Who's Here?

Tonight the Flyers travel to DC to take on the Washington Capitals. The Flyers, fresh off a turd-filled game against the Sharks, will look to rebound against the offensively charged, defensively retarded Capitals. Ever since that crazy game on October 6th, which the Flyers took 6-5, I've been waiting for the second game of this series. I don't expect tonight's game to match that one in terms of offense, but I do imagine that the level of excitement will be just as high.

The Caps are riding a 4 game win streak and will turn to Jose Theodore to man the pipes tonight. Jose is about as bipolar as you can get, and if he's on he'll be tough to score against. He can also get lit up very easily and chucking a lot of pucks at him tonight would be a good idea. OV has been pretty quite that past few games and that doesn't bode well against the Orange&Black. He always brings his game against the Flyers, and I don't see how Boudreau won't capitalize on the line changes to get OV on the ice against everybody's favorite whipping boy, Braydon Coburn. Aside from OV, the Flyers need to keep the Caps off the PP. That is the only time I'm worried about our chances tonight, as the Caps can light the lamp against anybody, especially up a man. This is a game where I wish I could sing the praises of Blair Betts in the post game report, but somebody will have to step up on the PK....here's hoping for a dominant Lappy performance.

For the Flyers, Gagne is hurt, and we're still without Betts & Parent. The biggest change I could see tonight is that Kimmo and Coburn can be broken up. This might be the last chance for that duo to prove they can be an effective #2 unit. I'd like to get Richie back in the scoring column and continue to watch JVR perform like the rookie of the year. The Caps defense has more gaping holes than Jenna Jameson so the scoring chances should be there all 60 minutes. It'll also be interesting to see what kinda line combinations Papa Stevens rolls out tonight. That said, he'll look to get balanced scoring out there and some grit in every shift in some form.

Anytime we get to play the Caps twice in a month it's a good thing. Clearly one of our biggest rivals, the games the past three years have all been memorable. The Flyers get up for these games and love to match the intensity. These games remind me of a heavyweight fight. Here's hoping Richards does his best Bernard Hopkins impersonation. Crush the Craps. Let's Go Flyers.