Peter Forsberg and Robert Esche have healed enough to return to the lineup Saturday against the Wild. Esche will be backup to Niitymaki, which sent Jamie Storr back to the Phantoms.
Turner Stevenson who had hip surgery earlier this year has injured his hip again and is listed day to day.
Simon Gagne will be out two weeks with a groin injury.
Will the carnage ever stop?
The Flyers lost to Edmonton 3-2 in Philadelphia last night.
For the first time this year the Flyers gave up a shorthanded goal, actually they gave up 2, which was the difference in the game.
Branko Radivojevic and Sami Kapanen (power play) each scored a goal, first of the year for Kapanen.
Besides the two short handed goals by Moreau, Stoll scored a power play goal for the Oilers. Special teams pretty much sucked for the Flyers last night.
“We didn’t shoot the puck from the point. We had lanes. We had three guys standing in front. We should’ve played the shot off the goaltender. We had new personnel there and not a lot of days to work on it. We’ll get better at it, but we didn’t shoot the puck.” Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said
When you have a 5 on 3 for a full two minutes, you have to score, especially when down by two goals. The Flyer didn’t play with the same energy like they did against Calgary. That along with bad decision making on the ice was a big problem in the game. With all the injuries and call ups the Flyers just can’t play two good high energy periods in the game like they have done in the past.
Moreau, Kapanen and Stoll were the three stars.
The Edmonton Oilers come to Philadelphia tonight to play the injury plagued Flyers.
The Oilers won the last meeting between the two teams 3-0 on January 10, 2004.
This is the only regular season meeting between the two this year.
Dennis Seidenberg and Turner Stevenson are expected to return to the lineup tonight. Ryan Ready is not listed as injured anymore. I guess he will be ready to play.
Injuries for the Flyers include Robert Esche, Peter Forsberg, Joni Pitkanen, Keith Primeau, Brian Savage and Eric Desjardins
Injuries for the Oilers include Radek Dvorak.
The Flyers are coming off a 1-0 shootout win against Calgary on Tuesday.
The well rested Oilers are coming off a 5-4 OT win against Boston on Saturday.
Because of all the injuries on Saturday December 10 the Flyers will be hosting auditions for potential players at the Wachovia Center. Open to all residents of Philadelphia.
Ok, that was a joke.
Eric Desjardins – Right should posterior subluxation of his humoral head. He tore both the posteral labrum and the inferior border of the Glenohumeral ligament. In layman’s terms it means that Eric has a sprain of his right shoulder and will require surgery to repair the instability that was caused by the injury
He will be out 8 to 10 weeks. That puts him out until February. He is on Team Canada’s long list for the Olympics. I suspect this will hurt his chances on being selected. If so he might not see any action until March.
Joni Pitkannen – Athletic pubalgia otherwise known as a sports hernia. Joni is going to have surgery and is going to have to have a muscle called a rectus abdominus pulled off of his pubic bone and is going to have surgery to repair that. An abductor release will also be done.
He will be out 4 to 6 weeks. Return sometime in January.
Peter Forsberg – Right groin strain and is listed day to day. In reality it is a groin tear, worse than what Forsberg initially thought.
It has been thirteen days since the injury.
Robert Esche – Slight tear, abductor tendon.
He will be out at least until December 13.
Ryan Ready – Abductor strain and is listed day to day.
Nine days now since the injury. He missed the beginning of the season with a groin injury.
Turner Stevenson – Right hip flexor and is listed day to day.
Twelve days since the injury, the same hip he had surgery on in October.
Dennis Seidenberg – Broken right wrist.
He is listed out two to three weeks; three weeks would be this coming up weekend.
Brian Savage – Sprained MCL, right knee.
He is listed out one to two weeks, which would have been last week.
Keith Primeau – Concussion out indefinitely.
He has been out 39 days now. Even though he is ‘strengthening his muscles behind his eyes’ and says he is making progress, I just don’t buy it until he starts skating.
Jeff Carter and Chris Therien were x-rayed after the game against Calgary. Carter for his collarbone and Therien his hand, both were negative.
Mike Richards scored the only goal of the game in the shootout. Face offs were about even, the Flyers killed off all six penalties. If they keep the strong penalty kill, the Flyers will soon be out of last place in that stat.
The one negative coming out of the game is the injury to Eric Desjardins. He left in the first period after suffering a shoulder injury.
Good solid play by Phantom call up Freddy Meyers who saw almost 20 minutes of play. He played both penalty kill and power play, having to step up with Desjardins injury. Matt Ellison recorded almost 8 minutes of play, one hit, and won 4 face offs out of 5 in his debut with the Flyers. Donald Brashear played without the half face shield.
Niittymaki, Richards and Kirprusoff were the three stars.
What a great game. The score might have been 0-0 after 3 periods and overtime, but the play was really good. Both teams played hard, both goalies were great. It just goes to prove you don’t need high goal scoring to have a competitive, fast, hard fought, entertaining game.
The Calgary Flames come to Philadelphia tonight to play the Flyers in the only regular season meeting between them this year. The Flyers lost 3-2, the last game between the two in Philadelphia on December 16, 2003.
Injuries for the Flyers include Robert Esche, Peter Forsberg, Joni Pitkanen, Keith Primeau, Ryan Ready, Brian Savage, Dennis Seidenberg and Turner Stevenson.
Injuries for the Flames include Matthew Lombardi.
The Flyers have recalled defenseman Freddy Meyer from the Phantoms to fill in for Pitkanen.
The Flyers are coming off a 4-3 shootout lost in Nashville on Saturday.
The Flames are coming off a 3-2 win against the Penguins, snapping a 17 year winless drought in Pittsburgh.
The Flyers have also installed new goal horns. They will be using four S-203C air horns which are primarily used as navigational signals on large ocean-bound ships.
You can here one here.
I am disappointed with the change. I do not know what model was used before, but it was a lot better than the new boat horns. I have always liked the train horns and with the history trains have had in Pennsylvania, much more appropriate.
It will bug me every time they score at home for a good while.
All fans attending tonight’s game will receive a Peter Forsberg bobble head doll, groin injury not included.
The Flyers are teaming up with the United States Marine Corps for a toy drive tonight. All fans attending the game tonight are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys to the Wachovia Center. For each toy donated, fans will receive a raffle ticket to enter to win a Flyers Experience. All toys will be donated to the United States Marine Corps Toys for Tots Program. Members of the United States Marine Corps will be collecting toys until the end of the first period of the game at the Broad Street and 11th Street Atrium entrances of the Wachovia Center.
The Chicago Blackhawks acquired center Patrick Sharp and right wing Eric Meloche from the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday in trade for forward Matt Ellison and a third-round draft choice in 2006.
Sharp was a favorite of mine, it is a shame that he had to go.
The Flyers just had too many Centers.
Besides looking evil, I don’t know much else about Ellison.
A Canadian and a couple years younger than Sharp, Ellison can play any forward position.
Like the Flyers needed another injury.
Joni Pitkanen will be out 4-6 weeks with athletic pubalgia also known as a sports hernia and will require surgery.
The injuries are getting ridiculous.
Something is really not right.
Pitkanen, Esche, Gagne, Forsberg, Ready, Stevenson, Savage and Hatcher have all suffered lower body injuries this year. Five of those injuries being around the groin area.
Are the Flyers not warming up and stretching?
NHL players wear facial protection in minor hockey, in junior or in colleges, yet as soon as they make the pros, most of them discard their visors [.continue.]
I have to say kudos to Bob Clarke for requiring rookies to wear a visor. To me it just makes sense. Personally I would like to see players wear the full face cage. This would help rid some of the errant high stick penalties. They would have also prevented injuries to Roenick last season who had to eat thru a straw and Matt Sundin this season. Oh, forgot about Breashear too. He might have only missed a shift or two, but as of last game was still wearing a visor.
What about the fighting?
Well, players do ‘drop the gloves’ why not drop the helmets too.
The Flyers lose their first game ever in Nashville to the Predators 4-3. This was the first shootout of the season for the Flyers. Knuble and Gagne both missed on their shootout attempts.
Knuble, Richards and Hatcher scored goals for the Flyers.
Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We played great. I was really impressed with our effort. I think we played a heck of a hockey game.”
Eh, I’m not so impressed. The Predators were obviously the faster team. The Flyers could not keep up and lost some key battles along the boards. But I guess considering the injuries not that bad of a game.
Sharp took a hard hit to the boards in the second period and will be examined for a concussion today.
Erat, Kariya and Hatcher were the three stars.
The victory was the 200th for the Predators.