Dan A EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL #3 Boston/ #5 Tampa Bay Both teams are coming off of sweeps in the second round, Boston with a quick dismantling of Philadelphia and Tampa with a slightly less convincing romp over top-seeded Washington. Both teams have their top offensive weapons firing on all cylinders with the re-emergence of the Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton line as well as Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis finding their strides. On the defensive sides you have two big bodies on the backend in Boston’s Zdeno Chara and Victor Hedman who can dominate a game. In goal you have …
Poll: Conference Finals Predictions
We’re down to the final four in the NHL playoffs. The top two seeds remain in the West while the two teams that completed stunning sweeps of the top two seeds in the East are left. Who do you think will advance to the Finals?
Report: Flyers-Rangers Winter Classic in Philly to happen on January 2
Courtesy of NHL.com Multiple media reports in Philadelphia, New York and Canada are reporting the Philadelphia Flyers will host the New York Rangers in the 2012 NHL Winter Classic. According to the reports, the game will be played Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. If the reports are accurate, it would be the first time the game has been played on a day other than Jan. 1. However, New Year’s Day next year falls on a Sunday. If the NFL plays this season — that league currently has locked out its players …
Playoff predictions checkpoint
Series Winner Marcello D Penaltykiller Bob H Dan A Nick D Frick Pavialax Craig F Capitals/Rangers Capitals Capitals Rangers Rangers Capitals Capitals Flyers/Sabres Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Bruins/Canadiens Bruins Bruins Bruins Bruins Canadiens Bruins Penguins/Lightning Lightning Lightning Lightning Penguins Penguins Lightning Canucks/Blackhawks Canucks Canucks Canucks Canucks Canucks Canucks Sharks/Kings Sharks Sharks Sharks Sharks Sharks Sharks Red Wings/Coyotes Red Wings Red Wings Red Wings Red Wings Coyotes Red Wings Predators/Ducks Predators Predators Predators Ducks Predators Ducks Capitals/Lightning Lightning Lightning Capitals Capitals Capitals Lightning Lightning Lightning Bruins/Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Flyers Canucks/Predators Canucks Canucks Canucks Canucks …
Goalie Search 2011 – Jean-Sebastien Giguere
The Chairman has spoken, the goalie carousel has come to an end! With Ed Snider’s announcement that the goaltending problem has to be fixed this offseason, it’s time to begin looking ahead to just what goaltender the Flyers brass will bring in to slam the door on the age-old question: when will the Flyers finally invest in a quality goaltender. Because of this, I have decided to take the possible goaltenders the Flyers may pursue, be it via free agency or trade. Every day I will analyze a new goaltender in an attempt to determine the best fit for the …
RICE & MICE: Wrist cartilage tears (aka TFCC tears)
Flyers players Mike Richards and Andrej Meszaros both had wrist surgery on Wednesday morning. Both had cartilage tears. It’s reported that Meszaros had some ligament involvement with his surgery. It seems that there’s a lot of uncalled for speculation going on about Richards’ wrist procedure. When did he hurt it? How did it happen? Why didn’t he have surgery during the season? Even a sighting of Flyers (including Richards) at the Wednesday evening Philadelphia Union match, left the doors open for comments about his quick recovery from surgery. Seems to be everything just shy of questioning whether the injury is real. …
Happy Chelios Revenge Day!
Hard to believe it was 22 years ago today that Ron Hextall really lost it for the first time in his career. Unlike his slash across the back of Kent Nilsson’s legs in Game 4 of the ’87 Finals against Edmonton that was a spur-of-the-moment brain cramp, Hextall’s attack on Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Chelios in the waning moments of Game 6 in the 1989 Wales Conference Finals was payback for a specific incident earlier in the series. In Game 1 at Montreal, in the second period, Chelios unloads onto Flyers forward Brian Propp: Even though we’ve been desensitized to …
Pronger to have another surgery
The Philadelphia Flyers announced this afternoon that defenseman Chris Pronger will have back surgery. The procedure, which is called a discectomy, will take place on Thursday in New York by Dr. Frank Cammisa at the Hospital for Special Surgery. A discectomy aims to remove any material in a herniated disc that presses on a nerve root or the spinal cord, by cutting out the middle portion of an intervertebral disc which causes pain by putting stress on the spinal cord or radiating nerves. It will be the fourth surgery in a calendar year for the veteran rearguard. Pronger’s most recent …
Another Philly sports drama
A player who assumes a role of leadership for a sports team in Philadelphia is bound to bear the brunt of undue criticism. This is particularly true for players who have great expectations thrust upon them. It happened with Charles Barkley. It happened to Eric Lindros. It happened in Randall Cunningham’s later years, just as it did for Donovan McNabb. It happened with Terrell Owens. It happened with Allen Iverson. It happened with Pat Burrell to some extent. It happens intermittently with Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels. The Flyers are not immune to these perils either, despite a near-unbroken chain …
Flyers’ offseason surgery roster revealed
No less than eight Flyers, including captain Mike Richards, have at least the possibility of surgery if not the spectre of actual repairs, looming in the offseason, according to club general manager Paul Holmgren. Holmgren revealed the news during his end-of-season news conference and said Richards, who has been bothered by a wrist injury since training camp, will need to have surgery done. Holmgren also revealed that four additional players will have a date with the surgeon’s table: defenseman Andrej Meszaros (wrist); forwards Kris Versteeg (stomach muscle) and Blair Betts (finger) along with goaltender Michael Leighton (hip). Forwards Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell will be evaluated further to see if …