ECQF Game 5: Flyers 3 @ Penguins 0 - Penguins Lead Series 3-2

3

@

0

That's more like it.

• It was an odd, unfamiliar feeling having bounces go the Flyers' way.
  
• As those of you who read The FF frequently should know, I have ALWAYS been an ardent defender of Daniel Carcillo, who has proved me right by being one of the Flyers' best these past two games. He got assists on the first two goals to finish a game best +2. Added to his goal in Game 4, he's picked it up nicely after that suspension.
• One person I actually have been advocating for is Arron Asham, who again showed off some offensive chops with a laser of a shot to open the scoring, a goal that stood up to be the game winner.
• That first goal held up because Martin Biron did what he needed to do. He didn't really even look his best, but nothing got past him (except Evgeni Malkin's kick-in). Tough to complain too much about a shut out.
  
• Every Flyer forward except for two have scored. Those two? Joffrey Lupul and Danny Briere. Not to say their not earning they're pay (they aren't), I'm just thinking a little pride should kick in when Jared Ross is out-tallying you...
• I realize he scored tonight, but Mike Knuble hasn't been much better than his two aforementioned goalless teammates. Hopefully that late goal gets him back on track.
• I guess it makes sense to keep trying, so good on 'em, but anyone else think it was a little odd that Bylsma pulled Marc-Andre Fleury with just over a minute left, down by three? Can't say I've seen that before.
• The Pittsburgh fans were quiet the whole game, and deserted their team halfway through the third. The Igloo didn't look more than half full with five minutes left, which is pretty disgraceful for a playoff game, no matter the score.

The action now shifts back to The Wach for Game 6, on Saturday at 3 PM on NBC and CBC. The Penguins haven't outplayed the Flyers since Game 1. That was more than a week ago.

Good things can and will happen.

Let's go Flyers.

ECQF Game 4 Review: Penguins 3 @ Flyers 1 - Penguins Lead Series 3-1

Oh well.

• I've been saying Marc-Andre Fleury was the key to this thing the whole time, and Game 4 certainly proved this. Flyers dominated this game and had nothing to show for it.
• What really killed the Flyers was not getting a goal real early. The Flyers came out blazing in the first ten minutes, while the Pens and even Fleury looked a little flat out of the gate. Getting an early goal woulda been huge, but Pittsburgh weathered the storm, got a super crappy goal from Sidney Crosby putting himself in the net before the puck, and they never looked back.
• With Daniel Carcillo of all people scoring (finally), the stage really was set for a huge goal in those waning minutes of the third. The Flyers played their worst hockey of the game inconveniently after Biron got pulled, which made for a pretty anti-climactic end to what could have been a pretty epic comeback.
  

This is what it must have been like for Montreal fans last year, watching your team dominate games and doubling up the other team's shot count, hitting post after post, not being able to score any damn goals while the opponent takes advantage of seemingly every opportunity they get. It's not fun.

There's no doubt in my mind that the Flyers "deserve" a lot better than to be down 3-1 at this point. One of those post shots goes in from Game 4, Carter buries that empty net in Game 2, and it's a whole different series.

Which is why I'm fairly sure the series is over, but Game 5 certainly isn't. The Flyers have not been outplayed at all since Game 1, and seem to know it. They get some bounces to finally go their way, and this thing could very easily be headed back to Philadelphia for a Game 6.

Let's Go Flyers.

Fourth Time's the Charm

Whether or not they win the series, the Flyers have had phenomenal success in Game 4s over the past five seasons. The Flyers have won eight of their past nine Game 4s, including their past five in a row. That's crazy good.

Some highlights (the ones I could find):

2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 4 vs. New Jersey



2004 Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 vs. Tampa Bay



2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 4 vs. Buffalo



2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 4 vs. Washington



2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 4 vs. Montreal



2008 Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 vs. Pittsburgh



Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has lost their last three Game 4s. Unimpressive.

Recap: Flyers are good, Penguins are bad.

Do it to it, boys.

ECQF Game 2: Flyers @ Penguins 4/17/09 (Penguins Lead 1-0)

The biggest game of the year. If the Flyers lose, as far as I'm concerned, all hope is lost. Insert your own favorite cliche here. Tonight is cliche city.

Why the Flyers Will Win:

• Because they have to. The Flyers are going to be desperate, and hopefully were embarrassed by their play in Game 1. There's a lot to prove. They will be better if they have any pride.
• The Flyers played their best near the end of the game. Maybe some good momentum got started? Maybe?
  
• How can Pittsburgh not underestimate these Flyers? Every talking head is saying that the series is over, how the Flyers are a terrible team, etc. The Flyers could very well catch them sleeping.
  
• Daniel Carcillo is not a playoff calibre player, and the Flyers will be better off without him. Hopefully Luca Sbisa can provide some sort of spark.
  

Why the Penguins Will Win:

• If Game 2 looks anything like Game 1, the Penguins will win. The Flyers were far from being in the contest at any point, so a lot has to change fast.
• The main problem the Flyers have had against the Penguins dating back to last year's playoffs is a complete inability to solve Marc-Andre Fleury. Second to the penalties, it was the main reason the Flyers lost Game 1. Keeping shots high and sending somebody to run him over repeatedly (I nominate Hartnell) could do a lot of good. But if nothing changes, it will be trouble.
• Normally I would say that the big advantage in penalties against that the Penguins held in Game 1 would mean some balancing out in Game 2. But the Carcillo suspension will just reinforce notions of the Flyers being goons. Expect whistles early and often.
  

If anybody is thinking along these lines, yes the Flyers did lose both Games 1 and 2 in Buffalo in 2006 and come back to tie the series by winning both Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia. So it can be done. But both those Flyers wins were flukes, and the Flyers deservedly got destroyed in Games 5 and 6.

Prediction: Penguins win 3-0. I pray I'm wrong.

Puck drops at 7 on CSN Philadelphia, Versus, and CBC.

Let's go Flyers (clap clap clapclap clap).

The Penguins' Deluded View of History

One of my most prized possessions is a VHS from 1989 called "Never Say Die," which goes into really ridiculous detail on the Flyers' 1988-89 season, including a long
segment about what the team did to kill time while in Winnipeg. Really must see stuff.

But since the video is impossible to find and will likely never make it to YouTube, I had to find an alternate source for clips on the Flyers-Penguins first ever playoff meeting, in 1989. And yes, it really did take 21 years for the cross-state Penguins to face the Flyers in the playoffs even though they joined the league in 1967-68, because the Penguins were just horrendous in the first half of their existence. The flightless birds only won three playoff series in their first twenty-one seasons, whereas the Flyers had won three playoff series in a season five times by the time 1989 rolled around. That had to be pretty embarrassing for not just the Penguins and their fans, but everyone in the league.

So in lieu of Never Say Die, I found a clip on the 'Tube from what appears to be the Penguins equivalent of Never Say Die. Except that unlike Never Say Die, this Penguins video, inexplicably titled "There's a Team in the Building," is completely on crack. There's some bold-faced bias that even a Fox News anchor would have to shake his head at.

If you don't pay really close attention to the narration, you'll assume the Penguins won this series, when in reality they lost it to a pretty mediocre Flyers team that wouldn't make the playoffs again for the next five years.



Did you catch any Flyers wins in there? They mentioned the Flyers winning game two while showing a Penguin scoring and fans in the Igloo applauding. The mention of the Flyers winning Game 4 was made while the Penguins were shown celebrating their Game 3 win. Game 6's mention is a sentence fragment. The Flyers win in Game 7 mentions a more complete thought, but tries to diminish the win by saying the Flyers "stole" it. Takes some balls to say that a team "stole" a game they won 4-1.

I do realize that getting mad at the narration of a VHS from 20 years ago might not be the most relevant way to prepare for the playoffs, but I care not. Let's just hope the Penguins' 2009 VHS is equally dismissive of these upcoming four Flyer wins.

Stale Hate

One of the many frustrating things about playing Pittsburgh in the first round is that it deprives Flyers fans of the opportunity to get to hate someone new. Last year saw the Flyers face both the Capitals and Canadiens for the first time since the 1980s. Part of the reason I was looking forward to playing the Hurricanes was because it would mean playing a new team, getting acquainted with and falling in hate with a whole new group of people, a whole new fanbase.

Instead, we get to play the Penguins. Our big rival. The team who broke our hearts last year.

Yawn.

Playing the Penguins, as someone else put it somewhere (how's that for citation), is like dessert before the icing. Every Pittsburgh game is such an treat. But it's a treat we've had a lot before. Playing the Penguins in the first round is like eating the first eleven chocolate eclair ice cream bars in the box in one sitting (which is awesome because they're delicious), and then having eating the twelfth one because Gary Bettman is forcing you to. You enjoyed the first eleven, but you're pretty damn full, and you know that this last Pittsburgh-colored chocolate eclair ice cream bar would taste a lot better if you could just wait a while. I wish there was time before eating this last eclair bar to get the previous eleven out of your systems in what would certainly be an epic trip to the bathroom. I'm guessing that's how a lot of the Flyers (and maybe the Penguins) are feeling right now, especially the always constipated Andrew Alberts and Hal Gill.

And that's a big part of the reason I haven't had a lot to say about this series. I've got epic brain freeze, I'm full, and a little nauseous at the thought of having to cram more of this crap down my throat.

I'll recover by 7:01 pm Wednesday, I'm sure, but in the mean time I'm gonna need some Tums. Or maybe Alyonka Larionov can teach me how to be bulimic.

The Times

Wednesday, April 15		at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Friday, April 17		at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Sunday, April 19		at Philadelphia, 3:00 p.m.	NBC, CBC, RDS
Tuesday, April 21		at Philadelphia, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Thursday, April 23		at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Saturday, April 25		at Philadelphia, 3:00 p.m.	NBC, CBC
*Monday, April 27		at Pittsburgh, TBD	VERSUS, CBC

For those of you keeping score at home, the Flyers will play a maximum of ONE home night game during this series. Ridiculous.

Home Ice Matters. A Lot.

After winning two series as an underdog last season, home ice might not seem that important. But against our first round opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, it most certainly does.

Compared the all-time home and road records against the Penguins, and you'll see why.

Home (in Philadelphia) : 89W-24L-8T (78.8 win %)

Away (in Pittsburgh) : 43W-46L-22T (43.3 win %)

That's a HUGE 35.5% difference.

So please, Flyers, get a point against the Blueshirts tonight. It's practically Game 1 of the first round.

It's Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Penguins have come all the way back from 10th place in the East to a tie for fourth, and they will face the Flyers in the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs in the 4 vs 5 match up, a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals. The Flyers need at least one point against the Rangers on Sunday in order to get home ice for the series against Pittsburgh. The Rangers are locked into seventh, so hopefully they don't come out too motivated.

For my money the Flyers and Penguins are the two playoff-toughest in the East. Shame they have to meet this early.

Take a Dive, Crosby

Tonight, for the first time, I'd actually like to see Sidney Crosby take a dive.

If the Penguins lose in regulation tonight, the Flyers will face the Penguins in the first round. If the Penguins lose in regulation, the Flyers will have home ice advantage and face the Hurricanes in the first round.

Please please please please please please.

The Penguins tanked their last game last year in order to avoid playing the Flyers in the first round--they even gave Crosby the game off. No reason to think they shouldn't do the same this year.

So please Pittsburghers give Crosby, Malkin, Sykora, Fleury, Gonchar, Bylsma, Kunitz, and Guerin the night off. We don't want any part of each other in the first round, Pittsburgh. It's all in your hands.

The Canadiens might not try their best either tonight, probably preferring playing their rival Boston over Washington in the first round. If both teams are trying to tank tonight, it could be a mess of epic proportions.

Atlantic Cruise Control

For the third consecutive season, the Atlantic Division will send four teams to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Flyers, Penguins, Devils, and Rangers are the same foursome as last year, with the Islanders making it over the Flyers in 2007. The Atlantic Division made history in 2008 by being the first Eastern Conference division to send four teams in back to back years, and makes even more history this season by being the first team in either conference to do it three seasons in a row.

The Atlantic Division also is the only division never to have sent fewer than three teams to the playoffs in any season. This compares pretty favorably to the Southeast, who has never sent more than two teams to the playoffs in any season.

The Atlantic Division carried their tradition of regular season domination into the playoffs last season, with none of the four Atlantic Division squads losing a series to a non-Atlantic team in the Eastern Conference playoffs. In the playoffs, the Atlantic teams went a combined 12-4, with Pittsburgh sweeping Ottawa and the Flyers ousting the champions of both the Northeast and Southeast in five and seven games, respectively.

Congratulations, Atlantic Division. You're pretty damn good at this sport. And to the Islanders, well...at least you'll get a decent draft pick?

Game #80 Review: Flyers 1 @ Rangers 2 4/9/09

@

Eh, we'll get em on Sunday.

• What a horrible way to start a hockey game. Biron gets shoved into the net, and there's no whistle, and the Rangers take the lead in the first minute. The Flyers played pretty well (though they're not finishing their chances well), and deserved better than to have the game marred by that crap.
• This is the second time that I've blamed the officials for a loss, which is pretty low. The only other time I blamed the refs? The last game at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. Hmm...
• Daniel Carcillo is certainly persona non grata in these parts, but he was alright tonight. Scoring just one goal will cure a lot. Not that I'll stop dumping on him, but at least this unimpressive stat will go away: Carcillo has scored zero goals in eighteen games as a Flyer. But in his one game against the Flyers this year as a Coyote, he managed to score a goal. Not cool. Oh, and Scottie Upshall managed to score again tonight...
• Martin Biron looked good--neither goal was his fault, and he didn't get rattled from that BS first goal.
• Hurricanes lost for the first time in forever, which keeps the Flyers tenuous hold on fourth in tact. Pittsburgh won, though, so there are now three teams tied at 96 points. The Flyers have two games left to Carolina and Pittsburgh's one apiece, but as of now have the fewest wins of the three, which is the tiebreaker.
  

Only two more games left in the entire regular season, at Islanders on Saturday and vs. the Rangers on Sunday. Saturday is a potential trap game, and would be incredibly easy to overlook, with the Rangers and a little thing called the playoffs on the horizon.

A Reason to Like All But One Penguin More

You know how Penguins fans say crap like "you're just jealous, you would love Sidney Crosby if he was on your team." We all know that's a load of crap. For one thing, Flyers fans aren't the type to love everybody on their own team (looking at you, Carcillo).

Thus I was happy to hear that the Penguins have just as little respect for Captain Crosby as we do.

Center Sidney Crosby was "Juice Boy" after practice Tuesday at Mellon Arena, delivering post-session cups of a sports energy drink to teammates for failing to best interim coach Dan Bylsma in the final round of an individual shootout competition. Crosby jokingly suggested the fix was in.

"That's not true," Bylsma said, smiling. "I did not take any money or give any money. I question Sid (insinuating) that, being that he's Juice Boy." (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, h/t Puck Daddy)

Disrespect is a beautiful thing.

The First Round Opponent

The Flyers, as has been clear for weeks now, are going to be the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference come playoff time. What has been decidedly less clear is who will be their opponent in Games 1 and 2 at the Wachovia Center. It looked like it would be Montreal for a while, or maybe Florida, but both have hit the skids hard recently, falling to eighth and ninth respectively.

Bold Prediction: The Flyers will face a Staal brother in the first round.

Barring an unlikely huge surge by either of those two, the Flyers' first round opponent will be either Pittsburgh, Carolina, or the Rangers, who have 86, 85, and 84 points respectively as they sit in fifth, sixth, and seventh.

Here's how the remaining schedules look for the three:

Pittsburgh has the toughest next three, against two division leaders and the Rangers, whereas the Rangers and Hurricanes both have two against teams pretty much out of the playoff race, followed by. Don't be surprised to see Pittsburgh fall out of fifth this week, though they should be able to make it up in their remaining five games, which are all against weaker teams. Pittsburgh should finish in fifth, but they're as streaky a team as any, so here's hoping they don't.

Carolina, everyone should agree, is the least scary of the three, and therefore the most desireable first round opponent. They play five of their games at home, which hopefully should cancel out the two at New Jersey which they shouldn't have a shot in. Hopefully Brodeur is resting for the last one.

Lastly, the Rangers, who are a mess. Sean Avery & Co. are the only of the three who the Flyers will face in the regular season. They meet in the final two games of the season, at which point the picture will be much clearer. The Flyers may have the chance to tank to get the Rangers in the first round, or the Rangers the chance to tank to avoid the Flyers. Both could tank, which would be a mess. Playing a home and home to end a season is pretty unusual, and could potentially lead to the two teams playing nine straight games against each other, which I have to think is pretty unprecedented. It should stay unprecedented, though, as I don't see the Rangers passing both Pittsburgh and Carolina, especially as their meeting with each team is away from Manhattan.

It will probably be another Battle of Pennsylvania, but there is still a chance it won't be. Let the Capitals have Pittsburgh, I say. They deserve each other.

Game #71 Review: Flyers 3 @ Penguins 1 3/22/09

3

@

1

That was strange. I had absolutely zero hope for this game. Clearly, I was rendered hopeless by the fact that only one Sweet Sixteen team is ranked below #5, and deluded by recent Penguins successes. And for that I apologize. It will never happen again.

• The stats guy says that Crosby and Malkin combined for zero shots. Ryan Parent is getting a lot of the credit for this, but it was really a huge team effort. And if they really got zero shots, how to explain this huge Biron save on Crosby?
• Goalie controversies are an omnipresent cliche for the Flyers, but Martin Biron looked really good. Really good. I'm still nervous when he gives up one that another quick one is going in, but that didn't happen today.
• Daniel Carcillo = still terrible. His dive was largely called on reputation alone, but having his reputation regularly cost the Flyers penalties is just as bad as having him regularly called for legit penalties. He needs to be on the fourth line (or just scratched), moving Asham or Powe up.
• Speaking of Darroll Powe, he has become a bizarrely huge part of this team's defensive core for a fourth liner. He's getting regular time on the PK, and scored the empty net goal with less than a minute left in the game because Stevens put him on the ice in a one-goal game with less than a minute left. Bold move.
• The main lesson we learned in this game is that I'm a genius. I said in the preview that all the Penguins success has been because Fleury has been playing better. And today, he was bad. And the Penguins lost. Simon Gagne's goal was pretty soft, and he probably could have had Hartnell's. The Flyers were sticking to the formula that worked so well for them against Montreal in the playoffs last year--demoralizing a team by getting a lead despite being horribly outshot (Penguins led in shots 21-10 after two despite being down 2-0).

Despite not getting on the scoresheet until an assist on Powe's empty netter, Ryan Parent gets The Hat for the first time. Not a bad pick.

Big stuff against New Jersey tonight on Versus at 7. The back-to-back is a built in excuse to lose, but winning is much preferable.

Game #71 Preview: Flyers @ Penguins 3/22/09

@

I'm not going to do the usual why each team will win thing, because honestly I can't come up with many decent reasons why the Penguins won't win this game. They're 13-1-2 since Bylsma took over. Malkin could be missing the game with a suspension for his late cheapshot vs. L.A., which would be nice, but probably won't be the difference.

.

The difference for this team, which doesn't get talked about enough, is Fleury. Fleury was phenomenal in the playoffs last year, and was terrible early in this year. Now he's playing pretty well, and so is the rest of his team. The Flyers have only won once against the Penguins this season, and that was with the terrible Dany Sabourin in net for the flightless birds.

.

This game is even more important than the average Pittsburgh game since it's the last time the Flyers and Penguins play in the regular season, before they almost certainly meet in the first round of the playoffs. If the Flyers can really just injur every decent Penguin--Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar, Fleury, Staal, Kunitz, Sykora--that would be good. Hopefully then Carolina would be able to move into the #5 seed, which would be a much easier opponent, and be the first time that the Flyers ever faced the Hurricanes/Whalers in a playoff series, leaving the Thrashers as the only Eastern team the Flyers have never faced in the playoffs.

.

And the game is on NBC, which is good because I'll get to see it, but terrible because NBC's coverage is awful. Mike Milbury is awful. Pierre McGuire is awful. Whoever keeps them on the air is even more awful.

.

Hopefully the game won't be awful. Hopefully the Flyers win. That would be good.

Puck drops at 12:30 in the Igloo. Go Flyers.

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.

Most Worstest Goal Ever For All Eternity

I like Marty Biron a lot. He's so damn chipper, was huge against most every game the Flyers won in the playoffs last year, and it's just so easy to get lost in those eyes. Seriously, have you ever seen anyone with eyes that color? He's clearly some sort of alien or reptile or something.

But the goal that Biron gave up with only a couple minutes left to squander a huge Flyers comeback against the Penguins really sucked. No goalie has any business ever being past the faceoff dots when any opposing player is within the FAR blue line, much less the near one. And just throwing the puck behind your back to avoid delay of game? Just skate around with it in your glove, press it up against a Penguin to emphasize that it's contested. Not hard to do.

Watching this video will almost certainly make you contemplate suicide, so unless that's something you're up for, you may just wanna scroll past it.




I'm not in the Philly area and only got the FSN Pittsburgh feed. Sweet fuck, those commentators are the most biased shits in the league. When Richards got tripped and fell he was "Greg Louganis." When Crosby didn't get tripped but fell anyway and drew a penalty it was "a great heads up play to get his team on the power play...so what if it was a little embellishment, eh?" When Hartnell got a puck to the face and went down, they cackled and said "couldn't happen to a nicer guy."


I hope those assholes are planning on paying their mortgages with the money they get from calling Penguins playoff games, because I would love to personally repossess their homes, belongings, and children and give them to the Octomom.


Watch Marty and Richie sound remorseful as they sandwich a Lupul interview that is just completely off. No one has ever sounded so giggly saying "we hate losing."



Niitty clearly gets the start vs. Washington. From there, who knows.

Game #43 Review: Penguins 4 @ Flyers 2 1/13/09

4

@

2

Sorry for the delay, but I'm sure you can understand why I was in no big rush to write about last night's show.

I'm not too worried about it, really. The Penguins came out and blindsided the Flyers by playing the trap. The Flyers did a poor job of making the adjustment until the third period, but other than that I saw no big issues. Other than generally crappy defense, but that was an anomaly.

The game meant a lot more to the Penguins, and it showed. But down the stretch, games meaning less certainly will not be an issue for the Flyers.

At least I hope not.

Game #43 Preview: Penguins @ Flyers 1/13/09

@

When it comes to Penguins-Flyers games, there's always a lot at stake. But for the Penguins, this game is even bigger. The Penguins are currently rocking out with their suck out, losing seven of their last eight and thirteen of their last eighteen (none of these were OT losses). And it wasn't just against good opponents, either. The Senators, Maple Leafs, Lightning, and Predators all got to feel good about themselves by beating the flightless birds.

Therrien's firing seems overdue, and therefore his job security may hinge on this one game. A win, and Therrien will surely be given many a public vote of confidence. A close loss, and he probably gets another stay of execution. A blowout loss, and the team bus will drop him off in North Philly and speed away.

As much as they need to delude themselves into thinking so before the game, there is nowhere near as much at stake for the boys in orange in this game.

With that in mind, let's break it down...

Why The Flyers Will Win:

• The Penguins couldn't beat a drum at this point.
• The Flyers always play up against the Penguins, who are clearly the team they like least. Playing up against a team that's playing so down pretty much guarantees victory.
• The Flyers are currently ELEVEN points ahead of Pittsburgh in the standings.
• Desperate teams play desperate hockey, so it's really unlikely that the Penguins will have the composure this rivalry mandates. Look for lots of penalties, especially to Malkin and Crosby. Wouldn't be surprised to see a real nasty cheapshot from somebody, too.
• Flyers have won 14 straight at home. Penguins haven't won on the road since last year.

I could go on, really, but I have to stop myself.

Why The Penguins Will Win:

• They have to stop sucking eventually, right?

7:00 start at the Wach. If you don't get the game on TV for whatever reason, you can pick up a free feed over at atdhe.net .

Prediction: Flyers score five in the win. Crystal ball is foggy as to whether or not Scott Hartnell scores one or two, but it's definitely not zero.

And just for fun, a reminder of the last time the Penguins waddled into Philadelphia.