Flyers steal one on Long Island

With Mike Rathje and Joni Pitkanen out of the Flyers lineup Thursday night, the team had a defensive corps that included Alex Picard, Jussi Timonen, Randy Jones, Derian Hatcher, Lars Jonsson and Freddy Meyer. Nonetheless, the young guns got it done as Antero Niittymaki played well again in a 3-2 win over the Islanders.

Before the game, it was announced defenseman Mike Rathje would be shut down due to his nagging back injury. It is not known how long Rathje will be out, but when the word "retirement" is thrown around, it's no laughing matter for him. Rathje's piriformis syndrome, which pinches the sciatic nerve, has bothered him all season long. Now Rathje must decide whether or not to get surgery, which would shut him down for the season, or to try and continue to play through the pain. He should be placed on the IR, which will allow the Flyers some slight roster flexibility. If he is placed on the long term injury list, it would also shut him down for the season, and save the Flyers some money against the cap. He will talk to general manager Paul Holmgren on Friday and the two will try to reach some sort of agreement.

Meanwhile, the action on the ice was fast and furious. Randy Robitaille got the scoring started midway through the first period on the power play, as he tipped in a shot from Alex Picard. For Picard, it was his first NHL assist, and the Flyers took the early lead. Rick DiPietro, the Islanders' 67.5 million dollar man, did not play due to injury and fatigue. Mike Dunham took his place in net.

The Flyers then got a late shorthanded goal from star Simon Gagne, who used his speed to get past the Islander defense. He had a breakaway attempt, and buried it with just five seconds left in the period to give the Flyers the momentum and the 2-0 lead heading into the second.

With the Flyers leading 2-0 late in the second period, Mike Knuble scored his 9th goal of the season on a rebound in front of the New York net. The power play goal was the Flyers' second of the night. They also had a shorthanded goal to accompany the two power play scores. It can be said that as of late, the special teams have truely been the difference for the team's turnaround.

The Flyers though could not stop the cardinal sin of hockey, as the Islanders scored with just 31 seconds left in the frame. Chris Simon netted the Islanders goal, and suddenly New York had all the momentum back on their side heading into the third despite trailing by two goals.

In the third period Niittymaki faced a flurry of Islanders shots; keeping busy with 12 saves on 13 shots in the final 20 minutes. Richard Park did score to make it 3-2 with 10 minutes to play, but Niittymaki held his ground and Flyers won 3-2 despite being outshot 13-2 in the final frame. In fact, Niittymaki stopped 39 of 41 shots on net to get the win.

The Flyers will get Friday off before returning to the Wachovia Center to face the Devils on Saturday night. The Devils are currently jostling with the Rangers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

Rathje's mistake proves costly for Flyers

With the Nashville Predators in for a visit at the Wachovia Center last night, the Flyers knew they could make few mistakes, if any. Although the younger guys made few errors, it was veteran defenseman Mike Rathje who made the biggest mistake of them all.

Mike Knuble, who had signed a two-year contract extension earlier in the day, scored his 8th goal of the season just under five minutes into the game. It was a rebound goal off an original shot from Peter Forsberg. Knuble followed the play to put the Flyers in front 1-0.

That lead held until Steve Sullivan got Nashville on the board. Like the Flyers' first goal, Sullivan's was off a rebound. The puck bounced back to Sullivan after Antero Niittymaki made a diving stop on the first shot. Sullivan got the puck back and fired it past Niittymaki, who was too far out of position to make a second save. Sullivan's goal, his 7th of the year, tied the game at 1-1.

After Alexander Radulov scored to put the Predators up 2-1 in the second period, R.J. Umberger potted his 7th goal of the year to tie the game at 2-2 with just over six minutes to play. The Flyers were hoping to at least drag the game into overtime, but Rathje's turnover proved to be the difference in the game.

Rathje was trying to make a play in his own zone, but gave the puck away to Paul Kariya right in front of the goal. Kariya quickly dished off to Martin Erat, who was in perfect position for a point blank shot. Erat fired it past Niittymaki, and the Predators celebrated a 3-2 victory as they held on in the final five minutes.

Rathje was booed each time he touched the puck in those remaining five minutes. When Philadelphia fans find a target, they'll stick with him for a while. In this case, they have a point. Rathje has consistently been the most inconsistent defenseman this season for the team, a reason for the boos for certain. This isn't the first time either. Rathje received much criticism for blocking the view of Niittymaki in a game a few weeks back against the Sabres in which Danny Briere beat the Flyers in overtime. Of course, Rathje is playing through severe back pains. Yet right now, the only pain for Flyers fans is watching Rathje on defense.

Rathje and the rest of the team will head up to Long Island tonight to take on the Islanders. Despite all the jokes in the offseason about hiring Garth Snow as the general manager and the large contract handed to Rick DiPietro, the Islanders have 27 points, and trail the Rangers by just two in the division. The Flyers, 12 points back, have a long way to go. If they keep making mistakes, it'll be a while before the basement is empty.

Knuble signs two-year extension, Houle called up

Things have been getting much better lately for the Flyers, who have recorded at least one point in five of their last seven games. Things are going to get a lot better for winger Mike Knuble, who today signed a two-year extension with the team. Knuble, 34, has 7 goals and 8 assists this year in 18 games. Knuble had 34 goals and 31 assists last season, and has been a great veteran addition to the team.

Meanwhile, if you had a bet that Antero Niittymaki would break down before December, you were wrong. Instead, it was backup goaltender Robert Esche who had surgery this afternoon to repair his adductor muscle. He will be out about two to four weeks. Martin Houle of the Phantoms was called up to take his place.

The Predators are the leaders of the Central Division with 32 points and are two points ahead of Detroit heading into tonight's game against the Flyers. Kimmo Timonen will meet his brother Jussi of the Flyers in tonight's game, and the two will also be watched by their parents, who are in town for the game. Kimmo, Nashville's captain, has 14 points in 22 games. Jussi has 2 points in 4 games for the Flyers and has accompanied fellow Finn Joni Pitkanen on the blueline.

Flyers slip up Canadiens in Montreal

Sometimes, you need a little luck on your side. The Flyers soon found this out as they knocked off the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 at a raucous Bell Centre on Saturday night. Simon Gagne, who had to buy many tickets for friends and family members for the game, was the shining star for the Flyers.

It was a rocky first period for Philadelphia, as the Canadiens fed off the energy from their home crowd. They were coming off a big win Friday night over the Sabres in Buffalo when Sheldon Souray scored the game winning goal. But for the second straight night, Antero Niittymaki stepped up and stole a game for his team. Niittymaki stopped 29 of 31 Montreal shots, 20 of which were fired his way in the second and third periods.

Alexei Kovalev scored first for the Canadiens 8:04 into the game. There were a few bounces that went the Flyers' way in the period, including a shot from Janne Niinimaa, the former Flyer who had been scratched in the four previous Montreal contests. The puck tipped off a stick in front of the net and just a bit wide, and Montreal failed to extend their lead.

The Flyers came to life in the second period, scoring three goals on backup goaltender David Aebischer, who was giving a break to starter Cristobal Huet. Huet had won 7 of his last 8 starts, so head coach Guy Carbonneau must have tussled with the decision to start Aebischer for a while. The Flyers outshot Montreal 15-10 in the second frame, as Sami Kapanen, Mike Knuble, and Simon Gagne all lit the lamp for Philadelphia. Gagne's 12th goal of the season came with just 11.9 seconds left in the period, giving the Flyers an early jump on the third period momentum.

Montreal quickly disposed of that momentum by getting on the board quickly to start the third. After a tripping penalty on Eric Meloche, Saku Koivu tipped in a pass from Kovalev just eight seconds into the power play to make it a 3-2 game just three minutes in to the period.

After a missed call from the referees in which Kapanen was clearly cross checked in the face by Souray, the Flyers capitalized and sealed a victory. Shorthanded, the Flyers believed they should have been skating 4 on 4 after Kapanen was knocked down. Nonetheless, Gagne stole the puck in the defensive zone and skated up ice with Knuble on his wing. Gagne lost the puck, but regained control in front of the net as he was about to head back up ice. Aebischer, who was down on the ice, could not get back up, and Gagne went top shelf to put the Flyers in front 4-2. The final two minutes ticked down, and although Gagne was deprived of scoring on the empty net, it was a successful game for the hometown kid.

The Flyers will take on the Nashville Predators Wednesday night back at home. The Predators will continue to be without center Jason Arnott, who will be out 4-6 weeks after arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Even without Arnott, Nashville is a deadly team that can run four lines deep at the Flyers. They will have to be carfeul not to be caught up in the neutral zone either, because the speed of Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan is far and above league average speed.

Flyers knock off Jackets in Hitchcock's return

If there was ever a time for Mike Richards' first goal of the season, this was it. As former coach Ken Hitchcock watched on, Richards potted his first of the year in the third period to give the Flyers a 3-2 victory at the Wachovia Center on an eerie Black Friday in Philadelphia. Just ask Columbus' new head man on how eerie the game was. He couldn't even tell his players apart because he had so little time to work with them in practice. He had to go buy the numbers on their backs and on their helmets. Maybe that confusion on the Columbus side allowed the Flyers to walk away with their 6th win of the season.

If there is one thing that has been improving in the past few games, it's been the Flyers power play. Once dead last, they have moved all the way to 25th in the league. Peter Forsberg deflected home a Lars Jonsson shot from the point to put the Flyers in front 1-0. It was Forsberg's 7th of the season, who was returning from the sore back he suffered in the game Monday vs. Pittsburgh.

The Blue Jackets went on to outshoot the Flyers 19-7 in the second period, and it ended up costing them. Jason Chimera scored on a rebound in front of the net at the 7:29 mark to tie the game at 1-1.

The Flyers answered back late in the period as Mike Knuble found Freddy Meyer streaking towards the net. He delievered a perfect pass and Meyer ripped it past Pascal Leclaire, who got a piece of the puck before it crossed the line. Nonetheless, the Flyers had a 2-1 lead with 1:52 to play.

They could not hold that lead though, as Rick Nash capitalized on a Joni Pitkanen hooking penalty with 19 seconds to play in the period. Antero Niittymaki was out of position as a shot from the point took a weird carom off the boards and in front of the goal. Nash was right there and Niittymaki was not, and Nash deposited it to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the 3rd.

The Flyers kicked off the 3rd period in style, as Richards broke his 40 game scoreless streak just 2:02 into the final frame. Although he had 9 assists on the year, he had not scored since last March. It was a long time coming for the Flyers forward as Joni Pitkanen fired a cross-ice pass to a waiting Richards. From the circle, Richards fired the shot past Leclaire to put the Flyers back in front 3-2.

Despite a late flurry from Columbus, Antero Niittymaki held the fort with 39 saves and secured the 3-2 victory. There's a long way to go for new coach Ken Hitchcock, who is taking over the Blue Jackets in the middle of this season. Hitchcock is the 6th coach in NHL history to coach two teams in one season, and he has his work cut out for him. If he can ever get them to play like the Flyers of old, he may have made the right choice.

Hitchcock makes return to Philadelphia as Columbus coach

This afternoon at the Wachovia Center, irony will reign supreme as former Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock makes his return to Philadelphia as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The irony of it all? It will be Hitchcock's first game behind the Columbus bench after being hired on Wednesday night by general manager Doug MacLean and the Blue Jackets. Hitchcock originally said that he would not coach this game if he were hired, but he was asked to be here by the Columbus front office.

The race was down to two candidates after head coach Gerard Gallant was fired on November 13. Gary Agnew became the interim coach of the team, but it was clear that Columbus would not allow him to be the head man for long. They wanted someone with experience to teach the young players. It came down to former Kings coach Andy Murray and Hitchcock. In the end, Columbus chose Hitchcock. It was an interesting choice, because one of the reasons the Flyers got rid of Hitchcock was because he was apparently too tough on the younger players.

Nonetheless, Hitchcock has the duty of turning around a team that is 5-13-2 and last place in the Western Conference. The Blue Jackets have just one regular player, Anders Eriksson, who is in the + range of the +/- scale. Even at that rate, Eriksson is still just a +2. David Vyborny is the team leader with 18 points. Columbus is coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues. Will things change with Hitchcock behind the bench?

That is a question we will have to wait and find out the answer to. The Flyers meanwhile, since firing Hitchcock and hiring John Stevens on October 22, are just 4-8-2. After a tough loss to Ottawa on Wednesday, they'll be looking to rebound in the classic day after Thanksgiving battle.

Game Information: 1:00, ComcastSportsNet, 610 WIP

Senators knock down Flyers in overtime

On the eve before Thanksgiving, the Flyers may have been thinking a bit too much about their Turkey Day dinners. After scoring the first two goals of the game to take a 2-0 lead, the team collectively appeared to go into a tryptophan-like coma as the Ottawa Seantors scored the final three goals of the game to win 3-2.

The Flyers started the scoring with a late first period goal from Petr Nedved, who has been impressive since rejoining the team. On this night though, he took two rough hooking penalties, one of which led to a Senators goal. Nedved's goal was reviewed, as the Senators believed that R.J. Umberger kicked the puck into the net. Replays showed that the puck never touched Umberger and that it hit off the back of Senators defenseman Wade Redden.

In the second period, Mike Knuble was in the right place in the right time as he found a puck out in front sitting on top of the left pad of goaltender Ray Emery. Knuble tipped it off the pad of Emery and into the net, putting the Flyers ahead 2-0 just over four minutes into the period.

The Senators cut the lead to one about haflway through the period when Mike Fisher got a ton of open ice at the right circle in the Flyers end. He fired the puck past a screened Antero Niittymaki to make it 2-1. Daniel Alfredsson gave the Flyers a little taste of their own medicine with 34 seconds left in the second period to make it 2-2. Alfredsson received a quick pass from Peter Schaefer in the slot and ripped it past Niittymaki to tie the game.

Derian Hatcher had his second straight very strong game for the Flyers, and believe it or not, is on the + side of the +/- for the month of November. Maybe taking Mike Rathje away from Hatcher on the penalty kill has been Hatcher's saving grace. Meanwhile, youngster Kimmo Timonen, playing in his second game, also looked very strong on the back end for the Flyers. Lars Jonsson, Randy Jones, Joni Pitkanen and Freddy Meyer rounded out the defensive corps for the Flyers.

After a scoreless third period, the game headed to overtime. Both Ottawa and Philadelphia had their chances, but Wade Redden capitalized with 21 seconds left to play in the extra frame by ripping a one timer past Niittymaki on a 3 on 2 breakout for Ottawa. The Flyers headed up the tunnel and into the locker room after suffering yet another very tough loss.

The Flyers will be back at it on Friday afternoon against the Columbus Blue Jackets. None other than Ken Hitchcock will be behind the bench for Columbus after being hired by Doug MacLean shortly Wednesday night's NHL action got underway. The Flyers can only hope it will not be a Black Friday letdown.

Forsberg-less Flyers match against Sens

If the Flyers want to beat the Ottawa Senators tonight, they'll have to do it without the captain. Peter Forsberg, along with Mike Rathje, will miss tonight's game against Ottawa. Forsberg and Rathje will be sharing a common ailment tonight as both players will be out with back injuries. Forsberg's injury is much less serious than Rathje's though, as the Swedish superstar will nurse a back strain he suffered Monday vs. Pittsburgh after a rough collision with Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. Combine that with the fact that Forsberg's right ankle is still giving him problems, and it's a recipe for a night off for the Flyers captain.

Rathje, meanwhile, is trying everything he can to play through the pain. The trainers will not let him play through it tonight. Rathje will receive Botox shots (that is not a typo) in his lower back to relieve the stress being placed on him. Rathje already received the maximum amount of cortisone shots, and Botox was something suggested to Rathje a few weeks back.

The Senators come in to the Wachovia Center tonight trying to keep the label of most disappointing team in the Eastern Conference with the Flyers. What the Senators cannot hide is the fact that they have just 19 points, which is third worst in the Eastern Conference. The Senators just got out of the Northeast Division basement as they won 3 of their last 4 games. After finishing with a Conference-best 114 points last season, the hopes were still high for the Sens this year despite losing Zdeno Chara, Martin Havlat, and Bryan Smolinksi. Jason Spezza is the high man in points for Ottawa, with 25 of them.

On the other side, the Flyers are looking to rebound from a poor start against the Penguins on Monday. They trailed 3-0 after one period and never caught up. If there was one positive to take from the game, it was the fact that the power play that has been dead last in the NHL this season went 3 for 8. Geoff Sanderson extended his scoring streak to 5 straight games, the best streak in the NHL as of now.

Game Information: 7:00, ComcastSportsNet, 1210 WPHT

Flyers fall to Penguins once more
Flyers are 0-4 vs. Pittsburgh this season

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Just last season, the Flyers had 101 points and finished 5th in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins had just 58 points, worst in the Eastern Conference, and just one point better than the cellar dwelling St. Louis Blues.

This year has been a different story to say the least. The Penguins are three points back of first in the Atlantic Division, while the Flyers are last in the division. On Monday night, the problems for the Flyers continued as the Penguins beat the Flyers 5-3.

John LeClair started the scoring for the Penguins in the first, and Pittsburgh never looked back. On Pittsburgh's second goal of the first period, Sidney Crosby made the possible play of the year so far. On a break into the Flyers zone, Crosby spun and pulled a 180 degree turn, finding Dominic Moore, who one-timed it home to make it 2-0. They lead 3-0 after one period.

The Flyers got on the board for the first time in the second period when Simon Gagne scored. But, the Penguins came right back with tic-tac-toe passing and Crosby finished to make it 4-1. Geoff Sanderson continued his scoring streak as he scored to make it 4-2. Sanderson has scored in 5 straight games for the Flyers. But, the defense failed once more as the Penguins came back less than 2 minutes later to score on a Sergei Gonchar power play goal to make it 5-2. The Flyers were chasing the Penguins all night long, and were never able to catch up. If the Flyers have to keep chasing all season long, it will be a dreary Wachovia Center come April.