The Flyers' game in Carolina last night reminded me of a line from a Chuck Norris movie: "I don't step on toes. I step on necks." In winning their eighth game in a row against the Hurricanes last night, the Flyers got after Carolina from the drop of the opening puck and scarcely let the Canes come up for breath.
Apart from a brief sloppy stretch of hockey when the game was clearly in hand, the Flyers broke their opponent's spirit and kept making them pay for mistake after mistake the way a contending team needs to do. So much for any ill-effects from the three-day layoff.
Up and down the lineup, the Flyers played with a lot of energy last night, and also got another strong goaltending performance from Sergei Bobrovsky. I loved the way the Flyers responded after the would-be Scott Hartnell goal was waved off early in the first period. They came back that much harder and the same line generated the next goal.
Right now, it's simply a lot of fun to watch Flyers hockey.
****
On the flip side, the Phantoms are excruciating to track. Last night, in John Paddock's first game back behind the bench following the dismissal of Greg Gilbert, the Phantoms dropped their 10th consecutive game (0-9-1), falling to the Marlies, 5-1.
Stefan Legein scored his second of the season for Adirondack to briefly give the team a 1-0 lead early in the first period. That was the lone highlight. Johan Backlund stopped just 16 of 21 shots. Zac Rinaldo got tossed from the game on a boarding major. Mike Testwuide, Rinaldo and Ben Holmstrom were out for two goals against, and Testwuide was also out for a Marlies shorthanded goal. Kevin Marshall was out for several goals against as well. Just another bad day at the office.
With just 5 points, the Phantoms are not only dead last in the entire AHL, they are also 5 points behind the second-worst team (Bridgeport Sound). The Phantoms remain home tonight in Glens Falls to play Norfolk. Last night's game drew an announced crowd of 2,342.
****
Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks partially at where the Detroit Red Wings of last 15 years deserve to rank among the dynasties of the post-expansion era and partially at the current Wings club, which is in first place in the Central Division and absolutely schooled Edmonton last night in similar fashion to the Flyers' blowout of Carolina.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»