Flyers have new look, same results

Flyers picked up two new defensemen, Braydon Coburn and and Lasse “Kooky” Kukkonen. According to known shill Steve Coates, Coburn is big but can skate. Kukkonen is supposedly like a smarter and surer, albeit lesser skilled, Pittkinen. The best part about the trade for Kooky is that “Mr. Minus”, Kyle Calder was sent packing. He will go down in the annuls of Flyer history along with Adam Oates and Chris Gratton. For some reason the Flyers also traded for soon to be free agent and Ray Emery punching bag, Marty Biron. Holgrem spoke to the media about the confusing Goalie situation

“He certainly would have been on our list come July 1. This is just an opportunity for us to jump the gun and get our hands on him quicker.”

Anyway on to the game.

Flyers started out like crap. Horrible play in their own zone plus give-aways made it 4-1 after the first period. Noted Flyer killer and the NHL’s ugliest man, Jason Blake scored a hat trick. The Flyers also gave up a 3 on 0 on a combination of a bad line change and Richards playing with the puck instead of getting it deep into the Islanders zone. It’s more likely to see a goalie score than see that rarest of defensive lapses, but with the Flyers, one never knows.

In the second period the Flyers scored early, but promptly gave up a goal to Chris Simon on yet another defensive breakdown. Todd Fedurok tried to reverse the team's fortunes by fighting Simon off the subsequent face-off, but lost in a rather exciting fight. Then Reid fought Asham and lost. However the fights did seem to energize the Flyers, and lead by Afanasenkov, outplayed the Islanders for the rest of the period, scoring once.

Amazingly the Flyers continued to play well in the third period, and with the help of some lucky bounces, tied the game. I guess the Flyers thought the comeback was victory enough, and were outplayed after Gagne scored to tie. Some great saves by Nittimaki kept the Islanders from winning in regulation. In OT the Flyers continues their poor play and finally the Islanders scored on a power play goal. The summary is here.

Notes: The top line was Gagne-Upshall-Carter which did did okay. York and Sanderson suck. York is useless and Sanderson constantly turns the puck over in the offensive zone. It was hard to tell if the Flyers played so poorly on defense because of the new guys, or that they just suck. Good Gagne quote on fighting.

“The last two years the fights are still there, but I think we should have a little bit more fighting,” he said. “It’s good for hockey and it’s good for the fans.”

Flyers lose Forsberg then lose the game

Good job Flyers. The one game I get to attend this year and you trade Forsberg and the only reason to watch this team minutes before it starts. And this time you didn't even get Eric Lindros in return. Instead you got another big defensemen but a prospect this time instead of a washed up senior citizen, one of Nashville's busts, and a couple of pucks, I mean picks. I realize Forsberg is an unrestricted free agent but I think you could have held out for more. But maybe you're just renting him like Pittsburgh did with Recchi and St. Louis did with Doug Weight since I don't see Forsberg living in Nashville longterm.

As far as the game, the Flyers seemed shocked by the trade and were in a daze in the first period, especially the 3rd string goalie who looked awful. I don't even know his name or have the motivation to look it up. So the Flyers were quickly down 3-0 in the first. Flyers did settle down and start to show up as the game progressed but too many times the Leafs looked like they were on a powerplay when they weren't. But maybe that was the Flyers strategy since their penalty kill is the only thing that is any good this year. Flyers did put the pressure on late in the third and even dominated that stretch of the game but the 3-0 hole was too deep to dig out of, especially without Forsberg, and they lost with mostly a whimper, 4-2. So after beating Detroit, one of the best teams in the league 6-1, they get easily handled by Toronto, a team currently out of the playoffs.

OTHER NOTES: Propp named Hatcher the 3rd star of the game. Forsberg jerseys were still on sale in the Fan Gear shop after the game. They never announced the trade in the building. The refs sucked. Nashville will probably join hockey hotbeds Tampa Bay and Carolina and be the next southern city to win a Stanley Cup. Great job Bettman. Expanding into those markets and having them win Cups has led to skyrocketing popularity of the NHL. Maybe Nashville will get over 20,000 at their parade.

Wing Bowl

Wing Bowl was held today. I hate to use the term "jump the shark" but this event had its heyday around 1999. The entrance of professional competitive eaters in recent years has served to seal its irrelevance. Still at least 20,000 people (and by people I mean 19,900 men and 100 women) out there are into this celebration of Angelo Cataldi's ego. But not blogger/borderline conspiracy theorist Will Bunch. Or national advertisers. Or anyone with half a brain who shuts off WIP when the Eagles exit the playoffs until the Phillies' open Spring training. Still some see hope for the Wing Bowl going forward:

"It could get to a point where it's family-friendly enough to attract decent crowds and make the advertiser feel safe enough to invest," author Jason Fagone said. "Or you could have somebody choke and die. It's happened a couple of times in Japan."

But in reality Wing Bowl is just an excuse for dudes to get drunk at 5:00 AM and check out some tits. Pro eater Joey Chestnut won again. Former champion El Wingador immediately announced he will come out of retirement to challenge Chestnut next year, giving the WIP morning team 12 months to bloviate about this greasy grudge match. More highlights are here. Finally Wing Bowl Commissioner Pat Croce pronounced this years event "Great!!" and "Fantastic!!", but hopes to improve next year's event by incorporating a pirate theme.