Broad and Pattison is moving. Head on over to SB Nation, where we’re now known as Broad Street Hockey. You can read my whole spiel about why the move was made over at the new site.

I know there are a ton of readers here who haven’t commented often or a lot. The move to SBN is for you guys. The new site is yours as much as it is mine, and you can certainly read more about that over there too.

I’m still going to be bringing the same type of commentary and analysis at Broad Street Hockey as I did here at Broad and Pattison. The new site just gives a bigger platform for that.

It’s an exciting time and I hope you’ll join me in continuing to create the biggest Flyers blog on the ‘net.

Travis

http://www.broadstreethockey.com

This time, though, it’s straight from the Flyers.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have reassigned defenseman Luca Sbisa to the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League, according to club General Manager Paul Holmgren.

“We feel that it is in the best interest of Luca and the Flyers organization that he gets back to playing on a regular basis,” said Holmgren in making the announcement. “Luca will join Lethbridge for its game in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday.”

Everything Homer is saying there is correct — Luca does need to play — but couldn’t this have been done two or three weeks ago?  According to the CBA, if you’re on the active roster for 40 or more games, it counts as one season against your contract. If you’re a healthy scratch, you’re still on the roster — you’re just not playing. Sbisa has only played 39 games, but as far as I understand it, that’s not the number that matters. He’s been on the roster for every game to this point, and is a year closer to free agency now because of it.

EDIT (h/t to Mirtle): A little clarification… after10 games you lose a year off of your contract, but after 40 games you become a year closer free agency. Sbisa is now both.

Holmgren made a mistake here.

Right after David Backes made it 3-0, the Captain tried to give his team some jump by taking on Dan Hinote. A couple early shots by Richie added to the take down probably give him the edge in this one.

Possible Excuses

• long road trip (albeit only three games, it was kinda long though)
• second game of a back to back
• team is flu ridden, Randy Jones/Braydon Coburn missed the game
• “the Blues have the same goal horn… we thought we were up 4-0!”

I don’t care. You just lost 4-0 to the worst team in the Western Conference. That cannot happen. Period.

B&P’s Take: The Blues just beat the Flyers in every aspect of the game tonight. Chris Mason was astonishing, stop all 36 of the Flyers shots. Antero Niittymaki wasn’t bad either, but the rest of the team didn’t hustle in front of him.

When you go 0-for-11 on the power play, you don’t win. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. The special teams, or lack thereof, lost the Flyers the game tonight.

The Blues are a young team with a lot of talent, and if they were fully healthy, they’d be threatening to make the playoffs. They’re a physical team, and boy did they take it to the Flyers tonight.

The flu keeping Jones and Coburn out meant Luca Sbisa and Lasse Kukkonen both got a chance to play. The pairing of Sbisa and Matt Carle was a minus-2.

The officials were busy tonight, and it didn’t help that one of the linesmen went down with an illness before the game. It was interesting watching two refs and a linesman try to officiate the game, though… especially one that featured 23 minor penalties.

This game sucked. I’m done talking about it. Forget it, move on. Three full days to focus on Boston.

Questions With Answers

1. Do the Flyers focus on St. Louis or do they play like they’re looking ahead to Boston? It certainly didn’t look like it. They just didn’t play well tonight at all. As soon as the Blues scored that first goal, which came immediately after they killed a two-minute-long Flyer 5-0n-3, you had a feeling it was going to be a rough night.

2. The Flyers lead the league with 52 fights, but St. Louis isn’t far behind with 43 (fourth in the NHL). Cam Janssen is the Blues leading tough guy. Former teammate of Aaron Asham. Sounds like a fight to me? It certainly was a fight, and it was a good one. I’d call it a draw but it was a little unfortnate the stripes jumped in so early. I’ll throw up the video when it pops up on the YouTubes.

3. Mike Richards broke out of a little slump last night with three big points. What’s he do for an encore? Well, he got in a second period fight with Dan Hinote to try to boost his team. It didn’t work, but at least he tried.

Comprehensive playoff update, as well as a roundup of the rest of the action in the NHL tonight after the jump…

Playoff Chase

standings as of tonight’s games

Games today that affected the playoff picture (rankings are current)…

(3) Washington 4, Detroit 2

Washington beats the defending champs, continuing their home ice success. The Wings are falling, losers of five straight now. They move a point behind the idle Devils with 66 points. For a recap, let’s go to The Peerless Prognosticator, a Caps blog…

It’s one thing to come from a couple of goals down to beat a bottom dweller. It is another thing to take a game away from a team you’re tied with at the second intermission when that team is the defending Stanley Cup champion skating on your ice with the third highest number of road standings points in the league. Figuring out a way to win close, highly charged games against quality opponents is perhaps the last lesson a team has to learn to be a credible championship contender.

(1) Boston 1, (5) NY Rangers 0

The Flyers next opponent, the Bruins, beat the Rangers 1-0 today in Beantown. The Rangers still sit just one point ahead of the Flyers, but they’ve played three extra games. The NY Rangers Blog does the honors…

…is there a less entertaining team in hockey right now? They’re almost unwatchable. I don’t care that they had 35 shots on goal, not a single one of them was a tough chance. No crashing the net, no offensive flow. Just trapping. It wasn’t until late in the game when Renney finally abandoned the trap did the Rangers show some offensive ability. But they’ve got to play the system to win.

(4) Montreal 4, Los Angeles 3

Our closest rival right now, perhaps, is Montreal. The Flyers lose, Montreal wins. Bad news. Thanks to the Rangers loss, the Habs move up into fourth place, with two games in hand over New York and the same amount of points. They’re also one point ahead of the Flyers, but we’ve got the game in hand. Habs Inside/Out with the recap…

With two minutes to play in the game Saturday afternoon, it looked like the Canadiens were headed to their fifth straight loss. But that is when the Canadiens woke up and put an end to their longest losing streak in two years with a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Trailing 3-2, Christopher Higgins scored a beautiful goal - his first since Nov. 26 and only his sixth of the season - when he went around Kings defenceman Drew Doughty and beat goatender Jonathan Quick with a shot to the top corner.

(11) Toronto 5, (10) Pittsburgh 4

It was Doug Gilmour night in Toronto as the Leafs retired number 11 in honor of their former captain. They got a win too over the flailing Penguins. Toronto might be trying to convince themselves they have a chance now, as the win pulled them within nine points of the Pens. Pittsburgh dropped from 9th to 10th with the loss, one point behind Florida but with two extra games. JDunman from Pensburgh with the scoop from Pittsburgh…

The Penguins should not have lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  A Penguins team that came out of the All Star Break with their eyes on the prize should not lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Yes, they lost to the Devils last night, but New Jersey is red-hot and the Penguins still got a point out of the game.  What did they get out of this game?  Shattered momentum and solidly sitting out of playoff contention.  Are they out for good?  Of course not…but results like this doesn’t give room to much optimism.

(15) NY Islanders 3, (9) Florida 1

It was a big game for the Panthers tonight as they looked to stay red hot. They needed a win to keep pace with Carolina and they didn’t get it. With the loss, Florida dropped from eighth to ninth, one point behind Carolina. They still have two games in hand though. The Drive For Five (that title has to be a golf reference), an Isles blog, is excited…

Thankfully for the Isles, Mike Comrie scored a sneaky goal after catching Tomas Vokoun behind the net that got them the lead. Bill Guerin’s spin move goal in the third was also pretty surreptitious as well. Considering the move the Islanders captain pulled earlier in the game, where he almost broke a Florida Panthers’ defenseman’s legs, it’s fair to say that he had his best game in quite some time.

Add in another goal from Kyle Okposo and I have to say, this was probably the Isles’ most complete game of the season.

60 solid minutes.

(8) Carolina 2, (14) Atlanta 0

Thanks to the Panthers losing, the Hurricanes move into the playoff picture in the eight spot. Two first period goals were enough for the victory. Red and Black Hockey has the details on the goaltender duel between Cam Ward and Kari Lehtonen…

On Saturday night, the Hurricanes again had a “must win” game at home against the hapless Thrashers.  With goals by Matt Cullen and Ray Whitney and a shutout by Cam Ward, they got the job done.  The 2-0 win was the third shutout of the season for Ward and the 101st win of his career.

I’ve seriously got to tip my hat to Atlanta netminder Kari Lehtonen.  Without his brilliant play, it could have easily been 8-0.

Cam Ward was sharp in the shutout, but he only faced 19 shots.  Lehtonen faced more than that in the first period alone.

(7) Buffalo 2, Phoenix 0

Buffalo needed the win to keep pace with Carolina and they got it done against the Coyotes, who believe it or not were as high as fifth in the Western Conference playoff picture this week. That conference is nuts… Vancouver is in 11th but they’re only four points behind fifth place Anaheim. The loss hurts the ‘Yotes, as they dropped to eighth. The Sabres stay in seventh but they pick up ground on the Flyers — just six points back. They’re also only two points ahead of 10th place Pittsburgh though. Die By The Blade, a Sabres blog, tells the story…

When a team only has five defensemen playing in a game, and when most of those defensemen are still green, a good goalie is the best chance for them to win the game.  Ryan Miller was everything that he had to be for the Sabres to pull out the 2-0 win against the Coyotes tonight.  Miller stopped all 28 shots, including 15 in the first period alone on his way to his fourth shutout of the season.

Overall, the Flyers drop one spot to sixth tonight, but they’re just one point out of fourth with games in hand. But don’t look in the rear view mirror, Philadelphia. There’s a buncha hockey teams stuck in traffic right behind us.

Around the League: The Leafs honored Doug Gilmour by raising his number 93 to the rafters … Leaf rookie Luke Schenn delivered a huge hit on Evgeni Malkin in the same game … Detroit rookie (kinda, he’s 25 and played for a few years in Finland before getting a shot) scored a beautiful spin-o-rama goal, his first in the NHL … Dallas beat Columbus 7-3 to regain a spot in the playoff picture, capping a remarkable comeback from a dreadful start of the season … Columbus is in the playoff race, say what? … Sundin apparently has made the Canucks worse; he’s played nine games and Vancouver has lost their last eight …

Boston on Wednesday. Go Flyers.

“They’re a team that likes to play physical. If they think they can bully you around, they’ll use that to their advantage. We’re going to make sure, first of all, that we establish our physicality in the game.” — Blues coach Andy Murray

Two of the highest penalized teams in the league tonight. Two of the top five teams in fights. It could be a circa 1970 West Division battle in St. Louis tonight.

Philadelphia Flyers (26-13-9, 61 pts) at St. Louis Blues (19-24-4, 42 pts)
Scottrade Center - 8:30 PM EST - St. Louis, MO
TV: CW57 (HD?), Fox Sports Midwest HD
Radio: 94.1 WYSP FM, XM 208
Check Here for Internet Streams
Behind Enemy Lines: St. Louis Game Time

What To Watch For: The Blues? They’re a hockey team?

Seriously, it’s hard to get up for a game when the team you’re playing is a) the worst team in the Western Conference and b) a team you play once every nineteen years. The Flyers and Blues haven’t met since February of 2007 and they haven’t played a game in St. Louis since 2005. Crazy.

But let’s hope the Flyers do get up for this one, because it’s very similar to last night. There can be no looking ahead to Boston tonight, even though we all want to. They need to take care of business against the teams they should be beating, just like they did against Tampa.

The penalties have to stop. St. Louis, for all of their flaws, are a quality power play team — ranked seventh in the NHL and converting at 22 percent. They take a lot of penalties though, too. Compared to the Flyers, who take 18.7 PIM a  game, St. Louis takes 16.2. The Flyers lead the league and the Blues are fourth.

St. Louis is coming off of a 3-1 loss to the lowly Ottawa Senators, but before that they took two impressive wins on the road against Chicago and Boston. That’s right. Chicago and Boston.

The Blues cannot be overlooked. They’re led by leading scorer Brad Boyes, who has 20 goals and 17 assists on the season. Keith Tkachuk, Patrik Berglund, and David Backes are also scoring threats.

They’re also ridiculously injured though. List time:

• Roman Polak, D, broken foot
  Yan Stastny, C, broken finger
  Eric Brewer, D, back
  Andy MacDonald, C, leg
  Paul Kariya, LW, hip surgery
  Eric Johnson, D, torn ACL/MCL

Yeah, that’ll hurt your chances at success for damn sure. Philly also owns the Blues. How’s 8-1 since 2000 sound? (come to think of it, I think I was at the one loss. check: yup, I was) Five straight wins in St. Louis. The Flyers have outscored the Blues 39-19 in that time. It’s like Niittymaki-on-Atlanta ownage.

It looks good for the Flyers, but I’m sure it did for Boston on the 19th too.

Between the Pipes: Both goalies are kind of up in the air right now. For the Flyers, if you ask me, Niittymaki deserves to play after his performance last night. Ride the hot goalie, as they say. But, with that said, if I were betting money I’d put it on Biron. Stevens uses the logic that, since the Flyers are off until Wednesday after today, sitting Biron would be keeping him out of action for too long. We’ll see in a few hours, I guess.

UPDATE: Antero Niittymaki will go for the Flyers tonight. I was (happily) wrong.

For the Blues, I’m just not sure. It could be Chris Mason or Manny Legace — they basically share the workload. Legace has played in 28 games this season, compiling a 3.21 GAA and a .888 save percentage. Weak. Mason has done a tad bit better, but don’t ask for any trophies, Chris. In 22 games, Mason has a 2.94 GAA and a .905 save percentage. While Mason’s numbers are better, the team sucks when he plays. He’s got a record of 5-14-1, while Legace is 13-9-2. Strange.

Questions To Answer

1. Do the Flyers focus on St. Louis or do they play like they’re looking ahead to Boston?

2. The Flyers lead the league with 52 fights, but St. Louis isn’t far behind with 43 (fourth in the NHL). Cam Janssen is the Blues leading tough guy. Former teammate of Aaron Asham. Sounds like a fight to me?

3. Mike Richards broke out of a little slump last night with three big points. What’s he do for an encore?

A look at the playoff race after the jump…

Playoff Chase: It’s Saturday, and that means it’s a busy night/afternoon in the NHL. The standings prior to today’s games are below, along with a list of the games that have implications on the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Devils are the only inactive team that’s currently in the playoff picture. The teams you should be cheering for are in bold.

Detroit at (3) Washington, 12:30 PM ET — XM 206
(4) NY Rangers at (1) Boston, 1:00 PM ET — XM 207
Los Angeles at (6) Montreal, 2:00 PM ET — XM 208
(9) Pittsburgh at (11) Toronto, 7:00 PM ET — NHL Network HD, XM 204
(8) Florida at (15) NY Islanders, 7:00 PM ET — XM 205
(14) Atlanta at (10) Carolina, 8:00 PM ET — XM 207
(7) Buffalo at Phoenix, 9:00 PM ET — XM 209

No playoff implication, but if you’re in the Philly area, you can see Chicago at San Jose on the Comcast Network (not CSN, the channel CN8 used to be) at 10:30. Go Flyers.

An excerpt:

Q: How does it feel to get to continue to play with former University of Alabama-Huntsville teammate Scott Munroe in Philadelphia? – Virginia from Huntsville, Ala.

Ross: It’s awesome. When I was in Chicago, I thought about getting traded the year I did get traded – thinking if there’s any team I’d want to go to, it’d be Philadelphia just because of the organization and my buddy Scott Munroe’s there. I thought it’d be fun playing together. It’s a thrill to have him playing on the same team as me – we’ve been around each other the last six or seven years now and have become really good friends. Practices are so much more fun being able to shoot on him, and we were roommates on the road. It’s just to have someone that you’re a really good friend with and have known for awhile, and Scott’s a great guy, so I’m really happy to be on the same team with him.

Q: What was the experience like making your National Hockey League debut with the Flyers earlier this season? – Kevin from Boston, Mass.

Ross: It was awesome, everything I thought it was going to be. It was opening night for the Flyers, just playing that game it was unbelievable, wearing the Flyers jersey. Realizing that I was the first hockey player out of Alabama to play in the NHL, I was pretty proud to be able to do that. Just to have everybody calling and texting me from Alabama to offer congratulations, it was a really great feeling.

B&P’s Take: It was a bit of a strange game, with two overturned goals and a penalty shot, but everything went the Flyers way tonight. Mark Recchi DID score on his goal that was reversed (they said he kicked it, he didn’t), but the Steven Stamkos goal that was overturned was tough to argue either way against. The War Room in Toronto has more angles than we do watching on TV though, so these situations are tough to complain about. Why would we, though? They both went in our favor.

And perhaps that helped the Flyers jump out of their cage. It was 1-1 when Rex’s goal was taken away, and it came toward the end of the first period. Philly came out in the second period storming, and Randy Jones scored on the PP to make it 2-1. A few minutes later, Richards scored his second of the night and the Flyers were breaking the game open.

Tampa had a few more chances to get back in it though. They peppered Antero Niittymaki with shots, but the Great Wall of Finland held strong, just as he has in his entire career against the Southeast Division. He’s 19-1-1 against SE teams — unreal. Kimmo Timonen hooked Martin St. Louis on a breakaway about five minutes into the third period and the referees awarded St. Louis a penalty shot. Nitty might’ve gotten a piece of it as it sailed up and over the crossbar. About two minutes later, Stamkos batted in his disallowed goal with a high-stick.

From there on, the Flyers closed the small door Tampa still had open. Carter scored two down the stretch (he passed Ovechkin for the league lead with 32 in the process) and Scott Hartnell added one to help the orange and black to a 6-1 win. It was just what they needed — a strong win against a team they should beat.

Offensively, the Flyers destroyed Tampa. The Lightning defense was pretty much non-existent and Mike Smith had literally no help back in the cage, and the Flyers took advantage.

The only down side for tonight were the penalties, but it’s a serious problem. Thankfully, Tampa isn’t exactly a potent offense, but the Flyers gave them nine powerplays by taking 12 minor penalties. It’s ridiculous and it has to stop.

How overrated was Stamkos in that draft last year, anyway? Man… not impressed.

Also, I don’t miss Steve Downie. At all.

Behind Enemy Lines: Cassie at Bolts Blog has the Tampa perspective on the game.

50 down, only 32 to go….

…

You certainly can’t accuse Tampa Bay’s top line of slacking. Not when those three guys had half the shots for the team. St. Louis had nine shots, Lecavalier eight, and Prospal four. I thought that Prospal had a pretty good game, actually. And St. Louis got a penalty shot attempt, too. Like I’d said, tho, it was one of those games, so they weren’t able to put anything in the net.

But let’s give Niittymaki some credit. I’ve always thought that he was one of the more underrated goaltenders in the league. And he definitely shined in this game.

The Lightning’s defense weren’t helping Smith all that much. And the forwards weren’t helping the defense. The only thing that looked good were their special teams. Which was good, I guess, since they were either on a power play or killing a penalty for a good part of the game.

Questions With Answers

1. Can the Flyers stop taking so many damn penalties? No. It’s bad. Against teams like Boston and Washington and New Jersey, they aren’t getting away with this crap. They’ve got to find a solution and quickly: the Bruins loom on Wednesday.

2. Do the Flyers realize the urgency of this game? It seems that way. Regardless, they got the job done.

3. They should be Tampa. Do they play like they are the better team? They certainly did.

4. The Flyers have always struggled playing in the St. Pete Forum. Is it psychological? It was practically a home game for the Flyers tonight in Tampa… if you watched the game it looked like a whole section to the left of the benches there was an entire section of orange. Clearly, the demons the Flyers usually stuggle with in that building weren’t there tonight.

Playoff race update, after the jump…

Playoff Chase

With the win the Flyers moved one point ahead of idle Montreal for the fifth spot.

(9) Pittsburgh at (2) New Jersey: The Penguins held a 3-1 lead in the third. It looked as if they were going to step into “The Rock” and end the Devils seven-game winning streak. Let’s let Frank from Pensburgh tell the rest.

Petr Sykora, Devil from 1995-2002, took a double minor for hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct in the third with nearly eight minutes remaining.  Up 3-1, the Pens’ PK unit hit the ice in hopes of killing it off.

Enter Brendan Shanahan, former Devil from 87-91 and once again as of less than a month ago.  In a matter of four seconds the Devils won the faceoff and a Shanny shot flew past Fleury.

Yes, exactly four seconds.

That was the turning point right there, the catalyst to a Devils win and a Penguins loss.  And the score was still 3-2 Pens.  But you just knew.  You knew something like this was going to happen.

It happened all right. Langenbrunner scored with 31 seconds in the third to tie the game, and Jersey had all the mojo they needed. With a minute left in OT, it was like deja vu. Langenbrunner scored again this time a shot that sailed over the shoulder of Marc-Andre Fleury, and the Devils won 4-3. It was Langenbrunner’s second two goal game in two days and his second OT game-winner in just as many nights.

Pitt can’t even win when we want them to. Thanks, assholes.

The good news is that the Flyers kept pace with the Devils, but they still sit six points out with two games in hand. But, Pittsburgh is still out of the playoff picture — never a bad thing — and we move within one point of the idle Rangers with two in hand over them, also. Sitting pretty, for the time being. Another win tomorrow night is important though heading into the home-and-home with Boston.

Gamenight Roundup: Former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice was in Tampa for the game tonight … Staying semi-political, Chief Justice John Roberts (the guy who screwed up Obama’s Oath of Office) took in the Capitals outdoor practice on Thursday night, (a really, really cool idea by the way *ahem Flyers*) … Columbus beat Ottawa 1-0 … Ottawa sucks … Our next opponent is “pissy” …

Tomorrow. St. Louis. Be there (or here). 8:30.

Go Flyers.

“I considered returning to the Avalanche, but they are struggling (losing six of their past seven) and I didn’t want to take any space under the salary cap. I didn’t want to return to the Flyers after all my foot problems the last time I was there.” –Peter Forsberg, via Toronto Sun

Thank you, Peter. If he ever does get 100% healthy, I’d love him as a Flyer again. But we all know, and it looks like he does too, that it’s probably not going to happen.

Philadelphia Flyers (25-12-9, 59 pts) at Tampa Bay Lightning (17-22-10, 44 pts)
St. Pete Times Forum - 7:30 PM EST - St. Petersburg, FL
TV: CW57 (HD?), Sun Sports
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 206
Check Here for Internet Streams
Behind Enemy Lines: Boltsmag, BoltsBlog

What To Watch For: Tonight’s game, although it’s against one of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams, comes at a crucial time for the Flyers. Coming off of a loss against Florida on Tuesday night, and with New Jersey seemingly unable to lose, and the Flyers staring a daunting home-and-home with Boston right in the face, they need points. Tonight is a key opportunity to do so against a Lightning team that’s had it’s fair share of turmoil this season.

But just because they’ve been the joke of the NHL doesn’t mean they’re complete pushovers. They’re 6-3 in their last nine with wins over Montreal, Buffalo, and the Flyers. That January 15th loss in Tampa is one the Flyers will be trying to avenge this evening.

Martin Biron started that game on the 15th, but Antero Niittymaki will go for the Flyers this evening. Thank God for that, because if you ask me, Marty hasn’t been all that stellar lately and his numbers tell the tale. He hasn’t won a game since January 10th against Toronto.

Tampa played last night and lost to Carolina, 3-2.

Injury Report: Darroll Powe has missed practice the past two days with the flu, so he might be limited tonight. Other than that, it’s the usuals for the Flyers… Briere, Hatcher, Kalinski, and Gratton all out.

Tampa is hurting. Gary Roberts is out with an elbow injury, Marek Malik is sidelined with an ankle problem, and Jamie Heward has a concussion.

Between The Pipes: As mentioned, Niittymaki will go for the Flyers tonight. He’s yet to lose in regulation in 2009. For Tampa it’ll be Mike Smith, and if he were on a better team he’d probably be a Vezina candidate. This guy is that good. He has a .919 save percentage and a 2.53 GAA in 40 games this season for the Lightning.

Questions To Answer

1. Can the Flyers stop taking so many damn penalties?

2. Do the Flyers realize the urgency of this game?

3. They should be Tampa. Do they play like they are the better team?

4. The Flyers have always struggled playing in the St. Pete Forum. Is it psychological?

Playoff Chase: There’s only one other game on the schedule tonight that means anything to us, and that’s Pittsburgh at New Jersey. The Devils are on a tear — seven straight wins, while Pitt is coming off of a big win against the Rangers on Wednesday. A Penguins win could put them tied with Florida for the eighth-spot, but the Panthers still have games in hand. We’re gonna have to cheer for the Pens tonight, as much as it hurts.

A Flyers win and a Jersey loss would put Philadelphia back within four points of the Devils with two games in hand. It would also put the Flyers just one point back of the Rangers with still two games over them. A Devils win and a Flyers loss could be very bad… the Flyers would be eight points back of first place with only those two games in hand.

A bigger game tonight than we may have expected, so let’s hope the team is ready. Go Flyers.

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