Claude Giroux. Is. Okay. Thank. God.
As the Flyers season is beginning to literally come to an end before our very eyes as they fall to 9 points out of a playoff spot, thankfully Claude Giroux's season will still continue. An extremely scary incident involving a skate to the back of Giroux's leg appeared to put his season in serious jeopardy. As Giroux was removed from the ice he couldn't even apply pressure or stand on the foot that was cut and all Flyers fans held their collective breaths as we saw the captain wincing in pain, similarly to how the fans have felt all season watching this team. Claude is expected to play tonight, crediting Kevlar socks as the reason the cut wasn't as serious as we all thought it would be. But we know Claude is going to be fine and dandy so lets just get to how agonizing it is to watch this team play hockey on a nightly basis. Every time the Flyers get on a streak and finally back to a .500 record they end up having a break in the schedule and consequently come out of that break playing horrendous hockey. They have now lost 4 straight since winning 3 in a row before the holiday break and are plummeting in the standings. The secondary scoring has stopped along with a sputtering power play and of course the achillies heel of this team, the penalty kill, are all suspects in the recent 4 game skid. Poor Steve Mason can't buy a win this season. Both three game winning streaks this year have come without Mason in net, yet Mason gives these bums a chance to win every time he's out there. It's truly mind boggling that he has only 6 wins with how well he has played this season. Its as if the team in front of him knows Mason will bail them all out so they don't have to try as hard. Whatever it is it is sad. Mason has played his heart out this year and deserves better outcomes for sure.
Now here comes my rant. Can someone please explain to me in a logical matter why the hell Scott Laughton isn't playing on the pathetically dreaded second power play unit. I understand Chief doesn't want to go with 5 forwards on the 2nd unit for defensive purposes but at this point what the hell do you have to lose? McDonald is only out there because he's being grossly overpaid, Read and Coots struggle enough at even strength and don't create enough on the power play to warrant that kind of playing time. Then you have Umberger... Yeah Umberger... Read, Coots, Umberger on a 2nd power play unit, it hurt me to even type that out. Vinny is hit or miss at his left circle spot but is too slow operate over there at this stage in his career. He'd be better served being a net presence/behind the net kind of guy on the power play. Scott Laughton is better than every one of the just mentioned players and his limited time hes seen on the power play this year you automatically notice him. HE MAKES THINGS HAPPEN! And has the speed to get to loose pucks and keep the puck in the zone, and oh yeah, he works his ass off too. Its beyond me why they can't set up a second unit that deploys Laughton, Vinny, Read, Coots, and Del Zotto manning the point. I would even take Coots or Read off entirely and put someone Like Raffl or Bellemare out there who play with more speed and tenacity to get to loose pucks and rebounds better than the fleet footed Coots or Umberger. Even with the set up they have now there's no reason in hell Umberger should be playing the net presence spot over a guy like Raffl who brings so much more to the table. But I digress.
Game Notes:
Well if you still care about this team they play the 8th and final game of this road trip before they return home tonight against the lowly Devils at the Prudential Center at 7pm on CSN Philly. The Flyers really really really badly need a win tonight to keep the Devils below them in the standings as well as to finally snap this losing streak and close out this 8 game road trip with a winning record before coming home. They need something to feel a good about and maybe they can make a nice little push in the second half of the season. But who am I kidding. It looks like it'll be the same lineup as last night unless Berube wants to for some reason put Zac Rinaldo back into the lineup now that he's been healthy for the last few games. Wouldn't be surprised to see Emery get the nod tonight in net either. Maybe we'll get a win? Maybe not. Either way, Lets Go Flyers. |