The Cancucks were too much for the Flyers in the 3rd period beating the Flyers 5-4. The Canucks scored 3 of their 5 goals in the 3rd. The Flyers could only get one in the 3rd, which quite possibly would not have been a goal, if not for the premature goal horn sounding off. The horn went off at least two seconds before Kapanen pushed the puck in. There has to be something said for home ice advantage.
Michal Handzus, Kim Johnsson and Mike Knuble scored the other goals for the Flyers.

Injuries continue to plague the Flyers. Jeff Carter took a puck to the ear from Dennis Seidenburg, he missed most of the second period, and just about all of the third. Mike Richards suffered a potential concussion in the first period, he missed the rest of the game. Robert Esche injured his groin and was pulled in the 3rd period.

Carter, Sedin and Kapanen were the three stars.

The game started about a half hour late. Because of the weather and accidents some of the Flyers players were late getting to the rink.

The Canucks come to a snowy Philadelphia tonight to play the Flyers. Like every other western conference game for the Flyers, this will be the only regular season meeting between the two teams this year. They lasted played on November 13, 2003 in Philly. Flyers won 4-3 in overtime. The Canucks are coming off a 3-2 win over the Rangers in New York on Tuesday. The Flyers are coming off a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Tuesday.

Robert Esche (aka Silent Bob) will get the start in goal.
First Carter, then Sims, now Sami Kapanen will play on the Forsberg-Knuble line. This means more ice time for Kapanen, which I think is a very good thing.

Injuries for the Flyers include Donald Brashear (questionable), Eric Desjardins, Simon Gagne, Joni Pitkanen, Keith Primeau, Ryan Ready, Brian Savage and Turner Stevenson.
Injuries for the Canucks include Tyler Bouck and Dan Cloutier.

The Flyers have called up Ben Eager, Pat Kavanagh and Josh Gratton for the game.
Matt Ellison, traded from the Blackhawks for Patrick Sharp was reassigned to the Phantoms yesterday.

The Flyers for the first time in awhile is not last in the league in penalty kill, up to 28th.

On Thursday, December 15 the Philadelphia Flyers will join forces with UPN-57, CBS 3 and the Salvation Army for the 17th annual Joy of Sharing Teen Holiday Gift Drive, which is the longest-running toy drive of its kind in the market. Fans are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped gift for older children, ages 13-18 who are often overlooked in toy drives during the holidays.

For each gift fans donate gifts for the Joy of Sharing Teen Holiday Gift Dive will receive a raffle ticket to enter to win a Flyers Experience which includes: two tickets to an upcoming game including; VIP parking; dinner at Victors Club and a post-game meet and greet.

Representatives of the Salvation Army will be collecting gifts until the end of the first period of the game at the Broad Street and 11th Street Atrium entrances of the Wachovia Center. Suggested toys to donate are, For boys: compact disc walkmans; assembly toys; Lego assembly toys; poker sets, table games; Gameboys; sports collectible sets and baseball caps and gift cards. For girls: make up kits; manicure kits, compact disc walkmans; electronic diaries; purses/handbags; hair grooming accessories; jewelry; toiletry sets; jewelry making kits and gifts cards.

Flyers beat the Blue Jackets 3-1 in Columbus last night.
Forsberg picked up his second goal in two games after returning from injury. Jeff Carter picked up a goal (GWG) off a rebound. Sami Kapanen had an empty netter.
The Flyers had to kill off three 5 on 3 penalty kills in the second and third period.

“I’ve never had that in my life,” said Hitchcock of the three 5-on-3s in the second period. “I think I had it once in a game, but never in a period. But, our best penalty killer was our goalie. He made five or six great saves. … You need your goalie on the road and we needed him in the second period.”

The Flyers were 0-5 on their powerplays, Columbus was 1-8.
Robert Esche played a strong game in goal. The one goal he did give up was a penalty kill deflection, he had no chance on it.
At least initially, the lines were Richards-Radivojevic-Handzus, Sim-Forsberg-Knuble, Eager-Kapanen-Chouinard, Carter-Umberger-Ellison
Forsberg, Hrdina and Carter were the three stars. Esche deserved a star.

Simon Gagne participated in a chat with fans on December 14.
Here is a portion from NHL.com.

Moderator
Simon Gagne is here. He’ll be chatting with us for about 30 minutes.

SJ Sharks 19
How’s the groin recovery coming along and what’s it like playing along side of Peter Forsberg? Hope to see you back on the ice soon.

Simon Gagne
Regarding the injury, it’s feeling a little bit better today, but we didn’t start skating yet. Gonna see the doctor on Friday and maybe start skating this weekend. But right now, it’s a little sore — more stiff than sore — but I’m pretty positive that I’ll be back very soon.

Playing with Peter is great. Having the chance to play with one of the best players in the NHL is a great opportunity for me and my teammates. It’s amazing what one player can bring to the table. He makes me look really good sometimes.

Guest
simon, who are the most funniest guys on your team?

Simon Gagne
I’d say No. 6, Chris Therien, is the funniest guy. He never stops talking and he does a good job of making the guys very relaxed in the locker room before games and at practice. [.continue.]

The Flyers go to Columbus tonight to play the Blue Jackets. This is the only regular season meeting between the two teams this season. The Flyers and Blue Jackets skated to a 1-1 tie on December 10, 2003, their last meeting.
After recovering from a groin injury and playing backup one game, Robert Esche will return to goal.

Besides missing team leading scorer Simon Gagne, the Flyers will also be without Keith Primeau, Donald Brashear, Brian Savage, Tuner Stevenson, Joni Pitkanen, Eric Desjardins and Ryan Ready.
Columbus will be playing without Rick Nash, Rostislav Klesla, Alexandre Picard, Gilbert Brule and Manny Malhotra.

The Flyers have recalled Freddy Meyer, Ben Eager and Eric Chouinard for tonight’s game.
Jon Sim has been moved up to the Forsberg Knuble line in Gagne’s spot. The other lines are also expected to be shuffled.
R.J. Umberger will be returning to old stomping grounds for the first time where he played 3 years for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Columbus is coming off a 3-2 OT win against New Jersey on Sunday.
The Flyers are coming off a 3-2 win against Minnesota on Saturday.

The Flyers scored late to beat the Wild 3-2 in Philadelphia. Branko Radivojevic scored on a rebound with 53 seconds left in the game to give the Flyers the lead and forgo any overtime.
Peter Forsberg had one goal and one assist in his return from injury. Kim Johnsson also scored, on the power play.
One fight in the game, Donald Brashear and Derek Boogarrd went. Brashear won the fight.

“It isn’t going to be pretty for a little while, and we all know that. But, this is the way you have to get points. You have to win games like this when you don’t have a lot of players healthy and we did that today and we got some really big efforts from a lot of people.” – Ken Hitchcock

Minnesota leads the league in penalty kill. Philadelphia is dead last but is inching closer to 29th.

Forsberg, Gaborik and Johnsson were the three stars.

Knuble, Handzus, Carter, Rathje and Brashear are the only players to play in all 28 games this season.

Peter Forsberg has been named the World Hockey Player of the Year by Pro Hockey.
I have never heard of Pro Hockey which is a NHL publication based in Europe. I can’t even find their website.

Kudos to Forsberg for winning the title.
I usually don’t get that excited with things like this since it usually leads to a lot of chest pounding by fans.
Awards also do not win games.

Update: Thanks for Ron for posting the link to Pro Hockey. Which is www.prohockey.cz
My Czech is not that good. Well, actually I don’t understand any of it, but did find a small thumbnail of the cover with Forsberg.

The Minnesota Wild comes into Philadelphia to play the Flyers today at 2pm. This is the only regular season meeting between the two teams this year. The Flyers won the last meeting between them in Philadelphia 3-1 on November 20, 2003.
The Wild is coming off a 5-0 win over the Penguins in Pittsburg on Thursday. The Flyers are coming off a 3-2 lost against the Oilers in Philly on Thursday.

Injuries for the Flyers include Eric Desjardins, Simon Gagne, Joni Pitkanen, Keith Primeau, Ryan Ready, Brian Savage and Turner Stevenson.
Injuries for the Wild include Filip Kuba.

The Flyers have called up Ben Eager and Freddy Meyer for today’s game. Turner Stevenson who has continued to have problems with his right hip will undergo another MRI exam.