Up next: Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and the Philadelphia Flyers

by FrankD on Jan 24, 2010 6:15 AM EST in 2009-10 game previews Comment 8 comments

[SBN Flyers blog - Broad Street Hockey]

RECORD: 26-21-3

SCORERS: Jeff Carter (21g, 24a), Mike Richards (20g, 21a), Chris Pronger (8g, 29a)

It's a 12:30 start today on NBC, so I'll try and keep this short.

Not only did the Flyers smack around the Hurricanes on home ice yesterday, but they also extended their home-ice win streak to six straight. Philly doesn't hit the road again until February, so a win today would be a nice blip in that streak. If not, I fear games against the Thrashers and Islanders may allow the Flyers to close out the month on an exceptionally high note.

Of course, it always seems like the Penguins play subpar hockey during afternoon games. This season the Pens have only played two games before 7pm, at 3:00 and 5:00 during their swing through Florida earlier this month, and took a loss in each outing. Last season's afternoon record, as in games before 7pm, was 6-10-1 (minus the 2:30pm start in Stockholm which was technically not an afternoon start). Three of those were against the Flyers, in which Philly edged them out slightly with a 2-1 record.

Daniel Carcillo made himself public enemy #1 in New York City this past week, an issue I touched upon briefly Friday afternoon. It is for this reason alone (and Riley Cote of course) that I feel Eric Godard will get more than his usual 90 seconds of ice time today. He may in fact get closer to three minutes if needed. One thing's for sure: Sid and Geno have to keep their heads up and not allow Carcillo to take them off the ice on his way to the box. Emotional as they may be in certain situations, Carcillo in the box hurts the Flyers far less than Crosby in the box hurts the Penguins.

Here's some additional info yo may want to know heading into today's game.

Ray Emery is back and has won three of his last four since returning.
Jeff Carter has five goals over the last four games
Mike Richards has only one goal in his last seven games (but had one goal in each of the three games prior)
Chris Pronger is on a four game point streak

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Looking forward to this clash. According to the Trib, Dupuis and Fleury are all set to play. Talbot will miss yet another Philly game so Nick Johnson has been recalled.

Definitely going to be interesting to see how the Pens handle this game. I’d expect with the lack of fighting from the Pens lately that there could be a few scraps in this one. If Fleury starts then I wouldn’t be surprised if the Flyers target him more than either Sid or Geno.

by crosby_in_sydney on Jan 24, 2010 6:57 AM EST reply actions

As Frank mentioned above the Flyers are on kind of a roll and it’ll be good if the Pens can ground them with a win today…

We’ve been playing a hit and miss type of game all January and I really hope we can bring it together for this game…

You have to see it for yourself...

by Bla Razor on Jan 24, 2010 10:12 AM EST reply actions

I agree with crosby_in_sydney (clever name, BTW)—I’m more worried about Fleury, if he starts. Crosby and Malkin both know very well what they’re getting into, and we’ve already seen Richards go after Fleury.

I still feel good about this game just because the Pens can’t be anything but motivated to prove something after the last meeting with the Flyers (and that loss to the Capitals), and because I have to miss this game today. I have a pretty good track record—there’s been a game I’ve had to miss every month this season, which the Pens won decisively. I’ve been, like, obsessively making sure my TiVo’s set right this morning.

Looking forward to Hooks’ recap!

"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007

Cocktails With the Penguins, where Pens fans toast victories and drown defeats.

by GreenEyedLilo on Jan 24, 2010 10:16 AM EST reply actions

Good news: Mike Emrick is calling the game. <3

Bad news: As Frank said, we have bad luck in afternoon games. I joked with my buddies last year whenever we lost one. “It’s the curse of the NBC Game of the Week. We always lose when we play in one.”

by SlayerGhaleon on Jan 24, 2010 11:29 AM EST reply actions