To say this was a rough week for the Flyers would be an understatement. They managed to pull out one victory this week, but it came at the cost of losing Chris Pronger to a nasty eye injury. Embarrassing losses to the Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues provided a rough taste of reality for the Flyers, a team that had yet to experience much adversity since their hectic roster shuffle in the offseason. Despite all the negative aspects of this week for Philly, the Flyers are still second in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference with 11 …
Atlantic Watch: 10/12-10/18
Three more games for the Flyers this week resulted in five more points in the standings. Losing their first game of the year in overtime to the Kings, the Flyers are no longer perfect on the season. However, since they won their other games in the week, the Flyers still haven’t lost in regulation this season. Sure, it’s upsetting to lose a game like Saturday’s to Los Angeles, a team featuring former Philly teammates Mike Richards and Simon Gagne, but it’s important to earn points early in the year. It’s also important to see many of the young players stepping …
Atlantic Watch: 10/6-10/11
Philly started off the season with a 2-1 win against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins in Beantown, then recorded a dominant 3-0 shutout in New Jersey to end a 101-game drought during the regular season and playoffs combined. After giving up the first goal of the NHL season to Brad Marchand, the Flyers scored two goals in the final minute of the first period. Claude Giroux dangled his way to a goal with 50 seconds left, while Jakub Voracek scored with only three seconds to go on a turn around shot in the slot. Fortunately for Philly, this would be all they needed as Ilya …
2012 Winter Classic comes to Philly
At long last, the 2012 show. Ending months of speculation, the Philadelphia Flyers confirmed that the 2012 Winter Classic will take place in Philadelphia, at Citizens Bank Park, between the New York Rangers and the Flyers. The news was broken in a letter to season-ticket holders, according to Sarah Baicker of CSNPhilly.com. The story on the website also confirmed that tickets to the game will not be part of ticket packages, and must be purchased separately. But the new twist is that the game is scheduled for January 2, breaking the brief four-year tradition of the league’s premiere outdoor contest being played on …
MasterGame Theater
It’s time for another trip down the Orange-and-Black-flecked memory lane as we all drip with sweat from the heat of August in the city or the salt of the ocean at the Jersey shore…think about it, we’re less than two months from the start of the regular season… So, to get us all riled up and to recall the deep-seated hatred of our enemies, I thought I’d dip back into the playoff pool for this installment of MasterGame Theater. It is our honor to present to you Game 3 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals between the Flyers and New …
Alive at 45?
While us penguins continue to wilt in the usual Northeastern Summer heat, pining for the days when a cool iceberg awaits our collectively scorched behinds, thoughts about the upcoming (and too far off) season still seep their way into our Sun-addled brains. This is the third in a five-part series which intends to examine the ways the Flyers front office, though publicly professing to want to win the Cup by any means necessary, just ends up conducting business as usual year in and year out. The facts are simple and impressive. In 3,424 total regular-season games, the Orange and Black have played to …
MasterGame Theater
It became known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, a Saturday afternoon on South Broad Street between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers on February 14, 2004. Two days earlier, in the opener of the home-and-road set at Madison Square Garden, a Flyers 2-1 win came at a heavy price. Jeremy Roenick’s jaw was destroyed when he got in the way of a slap shot, and Keith Primeau was felled with a concussion. Both would be out for significant time. But a deep veteran club under Ken Hitchcock was just a little bit deeper thanks to a pre-raided Philadelphia Phantoms, …
Then and Now: Janne Niinimaa
What do Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, and Janne Niinimaa all have in common? They were all drafted in the 1993 NHL Entry draft. How many were drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers? Only Janne Niinimaa. Pronger went second, to the Hartford Whalers, while Timonen could be considered the hidden gem of the draft going 250nd to the Los Angeles Kings. Well, we know what Pronger and Timonen are doing with their careers now, but what about Niinimaa? Before the aforementioned question is answered, let us remember Niinimaa’s brief time spent in Philly. Spending three seasons with Jokerit in the SM-liiga after …
Then and Now: Patrick Thoresen
A player who will most likely be remembered for an infamous injury in the playoffs, Patrick Thoresen was a respectable 4th liner for the Flyers during the latter part of the 2007-2008 NHL season. In his 35 games in a Flyers’ uniform, Thoresen didn’t register a single goal, but did post seven assists (two in the postseason). However, the success of Thoresen’s game was measured more in defense and sweat rather than goals and assists. Since leaving the Flyers in the 2008 offseason, Thoresen has found his scoring touch in route to a Gagarin Cup. Picked up off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers on …
The Lost Season
Nursing the heartbreak of a Stanley-Cup caliber Flyers season that came to a screeching halt with a stupefying early playoff exit is a rare and beautiful thing. Although the Flyers have prided themselves on not shitting the bed in the postseason after being near the top of the NHL standings, it has been known to occur every once in a blue moon. Like in the early 1980′s. Tucked in between the Year of the Streak that ended in a loss to the Islanders in the Finals and the Mike Keenan-led surprise 1985 Cup finalists, was four deeply disappointing years that saw a …