It was indeed a weird night in Buffalo as the seemingly moribund Flyers rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Sabres in a shootout.
With so many key players lost to injury, the Flyers finally got most of the players they need to step up to do so in a big way.
Jeff Carter played a monster game (apart from an 8-for-29 night on faceoffs), starting the comeback with a breakaway goal and finally getting of the schneid in the shootout. R.J. Umberger tied the game in the third period. Kimmo Timonen had an excellent game and Braydon Coburn stepped up to log nearly 30 minutes of ice time. Scottie Upshall used his speed effectively and was very physical without playing out of control.
On the downside, the Sabres treated Jason Smith like a turnstile for much of the game, Randy Jones once again struggled with extensive minutes and Jaroslav Modry was lost to an "upper body injury."
John Stevens also gets a negative tonight for basically wasting a lineup spot by dressing Jesse Boulerice, who promptly lost a fight on his first shift , skated all of four shifts on the night and logged just 1:54 of ice time. After Modry was hurt, the Flyers wound up essentially playing two men short, because Boulerice is such a limited player and Stevens couldn't risk sending him out for another shift.
The Flyers still face a long uphill climb but tonight's win at least gets the 10-game losing streak over with and keeps them in the hunt.
****
A quick word on Peter Forsberg. As I noted on the blog several weeks ago, he
directly let slip last summer to Aftonbladet that he was leaning toward returning to one of the teams he already played for rather than changing teams to a brand new club.
Several weeks ago, a Forsberg/Flyes reunion was a good fit while the Avalanche were fading and riddled with key injuries. Forsberg could have been eased back into the lineup and been an added weapon as he got back into game shape.
But with all that has happened in the last couple weeks, the fit in Philly is no longer a good match -- on either side.
Considering the fact that it may still be a few weeks until Forsberg is ready to play, the Flyers needed more immediate help (not to mention the player's tenuous health even when he is playing again). To expect Forsberg to come into the current situation and save the day wasn't realistic.
The Avs also currently find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, but they are finally starting to get healthy.
While some Flyers fans have reacted to the news of Forsberg signing with the Avs in a childish manner, I don't think you can begrudge the player returning to the city where he spent so many glorious seasons and still maintains a home.
I wish him success and I'm glad he's back in the NHL. Now it's time for the Flyers to collectively forget Foppa and move on.
Tonight's game seemed to be a good first step in that direction.
As for the Vaclav Prospal acquisition, the veteran should help. Although Vinny has scored a career-high 29 goals (several of them against the Flyers), he is like Forsberg in that he's typically been a better playmaker than scorer, at least by reputation. I do have some defensive concerns if he's placed on a line with Daniel Briere at even strength.
Prospal's salary is also low enough to still allow the Flyers flexibility at tomorrow's deadline to make another move.
Alexandre Picard, to me, was a reasonable price for a rental of impending UFA Propal.
Picard has NHL-caliber skating, passing and shooting skills. But so far, at least, he's been a defensive liability when he's been exposed to NHL competition.
During his NHL stints last season and this year, Picard turned the puck over too frequently and blew too many coverages to be reliable as an NHL starter.
If he's to stick in the NHL with Tampa he will have to produce a lot of points to compensate for his weaknesses. At least in Philly, he did not appear ready to do so on a consistent basis. But he's been in the AHL long enough at this point that he's basically stagnating.
Picard got off to a tremendous all-around start to this season for the Phantoms, particularly in the offensive end. But he has been inconsistent ever since being sent back down after a short stint with the big club where he still didn't quite look ready for prime time. Moving on to a new organization may help him.
***
Speaking of Vaclav Prospal, he was one the first NHL players whom I interviewed for a published feature story.
Back in October 2000, when Prospal was a member of the Ottawa Senators, I wrote an
article for the now-defunct Pro Hockey Euro Report, detailing the Czech's slow rise to the NHL after coming over from his homeland at the age of 18.
Prospal was truly a product of the AHL, spending his formative pro years coming along slowly in the American Leauge.
During his prospect-aged years, you mostly heard about the negatives about Vinny: Too poor of a skater. Too skinny. Too weak physically. Too much of a liability defensively. Too stubborn to coach.
It's pretty wild for me to look back now and realize that Vinny is still around in the NHL some 11 years after making his NHL debut with the Flyers in 1996-97 (after a breakout AHL campaign).
The rail thin teenage kid at Bill Dineen's first training camp as Flyers' head coach is now a 33-year-old. The shy youngster who hardly spoke a word of English became one of the game's most outspoken and brutally honest players, for better and for worse.
And he became much wealthier through hockey than he ever dared dream possible as a youngster in communist Czechoslovakia. He earned it through a lot of hard work, after he'd been all but written off as a player destined to spend his career in the minors.
Welcome back to Philly, Vinny.
**********************************
A few weeks ago, at the start of the current 10-game skid, I wrote that the Flyers (now 30-25-3-4, 67 points) hadn't faced much adversity for awhile and it would be a good test of the team's mettle to see how they responded.
Well, Philly is now drowing in an ocean of adversity and face a critical test against a Buffalo Sabres (30-24-1-7, 68 points) club that gives them fits under the best of circumstances. The Flyers are 1-9-1 in their last 11 games in Buffalo, including a 9-1 humiliation last October that hastened the end of Ken Hitchcock and Bob Clarke's tenures with the team.
If the Flyers are to win this game and start making up some of the ground they've lost -- gaining just two of a possible 20 points during the losing streak -- they'll have to do it without a host of critical players who are lost to long-term injuries.
It doesn't take a genius to look at this game and say it's absolutely critical that the Flyers elevate their defensive game, get an outstanding game from Martin Biron and get traffic to the offensively and scratch out a couple goals.
I'll leave you with this: There's truth to the cliche that there's a reason hockey is played on ice rather than paper. Games played under circumstances such as tonight's just as often wind up being wild seesaw affairs as following any sort of "script."
I'm not usually much for playing hunches, but I have a feeling it will be one of those bizarre nights at the rink.
Notes:
* Steve Downie (concussion) may be able to play tonight for the Flyers.
* According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Jesse Boulerice will be in the Flyers' starting lineup tonight for the first time since the Ryan Kesler incident in Vancouver.
* Rory Fitzpatrick (sports hernia) has been cleared to play and has been loaned to the Phantoms.
Potential Flyers lines and scratches:
Upshall - Carter - Knuble
Hartnell - Briere - Downie (GTD)/Kapanen
Thoresen - Umberger - Kapanen
Cote - Dowd - Boulerice
Timonen - Coburn
Smith - Jones
Modry - Parent
Biron
[Niittymäki]
Scratches:
Kukkonen (healthy)
Ruzicka (healthy)
Richards (hamstring)
Tolpeko (concussion)
Lupul (IR, ankle)
Gagne (LTI)
Hatcher (LTI)
Rathje (LTI)
*****
Here's a look at the moves the Flyers have made at the trading deadline over the last 12 seasons Most years, Philadelphia has only made minor movese on deadline day. Moves that involved regular starting players (at the time of the deal) are bolded.
2006-07: Flyers acquire Martin Biron (G) from Buffalo for a 2007 2nd-round pick.
2005-06:
1) Flyers acquire Denis Gauthier (D) from Phoenix for Josh Gratton (LW), Florida's 2006 2nd-round pick and Tampa Bay's 2006 2nd-rounder.
2) Flyers acquire Niko Dimitrakos (RW) from San Jose for a 2006 3rd-round pick.
2004-05: Lockout season
2003-04: No moves
2002-03: Flyers acquire Peter White (C) from Chicago for future considerations. White had already been on loan to the Phantoms.
2001-02: Flyers acquire Adam Oates (C) from Washington for prospect Maxime Ouellet (G) plus Philadelphia's 1st, 2nd and 3rd-round picks in the 2002 Entry Draft.
2000-01:
1) Flyers acquire Dean McAmmond from Chicago for a 2001 3rd-round pick.
2) Flyers acquire minor-leaguer Matt Herr (F) from Washington for minor leaguer Dean Melanson (D).
1999-2000:
1) Flyers acquire checking liner Kent Manderville (C) from Carolina for enforcer Sandy McCarthy (RW).
2) Flyers acquire minor-leaguer Kirby Law (RW) from Atlanta for Vancouver's 2000 6th-round pick and an 7th round pick in 2001.
1998-99:
1) Flyers acquire Steve Duchesne (D) from Los Angeles for David Babych (D) and a 5th-round pick in the 2000 Entry Draft.
2) Flyers acquire veteran enforcer Craig Berube (LW) from Washington for future considerations.
1997-98:
1) Flyers acquire Dan McGillis (D) from Edmonton for Janne Niinimaa (D). Flyers also acquire a 1998 second round pick (Jason Beckett) in the deal.
2) Flyers acquire Dave Babych (D) from Vancouver for a 1998 third-round pick.
1996-97: Flyers acquire reserve defenseman Frantisek Kucera from Vancouver for futures.
1995-96: No moves (Shortly before deadline, Flyers acquired Bob Corkum (C) from Anaheim for Anatoli Semenov (C) and Kerry Huffman (D) from Ottawa for a draft pick).
1994-95: Flyers acquire Petr Svoboda (D) from Buffalo for Garry Galley (D). 
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