The Flyers Get Creepy...for You!

I'm not sure what's creepiest about this. The horrible acting, the way you can't see John Stevens while he's talking to you, or the way your phone actually rings. It's serious scary movie material.

Don't visit this link in the dark.

http://www.channel1media.com/flyers/2009/

Three Reactions to Brodeur's 100th Shutout

Lupul, Briere, Richards,



John Stevens...

And lastly, Brodeur himself...

"Are you fucking joking? I'm Martehhnnn Fucking Brodurrr! Goddamnit, I need a bigger fucking cake!"

Briere To Join Phantoms For Two Games

More on all things Briere later, but for the time being, the big news today is that Daniel Briere is going to be testing out his broken whatever for a couple games with the Phantoms before coming back to the boys in the big building across the street. This is definitely a good idea, as trading away people to make room for a guy who may be out for the season during his first shift back would be a mess

But unless Briere reinjurs himself during these two games, this will prove to be only a very temporary solution. If Briere is to get back into the Flyers, a whole lotta shaking's gonna have to happen.

Briere and Stevens discuss the move below.

Wise Words From Riley Cote

I didn't do a ton of writing on Bruce Boudreau running his mouth, because I thought it was all pretty stupid and meaningless. But pretty much everyone on the Flyers got asked about it, with different levels of engagement in their responses. My favorite stuff quotes, though, came from team poet laureate, Riley Cote.

From the team P.R. blog, On The Fly: (Link)

Cote said the following, before the Flyers-Capitals game at the Verizon
Center on Tuesday night:

"I didn't read the article, I only kind of heard about it second hand. The fact that he's wasting his energy and time talking about something like that, he's just nit-picking I think. He's digging for something to talk about. We won last game, we played a good team game. You get into a couple fights, and you win some and you lose some. Brashear is a tough guy, there's no question. I don't feel bad. So I did my job, came out on the wrong end of the stick, big deal? It's a whole new game tonight and a brand new battle.

"I'll be the first one to tell you I got my ass kicked. I really don't care, I got back up and fought him again. For me, it's no big deal. All that stuff just gives me more incentive to do my job better. I'm sure the team can say the same thing.

"If you've got a coach chirping at the way we play, I take that as a compliment because that's Flyers hockey and we're not going to back down from anybody no matter how physical a team is."

Cote also scoffed at the suggestion that the Flyers were running up the score.

"How do you run the score up in hockey? I mean, it's a hockey game. You try to score goals. I don't know how you can run the score up unless you pull the goalie or something."

As for his shot at Cote for losing the battles with Brashear...

"He can carve me up all he wants, I'm still going to come out swinging."

Beautiful stuff, Riley.

Game #37 Review: Flyers @ Canucks 12/30/08

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This was big. Getting off to a quick start in the first by getting two goals in the first period (double what the Flyers had scored in the first six periods of this road trip) was big. Martin Biron finally letting in fewer than three goals was big. Winning a game this isolated on the schedule was big.

But the biggest thing clearly is Simon Gagne getting knocked out of the game in the first minute. Obviously concussion worries are first and foremost any time Gagne goes down for the rest of his career, but this one didn't look too bad. He got up fairly quickly, and seemed to be clutching his shoulder more than he was dizzy or disoriented. I doubt he'll play in California, but I really don't think this wasn't the career ender it could have been.

Some thoughts:

• Don't care that he lost the fight badly--how sweet is it to have a captain stick up for his teammates like Mike Richards does.
• Been hearing his name forever as a prospect, and glad to see Claude Giroux getting out there and playing well. He is super quick and has incredible hustle on every play, and is just a little pinball type that is fun to watch.
• Biron played real well, especially in the third. And those goals weren't stoppable shots. Nice effort for him, easily his best game of December.
• Jeff Carter widens his lead for most goals in the NHL. Playing for the name on the back can be a good motivator even if playing for the crest on front is most important. Carter's clearly pretty excited to be leading the league, and it's the kind of quest that can really electrify a locker room.
• Ossi Vaananen as third string goalie? That was some pretty sweet post-to-post.
• If Carter has the best shot on the team, Scott Hartnell has the best slap shot. He beats goalies glove-side on shots better than anyone I can think of.
• Garbagey goal to be sure, but nice for Jonathon Kalinski to get his first career tally, and a game winner no less.
• Odd to see only one Flyer in minus territory in a one-goal game. That somewhat dubious distinction goes to Darroll Powe.
• The orange and black tie on John Stevens was pretty sweet. Not that it's gonna reach any Guy Carbonneau levels, but it's a good look.
• I don't think Bieksa's hit was that dirty, but it's total crap for Canucks TV to name him the #2 star of the game when all he did the whole game was knock out Gagne and then get in a retalliation fight with Richards. Give it to Kalinski for getting his first ever goal and the game winner, or give it to Ryan Kesler for that nice deflection on Vancouver's second.
• The hell is going on with Vancouver's goaltending? They're without their franchise player Roberto Luongo, so they trade for a not great backup in Jason La Barbera and pull Curtis Sanford after a not-that-bad two-goal first period? I don't get it. But I'm embarrassed if I'm La Barbera. He's practically the Kings' #1 guy these days, and he got traded for a seventh round draft pick. That's unimpressive.

On to California. Worse places to spend New Year's than Los Angeles. Maybe they can find Rose Bowl tickets and go see Penn State beat up on USC?