Friday, March 13, 2009

Peepin' Foes: Philadelphia Flyers

Nashville was a must-win for the Rangers but this home-and-home against Philly this weekend could be just as big for the Blueshirts. A sweep or even a split would be fantastic to keep the Rangers in a playoff position.

Where We Are: To beat the Predators was nice, to do it in regulation, in the manner the Rangers did it was fantastic. The unfortunate thing is that, to date, the Blueshirts have been unable to carry over that momentum. Saturday would be the perfect game to start.

Where They Are: The Flyers had a two game win streak - including a 4-1 victory over Nashville - broken on Thursday night by Alexander Ovechkin and Jose Theodore. Ovechkin basically proved that he was the best player in the NHL in the game with stellar defensive play to go with his game-winner goal and Theodore made 36 saves. There should be no shame on Broad Street for the loss and they will bring their best to beat the Blueshirts.

Who To Watch For: Mike Richards is one of the top five all-around players in the NHL and somehow Jeff Carter has become one of the best scorers. They still have Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble but watch out for Scott Hartnell, who always plays the Rangers tough. Kimmo Timonen is everything in an defenseman that Wade "Out and Drown" Redden is not - meaning he is good.

What To Watch For: Sean Avery, Ryan Callahan and Scott Gomez to get a lot of time and hopefully set the tempo. They will be playing in a hostile environment so they should be at their best. Then again, they aren't going to be playing against a soft team like Nashville so Aaron Asham, Danny Carcillo and Riley Cote are sure to make a statement - especially in their own building.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: No Rangers getting the Philly flu. The Flyers will play them tough and the Blueshirts have to answer the bell, while still playing smart, responsible hockey. Oh, we will hopefully NOT see another 3-on-5 goal by Richards. It happened, we can say we saw something rare in hockey and woe be the team that gives it up again.

Also Check Out: Their blogosphere is woefully underdeveloped but the best I could find was Broad Street Hockey over at SBN.

2 comments:

jetblue jimmy said...

Sather bailed out his former boss today, maybe he can bail out ranger fans by getting rid of redden

Anonymous said...

In the third period, Totorella learned what the rest of us have known for months....there simply is NO chemistry between Scott Gomez and Chris Drury....NONE, zero, zilch. bobby orr himself could play between those two and nothing would happen. Also, Sam and Joe...gushing over the "perfect shot" for the fourth goal....from the circle...really? Goalie lite!