The Philadelphia Flyers started out of the gate as one of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League, winning four of their first five games and getting points in all five of them. Since then, they have suffered two embarrassing (though in different ways) back-to-back losses on home ice at the hands of the Washington Capitals and the St. Louis Blues. To lose to the Capitals by a score of 5-2 when they’re one of the hotter teams in the NHL at the beginning of the season, and just about every bounce goes the way of the opposition, well …
Blues Over Flyers in a Lackluster Effort
Okay, so maybe that headline is a little harsh, but the Flyers played rather poorly in this game. The whole team came out of the locker room slow, got down early, and were not able to make up the difference. The Flyers ultimately lost this game, 4-2, to a suddenly resurgent St. Louis Blues. The Blues, despite getting into town late after an overtime win against Carolina the night before, came out strong right from the drop of the puck. They controlled play early and were skating well. After the Flyers iced it early in the first period, the Blues won the ensuing face-off and …
Flyers Fall to Kings in OT
The big storyline coming into what turned out to be a 3-2 overtime victory by the Los Angeles Kings over the Flyers, was the return of Mike Richards, and I think he ended up being the storyline at the end of the game as well. He took a penalty that led to the Flyers tying the game late in the third period, and then set up the winning shot in OT, like we had seen him do for the Orange and Black so many times before. This Saturday night special started off with a bang… literally. Zac Rinaldo levelled training-camp …
Bring Back Gagne? A look at the pros and cons.
We have 25 days until free agency and I’m sure each and every one of those days will be rumor laden until July 1 arrives. Paul Holmgren was fairly active last season, adding Andrej Meszaros, Sean O’Donnell, Jody Shelley and Nikolay Zherdev, while retaining Darroll Powe and Daniel Carcillo. However all of that activity caused casualties of the cap. Arron Asham signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent and Simon Gagne, the longest- tenured Flyer at the time, waived his no-trade clause in a much maligned deal with Tampa Bay, while we took on Matt Walker — or more precisely, his two hip surgeries. …
RICE & MICE: The sports hernia
Danny Briere has had a couple, Mike Richards has had at least one, Dan Carcillo had one last offseason and now, Kris Versteeg is the latest Flyer to undergo surgery to repair a sports hernia. A sports hernia is different from a traditional inguinal hernia that occurs when there is a significant area of the abdominal wall in the area of the inguinal canal that allows a pouch of herniated tissue to bulge through and cause pain. The inguinal canal is created by several abdominal muscles and ligaments and through the canal passes the spermatic cord and the ilioinguinal nerve …
Flight Plan Week of 03.20.2011
The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t looked all that good recently, but they haven’t looked all that bad either. In their last five games, they’ve been able to muster up just enough effort and offense to get points in six of their last seven games and have even squeezed five out of a possible six in their last three contests. The big shootout win in Dallas was a little bit overshadowed by their inability to cap a comeback against the Atlanta Thrashers with a win in OT which saw Danny Briere score two goals including one with just 1:28 left in the …
Thrashers beat Flyers again, this time in SO
While it didn’t leave a bad taste in the mouth like Saturday night’s third-period collapse in Philadelphia, the result wasn’t any more satisfying. Blake Wheeler netted the decider in the third round of the shootout, as the Atlanta Thrashers took a 4-3 decision over the Philadelphia Flyers at Philips Arena on Thursday night. Rob Schremp tallied to start the second round, but it was Wheeler’s odd score which eventually ended the contest after a Danny Briere miss. Wheeler skated in from an angle just to the right of center ice, then lost control of the puck as he neared the crease. …
RICE & MICE: Five for fighting and 6-8 weeks with a high ankle sprain
First overall selection in the 2010 entry draft and Edmonton Oilers’ star rookie, Taylor Hall, saw his season come to an end much earlier than the rest of his NHL counterparts. It isn’t over because of a dismal season that saw the Oilers miss the playoffs. Hall is out for the remainder of the season with a high ankle sprain. He wasn’t battling along the boards or crashing the net when he was injured. Hall was injured while falling awkwardly in a fight with the Blue Jackets’ Derek Dorsett. Reactions to Hall’s injury have ranged from applauding the young talent …
Flight Plan 02.27.2011 (Delayed)
There are just 20, count ‘em, 20 games left in the regular season schedule for the Philadelphia Flyers. It looks like they’ve hit somewhat of a slump as they are just 6-3-1 in their last 10, including a Saturday night loss to the Eastern Conference worst Ottawa Senators by a score of 4-1, and struggling to beat the second-worst club, the New York Islanders. None of this spells success, but since the Flyers still hold a pretty good lead over the next best teams in the East (five points and one game in hand over both the Boston Bruins and …
RICE & MICE: Groin Strain
A groin injury could mean a variety of different injuries to a hockey player and at times it seems the groin is a “catch all” for reasons a player may be kept out of the lineup. A groin strain or groin pull is one of the most common and least severe injuries that can occur at the groin. Part of the reason for such a variety of injuries to the groin is the wide variety of structures that comprise the groin. The groin consists of the area where the abdomen meets the legs, the inner thigh, the pubic area including …