The Flyers limp into Nashville tonight with another injury, goalie Robert Esche.
Esche won’t make the trip to Nashville. Antero Nittymaki will make the start. Phantom’s goalie Jamie Storr will be called up to be Nittymaki’s backup. Forsberg will also not play. His injury is now being called a groin/abductor muscle strain. Stevenson will make the trip with the Flyers, but won’t play tonight. Stevenson along with Seidenburg is expected to make their return on Tuesday.

The Predators are 0-2-2 against the Flyers in Nashville. Both teams are in fourth place in their respective conference.

The Flyers beat New Jersey 2-1 in a ‘classic’ defensive battle in Philly last night.
The first period was played tight by both teams. The second period started to open up after a bad penalty call against Johnsson. The Flyers took two bad penalties putting them down 5 on 3 twice. The Flyers gained momentum off killing the penalties and Knuble scored about halfway thru the period. Sharp scored the winning goal about 3 minutes later. It was his 5th goal of the season, the first against a team besides the Islanders.
Ben Eager made his NHL debut picking up his first point on the Sharp goal. Eager looked good, had 7 minutes of ice time and a great hit on Pihlman.

“I think we were kind of in shock there when Peter went out and we didn’¢t recover in the first game he was out,” said Ken Hitchcock. “We are recovered now. We are obviously having to play a little different right now, but I think our team is very comfortable playing this way right now. We have to work and we have to check. We were very effective tonight.”

Sharp, Hatcher and Brashear were the three stars. Esche played very well in goal, personally I think he should have been one of the stars.

Flyers now lead the season series with the Devils 2-0.

Ken Hitchcock became the seventh coach in Flyers history to record 100 wins.

The Flyers were able to squeak by the Islander 4-3 last night in New York.
Gagne scored twice, apparently he can score without Forsberg. Sharp and Pitkanen (power play) each added a goal. Looking at the replays, it did look to me the Islanders scored to tie the game with .2 seconds left, but the refs eventually said no.
Ryan Ready who was making his NHL debut had almost three minutes of ice time before leaving the game in the first period with a groin injury. He missed the first part of the season, only playing two games with the phantoms with the same injury.

“We played a heck of a hockey game,” Hitchcock said. “We played as well on the road as we have all year. We fought and clawed. You know, you’re down 2-0 and 3-1 on the road and to come back and win, the guys played really hard.

Gagne, Desjardins and Blake were the three stars.

/rant
The Flyers played good in the very beginning of the game and ok later in the third period, I missed the rest of the game. Storm came thru last night, I lost my satellite signal for most of the first and all of the second and some of the third period, very frustrating. If either one of my local cable companies would offer NHL Center Ice and not black out the Flyers I would be on cable. Why the one black out the games is beyond me. I mean, I am over a three hours drive from Philly.
/end rant

With the injury to Ryan Ready, Ben Eager (where do they find guys with these names) was called up from the Phantoms. Eager has 4 goals and 3 points in 17 games for the Phantoms. He also led all AHL rookies with 61 minor penalties in 04-05. His rights were acquired by the Flyers organization from the Phoenix Coyotes in the Sean Burke-Mike Comrie trade.

The Flyers play in New York tonight against the Islanders.
Flyers will be without Forsberg, Primeau, Stevenson, Seidenberg and Savage all injured.
Ryan Ready will get his first NHL start. Ready was on his way to making the team, but an untimely injury forced him to be reassigned to the Phantoms. He has played only two games this year scoring one goal.
Robert Esche is expected to start in goal.
The Flyers lead the season series with the Islanders 2-1. The Flyers lost in Philly to the Islanders Saturday 4-2.

Ryan Ready has been called up from the Phantoms. Ready scored 7 goals and had 18 assists in 72 games last year with the Phantoms.
Tuesday will be his first NHL game.

‘Ready is a guy that we really like,’ said Hitchcock’Until he hurt his groin [in the preseason], he was vying for a spot on our hockey club. We really felt like he was going to make our club coming out of training camp. He’s back playing with the Phantoms and has been arguably their best player since coming back and we want to give him every opportunity to play here.’

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the New York Islanders 4-2 in Philly. Playing without Forsberg who sits with a groin injury the Flyers could only muster two goals, both scored by Umberger.
Nittymaki got the start in goal, his first back to back games this year. I was a little surprised to see him in goal.

‘We wanted to reward Nitty. He did a great job. We had an opportunity to do this earlier in the year and we didn’t do it. We felt we wanted to make him part of the team too. It’s not a reflection on Esche at all. I thought Nitty played very well yesterday and I’m not sure he could be faulted on any of the goals today too.’ Coach Hitchcock.

I agree, Nittymaki played a pretty good game.

Turner Stevenson left the game in the second period with a hip flexor injury. On Philly.com Hitchcock is quoted saying the hip Stevenson injured is not the hip he had surgery on missing the beginning of the season.
The game recap on NHL.com said it was the same hip.
The Flyers website list it as a Right hip flexor injury which is the same hip that was reported injured back in October.
Stevenson and Forsberg are both listed day to day.

Blake, Umberger and Snow were the three stars.
Flyers have lost four straight home games.

Talking trash on the ice has been part of the game for a very long time. Players do it trying to gain an edge on the other team, or by just venting some frustration. It is normal, it is a part of hockey. So why does Terry Frei decide to focus on Peter Forsberg in his article?

I am sure at least several times a week there is a player mocking, complaining or talking trash on the ice about a player diving. And I would not be surprised if the complainer has dived in the pass as well. Let’s face it, its part of the game whether we like it or not. The NHL does need to take a hard-line with diving and make the penalties more severe. Personally I hate diving, it takes away from the game.
But to say players can ‘toss around indiscriminant charges’ on the ice is ridiculous. So I can’t say that Terry Frei breaks the law by speeding because I have done so in the pass? Or Forsberg can’t say Sid Crosby hooks because he has hooked in the past?

Oh wait, I think I see the problem now. This isn’t about the European, future hall of fame Peter Forsberg, 5 time NHL all star who has won the Stanly Cup twice and Olympic Gold once. A player that has proven himself time and time again. It is about Canadian born ‘hockey phenom’ Sidney Crosby. Anyone who criticizes him gets blasted, heck just say you ‘didn’t notice’ Crosby gets the fanboys to label you as disrespectful. While Crosby is a really good rookie, he still needs to prove himself in the NHL, a process that could take years. All the gushing over him is fine, but those that do not sing the praises of Crosby when asked should not be vilified. Carrying the ‘thou not disrespect the Crosby’ banner should not be necessary when discussing his play.

Would Frei write this article if Forsberg had mocked Shane Endicott, Matt Murley or even Alexander Ovechkin? I think not.

Terry Frei should spend more time writing about hockey than writing about the banter that goes on between the whistles.