i went to last night's flyers game against the islanders. the flyers haven't been playing well at all lately, winning only 5 of their last 15 and 2 of their last 7 going into this game. injuries have been hurting the team: the flyers lead the league in man-games lost, and the flyers have more of their payroll injured than they have out on the ice. as a result, the flyers have not had consistent lines for the most part throughout the season, and the chemistry that the lines usually have isn't there right now.

a lot of players were out for this game for various injuries and illnesses: forsberg, gagne, preems, kim johnsson, rathje, and others were out (one player i was glad to see out for the game was chris therien). desjardins was back for this game afer missing the last 29 games, however, and he did a lot on defense.

i got these tickets from one of the kids that i coach in swimming. the seats were great; my friend and i sat in the 6th row, with a perfect view of the net. the islanders' ice was on our side of the arena for the 1st and 3rd periods, so we got to see wuite a few flyers' goals.

the flyers ended up winning the game, 5-2. mike richards had his first career hat trick during the game, and the flyers played well on defense except when they were killing penalties (again). here are the photos:

warm-up photos

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5282/dscf32026nm.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/188/dscf32039wm.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3189/dscf32044tp.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/473/dscf32058xa.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/647/dscf32060ot.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9747/dscf32074ie.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5063/dscf32081hm.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4912/dscf32096ow.jpg

announcing the flyers' starting lineup.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/8922/dscf32109eh.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5808/dscf32116vy.jpg

opening face off.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9308/dscf32123rk.jpg

first period action.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1828/dscf32132qx.jpg

robert esche roughs up the ice before the second period.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1314/dscf32147vx.jpg

second period action.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/367/dscf32151hu.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1695/dscf32162bu.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4168/dscf32171cz.jpg

second period goal by jeff carter, assisted by rj umberger and robert esche.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1906/dscf32188jf.jpg

during the second intermission, my friend and i walked around the concourse and we passed by the eastern conference championship trophy that the sixers won in 2000-2001.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7269/dscf32198qw.jpg

empty net goal by mike richards to get the hat trick in the last minute of play.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/784/dscf32201sd.jpg

mike celebrates the goal with his teammates.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4518/dscf32210iz.jpg

the hats start coming down.

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bring out the wheelbarrow.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/310/dscf32245oh.jpg

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the hats are still raining down.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/2966/dscf32263uv.jpg

the flyers win!

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4985/dscf32273xn.jpg

mike richards is named the first star.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/2890/dscf32281er.jpg

i closed off the night with a picture of all the banners hanging in the rafters. unfortunately, the only two banners hidden from view from our seats were the "73-74 stanley cup champions" and "74-75 stanley cup champions" banners.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1224/dscf32290vy.jpg

nice pics man,

not as nice as watching the sabres push philly around last week.

nice pics man,

not as nice as watching the sabres push philly around last week.

i saw a lot of flyers jerseys at that game, as usual.

nice pics man,

not as nice as watching the sabres push philly around last week.

Haha the sabres came out of nowhere this year. The new rules are really helping them out.


Nice pics though xzmattzx. God I love the Flyers. Imagine if we were actually a healthy team. How sick would we be?

cool. i graduated and was friends with robert esche's older brother, eliot.

good team, my second favorite.

Great pics, xzmattzx! Philadelphia is another kind of "hockeytown" itself in the U.S., IMO. BTW, did you enjoy yourself at the game @ HSBC last week, xzmattzx? My dad knows Jeff Carter's uncle, he works with him. Good to see Mike Richards get a hat trick, the former Captain of Canada's world junior gold-medal winning club and Kitchener Ranger. The same company that owns the Flyers (Global Spectrum), I believe partially is involved or owns the London Knights, too.

Kick butt seats, too. I will be in the FRONT ROW for a game @ HSBC in Buffalo later this year! :)

i never made it up to buffalo for the road trip. i coach 6 days a week, and 3 of those days are "mandatory" (meaning i'm the only coach to run practice and it's impossible to get a sub). saturdays are one of those 3 mandatory days, so i'm pretty much stuck in delaware even on weekends. i am looking into possibly seeing the flyers in buffalo in april, when swim season is basically over; all the championship meets, like junior olympics, mini championships, etc, are in march, so april and may should open up a little.

philly is definitely a big hockey town. the sporting news recently named it the best hockey city in the untied states, even over detroit. maybe that was to make it up to philadelphia for naming green bay the best football city. :bash:

richards has been playing well down here. carter has also been well, although he was doing better towards the beginning of the season. having to switch the lines up all the time due to injuries is hurting the development and chemistry for the young guys. but they flyers' future looks good. a couple weeks ago, a couple of the guys from 610 wip (the local sports radop station here in philly) were talking about how richards has leadership in him, and how he's playing maturely and whatnot. they differed on the years, but they all agreed that richards would be captain of the flyers in the future, at anywhere from 3 to 5 to 6 years from now. i can certainly see that happening, as many of the older players retire and the young guys now become the franchise players.

i don't know what global spectrum is, but i believe the flyers are owned by comcast spectacor.

^ that's cool. Global Spectrum is a company that runs arenas all over the world including the Wachovia Center and London, Ontario's John Labatt Centre among others. Philly usually has NHL exhibition games in London as a result.

I'd choose the Flyers over many teams including the evil Toronto Maple Leafs anyday, except for my teams. :)