Game #79 Preview: Panthers @ Flyers 4/7/09

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Tonight could be the night. With one point (or a Rangers loss), the Flyers would guarantee a playoff spot for the thirteenth time in fourteen seasons, a conference best. The Penguins and Canadiens can clinch tonight as well with wins.

Clinching is always fun. Here's what it looked like last year:

Why the Flyers Will Win:

• The last home game the Flyers played, they scored five goals in the first period. If they do that again, they'll probably win.
  
• Riley Cote's convenient right before the playoffs injury is keeping him out of this game, which means somebody who knows how to skate will get a jersey instead.
• Martin Biron is getting the start tonight, which is good, because he's the only Flyers goalie who knows how to win these days.
• A loss tonight could put the Flyers as low as SIXTH. That's bad. What's good is that the Flyers play well when the game means something. Which is good because the playoffs fast approach.
  

Why the Panthers Will Win:

• As much as tonight means for the Flyers, it's gotta mean a lot more for the Panthers. The Panthers are tied for eighth with the Panthers but don't own the tiebreak
  
• You may have noticed, in our non-stop efforts to improve here at The FF, we've put up a little meter on the sidebar which keeps track of how many goals Daniel Carcillo has scored for the Flyers. Unfortunately, it has to be updated manually. Fortunately, I doubt I'll ever have to update it. Daniel Carcinogen is coming off his worst game yet as a Flyer, taking 24 minutes worth of penalties against Ottawa on Saturday. He's just bad. Scratch him for the year and be done with it already.

Prediction: Florida wins 3-2 in a shootout. Flyers clinch, Panthers get two points. Everybody's happy.

Game #73 Preview: Panthers @ Flyers 3/26/09

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It's the night we've all been waiting for. The night that Florida finally arrives to the Wachovia Center.

Why the Flyers Will Win:

• As I'm sure you've heard, tonight is Scott Hartnell Wig Night. 7,000 wigs in the arena. I just pray there's a hat trick. Those things would look so ridiculous on the ice, and the team whose fans threw rats at Flyers players during the 1996 playoffs certain
• How dumb would it be to lose on Scott Hartnell Wig Night? Fear of that embarrassment should be incentive enough.
• Florida's choke yesterday was out of control. Up 3-1 on Buffalo in the third, they managed to lose 5-3, seriously damaging their playoff hopes. Florida and Montreal seem to be competing for who gets to start their summer earlier, and the Panthers are winning that battle right now. Morale has to be absurdly low for the boys with the kitties on their shirts.

Why the Panthers Will Win:

• Things have been going so badly for Florida lately that it has to turn around sometime. Having this game only a night after their choke gives them less time to sulk, which could help.

Prediction: Flyers win 4-1. Hartnell almost certainly drops the gloves.

The Standings, 3/9/09

With only 18 games left in the season, this day off seems like a super duper time to take a look around the east and see what's likely to be on the menu come April. I've even been kind enough to show off my crazy MS Paint skills as well, circling everything you should care about. There's really only five things.

1. From the Flyers perspective, the biggest number is that 64 games played. It's two or three games fewer than each of the seven teams below the Flyers have played, which makes for a pretty nice cushion. It's pretty clear that the Flyers are coming in fourth. Not much chance of getting any higher, and not too much chance of falling.
2. As much fun as it was to see the Penguins floundering around in 10th a month or so ago, it's equally as unfun to see them with a good shot to make the playoffs. Especially with them winning six in a row, and having only one regulation loss under whoever that guy is that replaced Therrien.
3. This means that the Penguins could easily make it all the way up to #5 and see the Flyers in the first round. And I don't think anybody wants that. The whole 5th-9th race (Buffalo isn't looking great at 10th) is crazy close, including a three way tie at 6th-8th. Flyers could easily face any of Montreal, Florida, the Rangers, Pittsburgh or Carolina in the first round. Let's hope it's Carolina or the Rangers.
4. If Carolina and Florida both join Washington in the playoffs, it would be the first time that three Southeast Division teams would have made it in the same year. That's exactly what the league needs, playoff games with thousands of empty seats...
5. There's a not terrible chance that things could break really well for the Flyers in the first round. With the top three all struggling this weekend, and the Capitals and Bruins struggling for some time now, it's entirely possible that the top three seeds could all go down in the first round, leaving the Flyers with home ice advantage until the finals. That's exactly what allowed Washington to make the finals in 1998, when they really had no business getting past the second round. I'd have absolutely no problem with the Flyers winning a Stanley Cup they probably didn't deserve. Give me the Rangers, Hurricanes, Canadiens, and Predators on the road to Stanley Cup III anytime.

Game #47 Preview: Flyers @ Panthers 1/27/09

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Flyers play their first game in a week (and only second in eleven days) tonight against the Florida Panthers. Do they still remember how to skate? Only time will tell...

Why the Flyers will win:

• Antero Niitymaki will hopefully start, and he's a crazy 8-0 against the southeast division this season, including the win last week over Florida.
• Jay Bouwmeester doesn't have the people skills it takes to win hockey games, as per Mirtle.

Why the Panthers will win:

• With trade rumors swirling around practically every Flyer who doesn't have a letter on his sweater (except maybe Hartnell), it would be pretty understandable for the Flyers to be pretty distracted.

That's all I got for this one. It's been a while, there's really no telling what the hell will happen. I'll predict Panthers by two, just in case the Flyers are as unpumped for this game as I am.

Game #45 Review: Flyers 3 (SO) @ Panthers 2 1/16/09

3 (SO)

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2

Antero and Kimmo perform traditional Finnish victory dance.

Flyers halt their losing streak at two and get a shootout win over a very hot Panthers team, to go 1-1 on their first of two Florida swings this month. Wasn't pretty, but it's two points.

• A win is a win. But jeez, what a crappy win. Florida dominated the second and third periods, took fewer penalties, got way more shots. The Flyers have sort of made this their way (stealing wins), but it can't possibly be the right plan for the long run. Improvements have to be made, and sooner rather than later, before this rut gets too deep.
• God those penalties were awful. Three delay of game penalties? And one in the last minutes of the game from Lupul? That's just totally unacceptable.
• Definitely Simon Gagne's best game in a long time. That shootout move was real pretty.
• The shootout, never a strongsuit, has looked much better lately. And if and when Briere returns, it will be even more betterer.
• Niittymaki looked much more solid than Biron did yesterday, and especially looked improved in the shootout. This pair of games will undoubtedly get people thinking about whether or not there should be any sort of goalie controversy. Nowhere near time for that, I say. Biron still tends to play huge in the real huge games, and that's what matters most.
• Jeff Carter back in the league lead with 30 goals in 45 games. He's on pace for over fifty, which would be pretty awesome. Don't think I would've had him as one of the three most likely players to do that this season.
• Devils, Rangers and Penguins all won last night, too. Boo.

Bottom line: Winning is good, but shitty wins aren't as good. Shape up, boys. And don't even dream about losing to Atlanta at home.

Bullies in the Sunshine

Flyers play their next five games against the Southeast Division (hooray!), including four of them in Florida. It's a great time of year to be in Florida, that's for sure. And there's never a bad time to play against the Southeast.

That's all there is for this post. I mostly just wanted to show off my Microsoft Paint chops.

The Road To February is Paved With Crap

Crappy teams, that is. The Flyers have seven games remaining in January, against Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Florida, Atlanta, Florida, Tampa, and St. Louis. For those of you keeping track at home, zero of those teams would make the playoffs if they started today (though I realize Florida has been pretty good of late).

Some day-off interviews from Kimmo Timonen, Mike Richards, and Marty Biron, in preparation for the tenth-in-the-east(!) Pittsburgh Penguins. Watch them blow sunshine up the press's collective ass as they are forced to say nice things about Sidney Crosby.



In other news, the Devils lost last night, which is always good for the Flyers. They are getting Brendan Shanahan, though, which would be bad news if he wasn't turning FORTY this month.

Schadenfreude

Almost as much fun as seeing the team you love win is seeing the team you hate lose. And lose. And lose some more. And lose some more badly, to crappy teams, no less.

That's exactly what the Pittsburgh Penguins have been up to. Today's 6-1 beatdown at home vs. the Florida Panthers was a thing of beauty, and moved the Penguins down into ninth place, out of playoff position. Sidney Crosby jumped a guy and got nineteen minutes of penalties for it (an offense that would get anyone else a suspension). Fleury got pulled for Sabourin, then Sabourin got pulled for Fleury.

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Rumors are swirling around the firing of Michel "I'm embarrassed by my French name, so call me Mike" Therrien, and trade rumors are swirling around Jordan Staal, who seems to me to be the player they would least want to lose.

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Crosby has been called out for being a crappy captain, Malkin has been horrible, and fans are booing their pathetic efforts.

The Igloo is burning, Flyers Fans, so gather 'round. Grab a stick, Flyers fans, and shove a few marshmallows on it. This is pretty sweet.