Who's Here?

Today/Tonight the Flyers will play host to the Lighting in a game bumped up to 5pm to accommodate Cliff Lee's domination over the Yankee lineup. The Flyers are coming off a beat down, both literally and figuratively, of the Carolina Hurricanes and will look to keep the good vibes going against the Southeast. The Flyers and 'Ning always play hard against each other and it's been a decent matchup ever since the 2004 season. Tocchet's club is winless on the road so far this year, a trend Mike Richards an Co. will look to continue at happy hour.

For the Lightning, sophomore Steve 'Why did I get drafted by Tampa' Stamkos has been on a tear and is making the #1 overall pick of last year seem like a sound move. He has registered at least a point in 7 straight games. Then there are the big guns that you always have to remember. The way Heatley, Alfredsson, Malkin, and Parise always seem to end up on the score sheet against the Flyers, so to does Martin St. Louis and Vinnie 'Why did I sign that extension in Tampa' Lecavlier. They are deadly on the odd man rush and will be the focal point of the TB powerplay. Shut these two clowns down and you shut down the majority of Tampa's chances. Expect Pronger to match up with the Stamkos/St.Louis line and he may need help finding those midgets on the ice. Aside from the studs, some ex Flyers return home. Antero Niittymaki, Todd Fedoruk, and Steve Downie will all be on the bench tonight. Fedoruk and Downie will certainly try to muck it up and I'd love for Carbomb to show him a thing or two about how to man-dance. We all know Downie is a bit nuts so hopefully he doesn't McAmmond anybody. On the blueline, FGSB welcomes Kurtis Foster back to Philly. One of the good guys in the league, Fozzie has been a friend of FGSB for years and we can't wait to see what trouble he gets us into after the game.

For the Flyers, the game plan is simple. Win. That's right, I know. I totally just blew your mind and possibly melted your face off. But this is a winnable game and in order to keep up with Pitt and *gag*, New York, we need to get 2pts from a team like Tampa Bay. Let's keep Rabbit going and get Carter/Richards back on the board as well. I'd love to see a dominating performance by either of our two best centers, and TB goalie Mike Smith is certainly a guy who can help us. Giroux, Rabbit, and Hartnell all need to keep pitching in while the Groin Brothers are on the shelf, and the 4th line will be busy against a chippy TB team. Betts and Lappy were excellent on Saturday and this is one part of the game I'm really excited for. To see how well the PK can be and to put on another great fore-checking clinic. If you would have told me how important Blair Betts was going to be before the start of the season, I would have locked you up and sent you to Drugachusetts mister. The blueline will need to continue to be aggressive offensively while maintaining a strong presence in front of the net. So in short, just repeat everything from the Carolina game, k?

So duck out of work early today everybody, for in...about 4 hours, we get hockey. We get it so good. Time to beat a beatable team, and give #22 a nice ovation. Let's Go Flyers.