The Dallas Stars will limp their way into the Wachovia Center on Monday evening as losers of seven of their last nine games. They recently took a huge blow at the hands of the injury bug, losing captain Brendan Morrow for six months. Imagine the Flyers losing Mike Richards for that amount of time and then multiply it by five. That’s how much Morrow means to the Stars. From a blog on the Stars official site:

Losing Morrow hurts a ton. His style of play is what this team needs when things get rough.

…..
But, what now? Do the Stars honestly run the risk of landing with an extremely high pick in the 2009 draft?

So they’re in last place and panicking. Click that link and read the whole blog post to get a real grasp on the Dallas psyche these days. We know what they’re going through, though. But the Flyers truly were the worst team in the NHL two years ago — the Stars are not. They’re a very talented team that’s been decimated by injuries and bad luck. In addition to Morrow, they’ve lost Jere Lehtinen with an upper body injury and Joel Lundqvist to a shoulder injury. Injuries to these key offensive players have left the Stars with a void in the scoring department on a team that never lit the lamp profusely anyway

Marty Turco has flat out sucked and his .872 save percentage proves it. He’s got an atrocious GAA of 3.49, as well. The Stars are dead last in the NHL in goals against (68), 26th on the penalty kill (76.1%), and 25th in team plus-minus. And the defense hasn’t bailed him out one bit.

So for a team that is built largely around its defensive capabilities, when trouble strikes in that department, the doomsday scenario sees daylight. Without the kind of offensive attack that a team like the Flyers has, it becomes impossible to weather the storm when the defense goes awry.

Personally, I wouldn’t expect the Stars to stay in the cellar too long. There is still a lot of talent and a lot of veteran leadership in that locker room. In my opinion, however, with all of their problems, I do not see them as a playoff team this season.

Dallas Stars (6-9-4) at Philadelphia Flyers (9-6-4)
Wachovia Center - 7 PM EST - Philadelphia, PA
TV: CSN-HD, FSN Southwest
Radio: 1210 AM WPHT, XM 205
Check Here for Internet Streams

What to Watch For: Keep an eye on Jeff Carter. He’s been really good at hockey lately. And watch the Flyers power play… they’re going to score on Dallas’ atrocious PK.

Between The Pipes: Marty Biron is expected to start for the Flyers, and why the hell not. He followed up his 40-save shutout against his former team, the Sabres, on Friday night with another quality performance on Saturday against Phoenix (two of his 2 GA were just weird goals, not his fault). After starting the season 0-3-1, Biron has reverted to last season’s form lately, going 7-2-1 since his rough start.

Dallas counters with all-star netminder Marty Turco. He’s had a rough season so far (3.49 GAA, .872 Save % in 17 games), as has the entire Stars team, but he’s coming off a good performance on Saturday night, a 2-1 shootout loss to Anaheim.

Injury Report: Danny Briere is still out with his nagging groin issue. Defenseman Ossi Vaananen is expected to return to the lineup tonight after missing time with a broken finger. He tried to return on the 13th against Pittsburgh but re-injured himself during the game. I would guess Luca Sbisa takes a seat to fit him in, as the 18-year-old rookie has shown his age a little bit in the past few games. Lasse Kukkonen could also sit, however. Riley Cote has been placed on the long-term injured reserve and will be out until November 29th, at the earliest.

Stars captain Brendan Morrow found out Friday that he’ll miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. The Stars are also missing Jere Lehtinen and Joel Lundqvist.

Hot Off The Presses: Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com wrote on Sunday how the Flyers, notably Jeff Carter, have stepped up their games in the absence of Danny Briere. Chuck Gormley writes in today’s Courier-Post how the unknown nature of Briere’s injury status is frustrating the all-star forward. Sam Carchidi of the Inquirer says that Briere is likely to miss Wednesday’s game against Carolina as well. Ed Moran of the Daily News tells us why the Flyers don’t need Brendan Shanahan. From Dallas, we hear that the Stars suck at defense and need to improve it before even thinking about the offense.

Unsung Hero: Newcomer Matt Carle has played fantastic hockey since being acquired from Tampa Bay. He leads the Flyers with 23 blocked shots.

Behind Enemy Lines: Andrew’s Dallas Stars Page.

We should win.

Let’s Go Flyers!

Flyers forward Danny Briere, who earlier in the week thought he might be able to play against Buffalo tomorrow, will not take the ice until Monday against Dallas, at the earliest.

“I’ll be skating by myself without playing for the next couple of days, it looks like. It’s improving every day, but it’s just at a very slow pace,” said Briere.

“It’s an injury that if you try to come back too quick it’s not healing, it just keeps getting worse. I’m skating, but I know my limits and I know how far I can push it without the pain creeping in. I’m certainly not ready to play yet.

“Now, I’m looking at Monday. It depends how it’s going to go over the weekend.”

Defenseman Ossi Vaananen, who was totally badass when he tried to play through his injury against Pittsburgh, also wont play against the Sabres on Friday. He is day-to-day, however, and could see action against Phoenix at home on Saturday.

“My situation is a day-to-day kind of thing. When it comes to Friday, it’s kind of doubtful,” he said. “But hopefully soon, anyway. It’s feeling pretty good and looking good, so it’s getting stronger.”

Jonathan Kalinski was also recalled from the Phantoms. He’ll wear number 46 for live five minutes and then be back with the Phantoms.

On The Fly: November 20 [flyers.nhl.com]

If only Jeff were that accurate with his slap shot during games…

There’s an excellent article in today’s Inquirer about Luca Sbisa and how the 18-year-old rookie has adjusted to the last few months as an NHLer. It’s a nice chronicle of how Sbisa has adapted to the United States after playing in Canada, how he’s adjusted to the NHL spotlight, and how his living situation has been.

And that’s where the questions start. From the article:

“He’s still a junior-age kid, and it’s not fair that he live on his own,” general manager Paul Holmgren said.

So Holmgren has arranged for Sbisa to live with a local woman, who, over the years, has become the unofficial housemother for some of the younger Flyers.

Former Flyers Maxime Ouellet, Justin Williams and Todd Fedoruk also lived with Allison Staffin. Sbisa will move in with her - she lives about four miles from the team’s practice rink in Voorhees, Camden County - when he finalizes the purchase of a car this week.

“She’s a principal or a vice principal at a high school near here, so she’s used to dealing with kids that age,” Holmgren said.

Staffin sounds like a very nice woman, offering her home to a complete stranger and all. But honestly, I’m 19 years old, and I wouldn’t want to live with the vice principal of my high school, no matter how nice she is.

I understand the need for Sbisa to live with someone at such a young age. It would be stupid to automatically assume a kid with that much money can automatically make it completely on his own. But why can’t he live with, or right near, one of the guys on the team? It seems to me that Sbisa didn’t really get the choice and the the Flyers said “hey, we’re gonna put you in with this old lady.” There are a ton of the younger guys on the team, like Upshall and Hartnell, that live in Center City. I’m sure if Sbisa had the option, he’d be there instead, where the older guys would look after him but he’d still have the freedom he can’t get living with a woman more than twice his age.

I talked last week about the bonehead move the Flyers made in putting Lasse Kukkonen on waivers. It was a really big gamble, but Paul Holmgren is lucky. It worked.

Nobody claimed Lasse off of the waiver wire in the 48 hours after he was posted on it, so the Flyers retain his rights. If Lasse were claimed, we would’ve been down to five defensemen for the games against Montreal and Atlanta this weekend, turning two quality wins into potential issues.

But it worked. Lasse is still here, and things are starting to look up on the injury front. From the Flyers’ official site today:

The break has proved to be valuable for several of the team’s wounded. Ossi Vaananen and Riley Cote took part in the skate today and are hoping to return sooner rather than later. Danny Briere has not yet skated with the team, but is hoping to get back on the ice by the end of the week and has not ruled himself out to play against his old team, the Sabres, on Friday.

Great news. Once we get these guys back, it’s only Randy Jones and Ryan Parent to look forward to getting back. Hopefully, the past two games are a sign of things to come. Things are looking up in Flyerland.

Sadly I cannot afford a third jersey at the moment, but that’s okay… they’ve only been unveiled for 90 minutes now. But aren’t they the greatest things… ever? We’ve known for months now that they were going to be returning to the retro style, but now it’s confirmed and they’re for sale on the Flyers’ official website.

This was a simple decision for the Flyers. These jerseys have always been popular, and Flyers fans love the orange. Last time they used the color, they over did it with the 3D logo and everything. So they took it back to the roots, and the new oranges are exactly identical to the old oranges. Perfection, in jersey form.

I think I’m leaning towards buying a Carter jersey, since I don’t want to be one of the thousands with a brand-new, orange Richards jersey. But regardless of which one you buy, it’s just good to have the Orange back.

Bill Barber was a guest of Mike Ross and Phil Esposito on the In the Slot program this afternoon on XM 204. He discussed his relatively new role with the Flyers as scouting consultant, but most of the discussion was dedicated to the Phantoms. The interview touched on the Phantoms situation with the closing of the Spectrum, and their future beginning next season.

Barber mentioned that “the Spectrum will be occupied until September of 2009,” implying that the Phantoms could in fact play home games there at the start of next season. From all of the literature being produced by the team this year about the final year of the storied building, and the hype around the Phantoms opener as “the last home opener in Spectrum history,” I doubt that this is really a possibility. But, nevertheless, Barber mentioned it.

Bill was also asked about sites the Phantoms could call home next season. While he was sure to mention that nothing is set in stone, he stated that “playing some games at the Wachovia Center … is a possibility.” He also name-dropped a few locations, starting with Atlantic City and also mentioning Delaware, Allentown, and “even across the river in Camden.” But as far as one concrete spot for the spot for the Phantoms to call home next season, Barber said he has “not heard anything.”

To me, the most groundbreaking comment Barber made on the subject was that “the Phantoms could be a travelling team next season.” Personally, I find that a little hard to believe, and I don’t even know if the AHL would allow that to happen.

If you’re asking me, and I may be a little biased as a former Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies season ticket holder, I feel like the Phantoms are going to play next season at Boardwalk Hall. It is the only option right now when it comes to a completed, hockey-ready arena in the Philadelphia area. Allentown would be a better option, perhaps, but there is no arena there. There have been talks for years about an ECHL team coming to Delaware, but it’s ever happened and there is no arena there. Camden? No arena either.

Even if nobody attends the games, which if you look at the Bullies history in AC, it’s certainly fair to speculate that, Comcast-Spectacor is willing and able to eat those losses. It’s only an hour from Atlantic City to Philadelphia, and they love having the players under same practice roof and playing home games in such a close proximity. A move to AC, even if only temporary until a better situation is resolved, keeps the cozy relationship between the Flyers and Phantoms going.

“It’s because we’re the Flyers,” Gagne said. “I don’t want to start anything, but us doing a hit like that, it’s at least a two-minute [penalty].”

Let’s look at some history.

Last season, five different Flyers were suspended for various hits. It all started with Steve Downie’s hit on Dean McAmmond in the preseason. As evidenced by this video, it was definitely a dirty hit, and Downie’s reputation as kind of a badass in juniors led to his 20 game suspension. A little extreme for a guy with no NHL track record? Maybe, but so be it. No complaint.

It continued a few weeks later, as the Flyers started their season on a road trip in Western Canada. During the game in Vancouver, Jesse Boulerice disgraced the Philadelphia uniform with this crosscheck to the brain. I remember how disgusted I was by it, and I said a few times that if this guy ever played a game in the NHL again that it would be a sad day in hockey. Thankfully, following his 25-game suspension that he rightfully recieved from the league, the Flyers banished him to the Phantoms, where he stayed for the remainder of the season. (The Oilers actually signed him the other day, actually, marking his first return to the NHL. What a joke.)

These two hits were malicious and they were dirty, and the Flyers, the NHL, and the hockey community all condemned them. But because of the Flyers reputation for being the Broad Street Bullies (albeit in the 1970s) and because of the reputations that preceded these two players, the orange and black were unfairly looked at as a completely dirty team.

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Another game in Pittsburgh. Another loss. That’s 0-2 at The Dump Igloo this season and that’s eight straight losses there dating back to last season. In fact, the Flyers haven’t won in Pitt in over a year now, the last win coming November 7, 2007. Pathetic.

Image Credit: AP

But it’s even worse the way they lost it last night. Sure, they got a point out of the game after they trailed 3-0. Commend John Stevens for calling a timeout in the second period and knocking some skulls around, prompting a mad rally that ended with the Flyers holding a 4-3 lead late in the third. And you can’t really blame Mike Richards for a failed outlet pass that took an unlucky bounce of the side of the net, right onto the stick of a Penguin, generating the scoring chance that resulted in the final goal.

But this one stings. After that rally, which included two Simon Gagne shorthanded goals, and a momentum-shifting late second-period tally by Joffrey Lupul, the Flyers needed to come out in the third and get the put-away goal. As The Pens Blog put it:

The tables were turned on the Penguins.
Mellon Arena Syndrome was in full effect.

I’m not really sure what “Mellon Arena Syndrome” is, but if I had to guess it’s probably when the crowd reverts to the Before Crosby days when they didn’t really know what hockey was. Anyway, Marc-Andre Fleury was out. Dany Sabourin was in. The Flyers definitely had the Penguins on the ropes, and they just needed to give that one final blow…

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