Down the stretch

(photo courtesy of Getty Images)


By now, it's obvious that the Flyers need to win out the season. We're in a position where one bad game could allow someone like Washington or even Buffalo to take our spot in the playoffs. So naturally, I was more than a little nervous going into this weekend's back-to-back games against New Jersey and the Islanders. Fortunately, the boys got the job done, for the most part. The Flyers took 3 out of a possible 4 points, with both games going to the shootout. On Friday, the Flyers had to come back with a late goal by Mike Knuble to tie the score at 4-4, only to have Marty Biron fall apart in the unrecognized shootout, allowing the Devils to win the game 5-4. Seriously Marty, you let all three in? Against a team that historically cannot score? Yeesh.

Luckily, Long Island isn't too far from North Jersey (only about five hours with traffic), so travel wasn't an issue for last night's game. And, seeing as how the Flyers have mastered the art of the come-from-behind strategy lately, Mike Richards scored the tying goal with about five minutes left in the third to make it 3-3, and Antero Nittymaki stopped all three shots (see Biron, it CAN be done!), leaving Daniel Briere to score the game-winner on the final shot of the newly recognized shootout, giving the O&B the 4-3 win.

With Boston blanking the Senators and Washington beating Florida, the Flyers entered Sunday tied for sixth in the East. Pittsburgh beat New York earlier today, so the Flyers still have an outside shot of...brace yourselves...FOURTH PLACE in the Eastern conference providing everyone else takes the week off. Fourth friggin' place. Whodathunkit?? There's only three games left in the season, so I figure if we can get at least four points from them, we should be good. I think Washington will be the team on the outside looking in, which means no Ovechkin in the playoffs or the possibility of Cristobal Huet sticking it to his old team in the first round. If it all stands put, I do like our chances against Pittsburgh. Still, fourth place and home ice would be sweet.

Flyers 2, Rangers 1 (OT)

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

I think I woke up half of Southeast PA when Mike Richards scored that goal. I apologize.

I know I'm not alone in believing that the Flyers were going to blow the game tonight after Daniel Briere tied it up in the third. The Rangers must have controlled the puck in our end for a good five to six minutes, somehow keeping the defense from even touching the puck enough to clear the zone and get a full line change on the ice. Don't act like I was the only one screaming "Clear it, YA MORONS!!!!" at my TV. Luckily, thanks to some bad MSG ice and even worse Ranger shooting, the game went to OT and Richards won it with a tricky bankhander past Henrik Lundqvist who really should have made the save. Ah, well...

Would've been nice if Toronto had put some more distance between us and Boston by winning tonight. Thanks a bunch. At least Ottawa knocked Buffalo further back in the standings. I have to say, the line pairing of Briere and Vinnie Prospal seems to be working well recently. Given that Simon Gagne isn't even skating these days, someone had to step in and fill the role of playmaker on the first line, and Prospal's done it so far. I would make the case for signing him for a few more years, especially now since Gagne's one good hit away from retirement.

Next up for the Flyers is a date with New Jersey on Friday. Needless to say, we cannot drop anymore points this season. Even an overtime loss is OK provided we don't give up too much ground.

Flyers 4, Islanders 1

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

For the 55% of you who said on TSN that the Flyers would miss the playoffs this season, I have three words for you:

WHAT'S. UP. NOW?!?!!?

Bit premature, I suppose, but I'll take it. The Flyers dominated the Isles on Sunday, winning 4-1 and never looked like losing control. Daniel Briere chipped in with a PP goal and two assists, Vinnie Prospal connected from a sweet pass from Briere, and Braydon Coburn continues to be a lethal offensive D-man with his ninth goal of the campaign. Martin Biron played extremely well, including a sick glove save in the first period, and apparently is the third NHL goalie in history to defeat the Islanders six times in the same year. So, he's got that going for him.

It's funny. We dominate the Islanders, yet they dominate the Devils. I'd trade one of those Islander win for a win later this week against New Jersey. With Boston seemingly unable to score recently, we've moved up to seventh in the East with the opportunity to tie the Rangers with a win tomorrow in New York, which is easier said than done. Expect Biron back in net, with the Rangers putting Stephan Valiquette in goal since we can't score on him.

Flyers 4, Rangers 3 (URSO)

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

I can't really comment on this game, seeing as how I didn't watch it. Serves me right, I suppose. The one time we beat the New York Rangers in a shootout (by the way, URSO = UnRecognized ShootOut. Pretty clever, right? Right? Oh, shut up...) and I didn't see it. I can tell you that it does not surprise me in the least to know that we gave up a late third-period goal to NY which tied the game at 3-3. The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story about how the Flyers are now practicing 6-on-5 situations to put an end to the madness. And I'm happy to report that we still have work to do. Oh well, two points are two points, especially when they move us ahead of Boston in the standings. If it all stays like this, we'll end up playing New Jersey in the first round instead of Montreal, which isn't ideal, but I'll take it.

I did get a chance to see the Toronto/Ottawa game last night. Now that was fun. I know I give the Leafs a lot of grief (who doesn't?), but I tip my hat to them for at least trying to make something out of this season. My only grievance is that for some unknown reason, NHL Center Ice Online cuts the audio right when the HNIC theme music starts playing. For those who are unfamiliar with Hockey Night In Canada, the theme music is considered to be the unofficial Canadian national anthem, and is right up there with the theme music for Monday Night Football as the best sports music ever. Hell, some people wait for the theme to end, go get dinner, come back for Coach's Corner with Don Cherry, and go to bed. All I'm saying is, play the music. It's awesome. It's hockey. It makes me happy.

Islanders are in town tonight at the Center. Have a happy Easter and stay away from the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny is evil, mostly because it reminds me of Donnie Darko. And one mall Bunny scared me as a child. I've said too much...

Flyers 3, Thrashers 2

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Thank goodness for the Atlanta Thrashers.

We need to play this team at least once a week from now on.

In fact, I propose we switch divisions with Washington and join the Southeast. It's a win-win. We get to play against Atlanta, and the NHL gets its precious Ovechkin-Crosby game eight times a year! It's perfect!

Anyway, the Flyers finally snapped that annoying losing streak by beating the Thrashers 3-2 at the Center last night. Antero Nittymaki got the start and played fairly well, including a ridiculous save on Ilya Kovalchuk with about eight seconds left in the third to preserve the win. Seriously, I cannot begin to tell you how big that save was. Mike Knuble somehow forgot where Kovalchuk was in the slot and left him wide open. Mind you, Kovalchuk had just scored about 20 seconds earlier to make it 3-2, so it's not like he didn't have a hot hand. The way the Flyers have been playing recently, I thought for sure we'd blow yet another third period lead. Not this time. Even the Versus announcers were raving about Nitty's stop. Joe Beninati, who does the play-by-play for the Capitals and is, in my opinion, one of the best, called it the save of the season for Philly. I have to agree with him on that one.

This puts the O&B one point behind Boston for seventh in the Eastern Conference. Washington won last night against Nashville, so they move ahead of Buffalo into the ninth spot. Basically, we need to win at least five out of our last eight games to secure a playoff spot (I can't believe the season's almost over. Guess it goes by quicker when you're not in last place). Even if we lose games in OT or the unrecognized shootout, it still guarantees a point. As long as we don't drop points, we should be OK. Personally, I'd rather take the seventh spot and go up against a Montreal or Ottawa instead of New Jersey, who we simply cannot beat. Montreal would be favorable because I don't know how well Carey Price will handle playoff pressure. He's going to be a phenomenal goaltender for them, don't get me wrong, but it's playoff hockey in Montreal. Ottawa wouldn't be bad either since all the pressure would be on them. New Jersey holds that psychological edge over us, and I think the team would be more focused on overcoming that obstacle instead of trying to win a seven-game series.

The next five games are against the NY clubs, with the Rangers and Islanders in town this weekend. The Isles will be without Rick DiPietro due to his upcoming hip surgery, but they're pretty much a non-factor in the playoff race except to play the role of spoiler. I'm guessing Nitty gets the call on Friday, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Martin Biron back in net. I would stick with Nitty.

My bad

Hello folks. It's been a while, I know. The last two weeks have bordered on both crazy and mind-numbingly boring, so forgive me for not keeping up with the posting. Especially since I have discovered that the fate of this blog is connected to the fate of the Flyers. It appears that any time I begin to slack off and not keep up with the Cafe, the Flyers hit the skids. Hard. Like Iceberg-Dead-Ahead! hard. You wouldn't think that something as insignificant as this would have any effect on a professional hockey team, but apparently it does. And for that, I apologize. I'm sorry that the Flyers have gone from a playoff lock to a nervous wreck. For all of you looking forward to our first-round matchup against the #1 seed du jour, I'll take the blame. All of it...

Seriously, that's the most logical reason I can come up with to explain why the Flyers believe that the season ended two weeks ago. We came into this week needing to take at least six points from a struggling Toronto, a Boston team that can't stop the puck, and Pittsburgh. And we came away with...two points. TWO FRIGGIN' POINTS!!!!! The Flyers let two game get away from them in the third period and today...no comment on today. Just an utter lack of heart. I guess they were tired from the flight or the emotional toll that yesterday's loss to Boston took on them. Who knows? Oh, that's right, it's my fault. Sorry.

Oh well. At least Temple, St. Joe's, and Villanova made the NCAA tournament today. No Maryland, though that was to be expected. Ironically, the first university I attended, American U. in Washington, a school with ZERO basketball history, made it and will play Tennessee this week. Oh, and the Phillies won today. See, it's getting better!! Delusion is fun!!!