take advantage of this booming economy and spend your money on Flyers apparel that can only be used on this one day of the year. And as an incredible as a four-leaf clover, the NHL Store's Saint Patrick's Day Section offers more items for the Flyers than they do for any other team in the league except the Penguins, for whom there are also a whopping FIFTEEN items available for next Tuesday.

So no longer should you be torn between your compulsions to wear green and wear Flyers stuff on game night. You can spend up to $454 dollars on the collection of Saint Patrick's Day Flyers gear, and that's assuming you're cheap and only buy one of each item.

Here are some of my personal favorites:

Old Time Hockey 2009 St. Patrick's Day Philadelphia Flyers Dalkey Hooded Sweatshirt -- $39.99

Because nothing says Flyers like an angry leprechaun head. Also makes a great gift for your favorite illiterate Notre Dame fan. The "F" can also pass for several other letters, which is great if you're also an Alyers or Jlyers fan.


Old Time Hockey 2009 St. Patrick's Day Women's Philadelphia Flyers Caitlin T-shirt -- $19.99

For your girlfriend, Caitlin, who is a big Flyers fan. She loves it when guys stare at her boobs try to read the small writing across her shirt. As seen above, the shirt comes already crooked, which is great because Caitlin has MASSIVE scoliosis.



Inglasco Limited Edition Philadelphia Flyers St. Patrick's Day Puck - Shop.NHL.com Exclusive! -- $12.99 $9.99

I can't believe they reduced the price on this baby! A Flyers St. Patrick's Day puck??? Think of all the things you could do with that! You could look at it, and then put it down somewhere! And then maybe look at again, and put it somewhere again! It's a limited edition, so you gotta hurry folks.

Happy Shopping!

Back

Sorry for the prolonged absence--pieces keep breaking off my computer, which is not a good thing. I'm trying to fix it myself, by just fiddling around with a screwdriver in an electrical appliance cluelessly (always a good idea). It's still not really better, but I soldier on...

So what happened while I was on hiatus? The Flyers beat the Thrashers (shocker), Jeff Carter was the second fastest in the fastest skater thing, Jeff Carter got knocked out of the breakaway contest in the first round with the worst shot anybody took the whole night, Jeff Carter did nothing in the All-Star game (except manage to keep possession of the puck for like 4:59 of the five minute overtime), Jeff Carter scored no goals, Jeff Carter came home with a #7 jersey I'm kinda surprised he chose since it's retired by the Flyers. (Flyers Goal Scored By... does a much better job treating Carter's all-star flop with the snark it deserves)

The other main thing that kept Flyers beat writers from getting time off over the break was more plot twists in L'Affaire Briere, with the Flyers seemingly forcing Danny Briere to get surgery so he could stay out of the lineup longer. That's a new one, even for the Flyers medical staff. He's out another four weeks, guaranteed, conveniently right until the trade deadline.

I have to think this is all leading up to trading Briere, or at the very least dumping Glen Metropolit for him. God, Metropolit is utterly useless, and his name is desperately missing a syllable. He has all of one goal this year in forty-two games. To put that in perspective, that's only one more goal than Lauren Hart has tallied.

Lastly, there was some nonsense about Paul Holmgren looking into getting Peter Forsberg back for the late part of this season. Because it was just SO great when he was here before, and he's SO not injury prone, and he played SO great for Colorado last year. With the Canucks getting Sundin, I think that's enough NHL scouring of Stockholm-area assisted-living communities for one season.

Flyers get to go on their second Florida trip of January (seriously, nice scheduling there) for a game in Sunrise on Tuesday, and Friday in Tampa.

But despite what will sum up to five straight games against the Southeast, the Flyers have the toughest remaining schedule of any team in the league, according to some website. That's never a good thing. All four games against Boston remain, plus four against the Rangers and a game each against Detroit and Calgary. Not fun.

How Do the Flyers Classic?

It's the second intermission of the Winter Classic now, Detroit up 4-3 on the 'Hawks at Wrigley (setting the stage for a big hometeam comeback, I betcha). The game has been pretty awesome, the setting is awesome, and the hype is beyond awesome.

So how do the Flyers get a piece of the action? Here are what I think would be the Flyers' best three chances to get into a Winter Classic game. (Warning: None of these would take place in Philly, sorry)

1. Philadelphia Flyers @ Washington Capitals. If the NHL gives DC a bid (likely because of Ovechkin), the Flyers would be the obvious choice of opponent. We're the Caps' closest opponent, a long time rival, and Pittsburgh has already had a shot at a Winter Classic. The game could be at some specially created rink down by the monuments, in the shadow of the Capitol or something. It'd be pretty sweet. Alternatively, the game could be held at a more neutral site in Baltimore (maybe Camden Yards), which is as major an in-between city as exists between two NHL rivals.

2. Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins @ Penn State. This scenario has been getting the most hype. It has a lot of pluses, such as a neutral location, Battle of Pennsylvania themes, enormous Happy Valley capacity (100k+ would easily be biggest ever), and two teams with no love lost between them. The reason I think it's less likely than Flyers-Caps is because of Pittsburgh's previous Winter Classic participation. I have to think the NHL is going to let a few more years pass before they start recycling teams.

3. Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Rangers. The Rangers are more likely to be slated against the Islanders, Devils, and even Bruins, but this scenario isn't impossible. Division rivals who play exciting, nasty hockey, from two big nearby cities. The venues would be cool, too. Yankee Stadium or Central park would be the front-runners.

I don't see any of these scenarios happening next season (Montreal-Boston at Fenway seems like the odds on bet), but I would be surprised NOT to see the Flyers in a Winter Classic by 2012 at the latest.