Saturday, December 27, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their road trip tonight as they traveled to Columbus for a faceoff with the Blue Jackets. Coming into tonight the Flyers had never lost to the Blue Jackets in their history. However, Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason changed all that history saving all of the measly 20 shots he faced on goal to power the Jackets to a historic win. The Flyers were simply both tired, thanks to some flight scheduling issues, and a bit shorthanded as Kimmo Timonen joined Scottie Upshall among the Flyers on injured reserve. Clearly they were just too out of gas for this one. The Blue Jackets league worst power play even scored a goal, which shows just how weary the Flyers must have been tonight. Early in the first period Jan Hejda scored for a 1-0 Jackets lead. Late in the period Andrew Murray scored for a 2-0 lead. Finally early in the 2nd period Manny Maholtra scored for a 3-0 Jackets lead. From there the weary Flyers could muster no offensivee push whatsoever and fell by that score. So the orange and black drop to 19-10-7 overall, but remain 4th in the Eastern conference and 2nd in the Atlantic division still just 2 points behind the Rangers. Hopefully they will better rested before their next game.
Friday, December 26, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers began a long road trip tonight as they traveled to Chicago to faceoff with the Blackhawks. Marty Biron returned to start in goal at last, but perhaps he should have stayed away as he saved just 33 of the 38 shots he faced. Meanwhile Mike Richards scored the only Flyer goal of the night. As hot as the Flyers have been lately they simply ran into an even hotter team tonight as the Blackhawks garnered their 8th consecutive win in bumping off the Flyers tonight. Early in the first period Andrew Ladd and Patrick Sharp each scored for a 2-0 BlackHawk lead just 2 minutes into the game. Richards countered a few minutes later to cut it to 2-1. It stayed that way until the third period where Brian Campbell, Kris Versteeg, and Dave Bolland all scored within the first 5 minutes of the period for a quick 5-1 lead. The Flyers never recovered from the unexpected barrage, eventually falling by that score. So the Flyers drop to 19-9-7 overall for 45 points, and still 4th in the Eastern conference and 2nd in the Atlantic division 2 points behind the Rangers.
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their road trip tonight as they traveled out to Denver for a matchup with the much improved Nuggets. Unfortunately despite 16 points from Lou Williams off the bench and 19 points and 8 assists from Andre Miller the Sixers came up on the short end of the stick yet again. Offensively and defensively, the two teams matched up fairly evenly on the night except in one important area. The Nuggets drilled 15 3 pointers to just 5 fort the Sixers. Thus, they had the firepower to hang on at the end and some more poor Sixers defense couldn't stop them. At halftime the Sixers actually led by 3 and heading into the 4th quarter they were up by 11. Then Denver just started hitting threes and didn't stop until they had rallied all the way back to escape with a 4 point victory over the Sixers with the final score 105-101. So the Sixers drop to 12-17 overall but remain within striking distance of the playoffs at just 1.5 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers looked to keep their hot play of late going as they welcomed the Ottawa Senators to the Wachovia center. Antero Niittymaki continued in goal and had a less than spectacular night saving just 17 of the 21 shots he faced, but it was enough on this night. Meanwhile, Simon Gagne had a late goal and an assist to push the Flyers to victory. Early in the first period Nick Foligno scored for a 1-0 Senator lead. Matt Carle followed a minute later to knot it up at 1. Late in the period Joffrey Lupul scored for a 2-1 lead. Early in the 2nd period Danny Heatley scored to knot it up at 2. A few minutes later Jeff Carter scored his league leading 26th goal for a 3-2 lead and Andreas Nodl followed a minute later for a 4-2 lead. Early in the third period Heatley scored again to cut it to 4-3. Then halfway through the period Chris Phillips scored to knot it up at 4. Late in the period Gagne came to the rescue scoring for a 5-4 lead. Finally with about 50 seconds to play Gagne assisted Mike Richards on an empty netter for a 6-4 lead capping another Flyer victory. So the Flyers move to 19-8-7 overall for 45 points and still 4th in the Eastern conference and 2nd in the Atlantic division now just 2 points behind the Rangers for first.
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers traveled to Boston tonight to celebrate the holiday with the Celtics. Unfortunately the Celts were not in the giving spirit as they thoroughly outclassed the Sixers for the 2nd time this season. Actually it was a slightly closer game this time around, as the Sixers only lost by 19. So perhaps the Sixers are playing a bit better right now after all, but they still have a long way to go. The Sixers actually came into the night shorthanded with just 10 active players, with Willie Green out with an ankle sprain, Elton Brand still recovering from his shoulder injury and Theo Ratliff out with the flu. Thus, Kareem Rush found his way into the starting lineup and things didn't go so well for the starters. Lou Williams and Maurice Speights were actually the leading scorers off the bench with 16 a piece. That was not the only problem for the Sixers tonight, they also went 0 for 11 from beyond the arc, and turned the ball over 20 times. The game was actually somewhat close for 3 quarters with Boston only up by 12 heading into the 4th. In the 4th quarter the Celts turned it on for good pushing out to a 20 point lead before settling for a 19 point win, with the final score 110-91. So the Sixers drop to 12-16 overall and will need to work harder if they ever hope to get back to other side of .500. but hey they're still only 1 game out of 8th in the Eastern conference so maybe they don't need to.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
EAGLES NEWS
The Birds came into this afternoon's matchup with the Redskins in Washington riding high off a three game winning streak and in control of their own destiny, following a loss by the Tampa Bay Bucs earlier in the day. Many thought a win would be assured against the struggling Redskins, but that would not be case. While the Eagles defense had another impressive game limiting the Redskins to just 249 total yards and 10 points, despite Washington's average starting position of inside the Eagle's 48 yard line. If not for the Eagles defense the Birds would never have even had a chance to win the game as the Offensive did nothing all night long with just 275 total yards of offense and 3 points, including almost nothing in the 2nd half until it was nearly too late. Basically the Birds just kept trying to throw on every play when they probably should have been running the ball and it cost them. Late in the first half Shaun Suisham booted a 33 yard field goal for a 3-0 Skins lead. Halfway through the 3rd quarter Mcnabb was hit and fumbled the ball the away deep in Eagle's territory, setting up Clinton Portis for a 1 yd Td run a few plays later, for a 10 -0 lead. Finally late in the 3rd quarter the Eagles offense came up with their only quality play of the day as Mcnabb hooked up with Brian Westbrook for a 30+ yd completion, eventually setting up David Akers with a 22 yd field goal to cut the lead to 10-3. After a bunch of 3 and outs the Eagles got the ball one last time and at last put together a drive when they needed it the most. They actually had first and 10 inside the Skins 20, with 12 seconds to play, but a completion to Reggie Brown came up just inches short of tying the game at 10 and caused the remainder of the clock to run out, to cap off a disheartening loss to the Skins. So the Birds drop to 8-6-1 and now must win next week and get losses from the Buccaneers and either the Vikings or Bears to reach the playoffs. In other words their playoff hopes are kind of slim now, but hey it could happen.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers traveled to New Jersey this afternoon for a matinee with the arch rival Devils. Antero Niittymaki got another start in goal and produced another solid performance saving 24 of the 26 shots he faced. Meanwhile, Jeff Carter scored his league leading 25th goal of the season and assisted on the only Flyer's goal, just enough of an effort to forge a tie and force overtime. Early in the 2nd period Patrick Elias and Brian Rolston each scored within minutes of each other for a 2-1 Devils lead. Late in the period Carter put the Flyers on the board for the first time all night, cutting the lead to 2-1. Finally, with just over 5 minutes to play in regulation Joffrey Lupul scored to tie it at 2. From there neither team could score for the remainder of regulation or an overtime period so the game went to a shootout. There in the first round Simon Gagne and Zach Parisse each failed to score. In the 2nd round Mike Richards scored while Patrick Elias failed. In the 3rd round, Jeff Carter failed to score while Jamie Langenbrunner scored successfully. In the 4th round Kimmo Timonen amd Brian Gionta each failed to score. Finally in the 5th round of the shootout Lupul failed to score while Travis Zajac beat Niittymaki sucessfully to finish off the 3-2 Devils win. So the Sixers drop to 18-8-7 overall and remain 4th in the Eastern conference.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers were forced to go another night without Marty Biron in goal as they welcomed the Washington Capitals to the Wachovia center. This time Antero Niittymaki made sure Biron's absence would not be a problem saving 47 of the 48 shots he faced. Basically Washington threw everything but the kitchen sink at him, and somehow he weathered the storm to help guide the Flyers to victory. Meanwhile, Jeff Carter scored 2 more goals and Scott Hartnell posted another hat trick to help the Orange and Black crush Washington. Early in the first period Joffrey Lupul began the scoring for a 1-0 lead. Late in the 2nd period Carter quickly scored both of his goals within a minute of each other for a 3-0 lead. Early in the 3rd period Scott Hartnell quickly scored his first goal for a 4-0 lead. Brooks Laich finally put the Caps on the board a minute later to cut it to 4-1. Hartnell scored again a few minutes later for a 5-1 lead. Simon Gagne quickly followed Hartnell to make it 6-1. Finally with just over 4 minutes to play Hartnell completed the hat trick to cap off a 7-1 Flyers' win. So the Orange and Black move to 18-8-6 overall for 42 points and still 4th in the Eastern conference.
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