#13 Philadelphia Flyers (14-15-1, 29 pts) at #5 Boston Bruins (16-9-6, 38 pts)
TD Garden - 7:00 PM EST - Boston, MA
TV: The Comcast Network HD, NESN HD
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 205
This is the open game thread.
Behind Enemy Lines: Stanley Cup of Chowder

A little over three miles away from TD Garden, through the Back Bay section of Boston, they're prepping the ice at Fenway Park for a little get together between the Bruins and Flyers on New Years Day. But if the team from Philadelphia is still floundering come January 1, that game will certainly lack some of the luster. Beating the Bruins at home tonight would be a nice first step toward turning the season around.

After a flat performance on Saturday night in Newark, the Flyers have no time to reflect as they'll play four games over the next six nights. At the same time, they can't trap themselves into looking ahead to a home and home with Pittsburgh coming up on Tuesday and Thursday. Boston is one of the better teams in the East yet again, and they'll certainly make the Flyers pay for such an error.

As has been the case over the last several weeks, it's the same old problems that are plaguing this team. No offense, no competitiveness, weak power play, etc. When will this hit rock bottom? For the love of Gene Hart, make it be tonight.

Braydon Coburn is out of the lineup tonight, hobbled with an ankle injury. Perhaps that's a reason for his weak play over the last... all season? Ole-Kristian Tollefsen returns to the lineup. Also, Dan Carcillo will be back in action tonight, fresh off his four game suspension. Don't sucker punch anybody tonight, please.

Good news for the Flyers: Milan Lucic is still out for Boston. Still, Boston is 8-1-2 in their last 11.

After the jump, line combinations, starting goaltenders, questions to answer, and our in-game open thread.

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More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Claude Giroux and Mike Richards need to wipe the depressing looks off their faces and get this team going.

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Devils. Bruins. Penguins. Penguins. Rangers. That's the schedule for the Philadelphia Flyers over the next week.

It's officially make or break time. This team needs to string points together right now. Not only are all of these teams rivals, they're all pretty strong opponents. Yeah, you could argue against the Rangers, who have been stuck in neutral just like the Flyers. If you think they won't be up for the first game of the season against the orange and black, though, you're mistaken.

The key is for the Flyers to match intensity this week. The largest problem with this team right now is a simple lack of confidence. They lack it in basically every aspect of the game besides goaltending, and it's a major reason why they simply can't put the puck in the net.

The firing of their coach and friend John Stevens probably didn't help the fragile self-esteem of this group. After all, it's easy to forget that the core of this team is still quite young. They were one of the youngest in the league last year, and the additions of Chris Pronger and Ian Laperriere, along with the subtractions of Joffrey Lupul and Scottie Upshall, have only gone so far in changing that fact.

Besides, Pronger and Laperriere, two guys who were brought in largely to take leadership roles on the club, haven't done so, at least when it comes to an off-ice role, with Pronger saying things like how he doesn't want to step on Mike Richards' toes.

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The Flyers media guide never seems to disappoint when it comes to interesting or funny facts.

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As every pro and college sports team does, the Philadelphia Flyers put out a media guide each season. In addition to all those interesting stats TV broadcasters hand out, the book includes profiles of every player on the roster, every member of the organization, and other fun little tidbits. I took a chance to page through the guide recently, and I share some of the best facts with you below. 

• The bar at the AT&T Pavilion in the Wachovia Center is the largest in-arena bar in the world. 
• Assistant GM Barry Hanrahan has a labradoodle named Meatball.
• VP of Sales Jim Willits might be the reason the Phoenix Coyotes fail in the desert. In his first four years as director of ticket sales for the Coyotes, the arena filled to 94 percent capacity. Since he left in 2002, that number has substantially dropped.
• On February 6, 1997 against Montreal, the Legion of Doom -- John LeClair, Eric Lindros, and Mikael Renberg -- scored 16 points in a game, the most by a line in one game in franchise history. 20 days later in Ottawa, they repeated the feat.
• The names of Arron Asham's kids: Dexter, Azilyn, and Oceane. 
• If Matt Carle could have dinner with anybody, he would choose to dine with Santa Claus.
• Ed Snider has 14 grandchildren.
• Fred Shero holds the highest win percentage of any coach in team history, with a .642 mark. Terry Murray holds the best playoff win percentage for a coach at .609.
  
• Brian Boucher loves Spongebob and wont eat sushi.
• The Flyers went undefeated against the Penguins at home in 42 consecutive games from February 7, 1974 to December 8, 1988.
• Darroll Powe would like Norm MacDonald to play him in a movie about his life.
• You know how you know Ian Laperriere is gay? He listens to Coldplay before games. Linked video NSFW.
• Chris Pronger's first car, a 1983 Ford Ranger, was held together by rust.
• Mike Richards dreams of being on stage at an Eminem concert.
• Los Angeles couldn't beat the Flyers from October 22, 1974 until February 5, 1983 -- 32 games.
• Among goalies with at least 1,000 minutes played, Roman Cechmanek holds the best GAA mark -- 1.96. At the opposite end of the spectrum (no pun intended), Bobby Taylor had a GAA of 4.05 in 44 games.
• Ray Emery is allergic to cheese. 

More after the jump...

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According to a report by Sam Carchidi of the Inquirer, Paul Holmgren and company are looking to trade, and another source says they have been sniffing the waters since before Peter Laviolette was hired. Carchidi writes that an absurd number (16) of scouts were in attendance for last night's game against the Senators, and if they weren't lulled to sleep by the game, they may have been able to take a look at some possible trade pieces.

Most of the Carchidi piece is purely speculation, but The Fourth Period added some more certainty to the report.

Here's TFP's David Pagnotta:

The Flyers have been looking to make a change well before they fired John Stevens and replaced him with Peter Laviolette. Holmgren's looking for a fix up front, and while I understand why they believe they're ok between the pipes, if Emery comes back and can't get his game together, Philly will have to look for outside help between the pipes.

Nothing we're not really aware of, but still, it puts a definitive stamp on things for us. The Flyers are looking for help.

via daylife.com

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[TSN Recap] - [Boxscore] - [Ottawa Reaction]

Six games, three shutouts. Watch America's Most Wanted this weekend and maybe we can find out who kidnapped the Philadelphia Flyers offense. With the exception of one game against the New York Islanders, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk, and Danny Briere have been invisible over the last month.

I don't know what to think and I don't have answers, but this team just can't score. They have absolutely zero confidence. Maybe a trade is necessary to shake up the offense. Maybe they just need Simon Gagne, Blair Betts, and Darroll Powe back in the lineup. Maybe we overrated them and they're just bad. I simply don't know. With the amount of games coming up in the next few weeks -- really, up until the Olympic break -- they can't afford to continually give up points like this. It's frustrating, not to mention depressing.

They outworked the Senators tonight. They had more chances and they had an almost full length five-on-three power play. Their goalie performed like the starter he was in 2000. And yet, empty net goals not withstanding, they still lost a 1-0 defensive struggle.

Credit is due to the Senators. Brian Elliott played quite well. They did a great job of clogging the middle of the ice with bodies, not allowing the Flyers to do much on the power play. Still, Ottawa is not really a good hockey team. They've played over their heads thus far this season. They're relying on a goaltender right now who has only played 47 NHL games.

You've gotta win these games. The Flyers keep on proving that they're incapable of that.

After the jump, a few more notes on this one, lowlights, questions with answers, and the comment of the night.

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#7 Ottawa Senators (14-11-4, 32 pts) at #11 Philadelphia Flyers (14-13-1, 29 pts)
Wachovia Center  - 7:00 PM EST - Philadelphia, PA
TV: CSN Philly HD, TSN 2 HD
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 205
This is the open game thread.
Behind Enemy Lines: Silver Seven

When the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ottawa Senators a little under a month ago, it was their fifth straight win. Since then, the Flyers have won just four games, but they'll try to start another win streak tonight as the host that team from that other Nation's Capital.

That night in November, the Flyers dictated the pace throughout, outworking the Sens on their way to a decisive 5-1 victory.  It's clear that since then, those attributes have been much less than a certainty, but with their new coach trying to beat an identity defined by hard work and discipline into his team, tonight is a good night to continue on with that theme.

The hard work part was pretty evident against the Isles on Tuesday night, and they even showed it against Montreal on Monday. The discipline part, on the other hand, has been a different story, and in one stretch of the second period against New York, the wheels came off that bus. It allowed Tavares and Company to get back in to an otherwise lopsided game and, more often than not, that will come back to bite a team in the ass.

Luckily, it didn't hurt the Flyers on Tuesday, but Peter Laviolette certainly took notice, skating his team hard at Wednesday's practice. Let's hope they got the message and that we don't see a similar occurrence tonight. Dan Carcillo is still out of the lineup, helping the disciplined cause, of course. 

Another major theme the Flyers must carry over from Tuesday night's win lies with the top two lines. They did the goal scoring against the Islanders, and they'll have to do continue to do that throughout the season. If Arron Asham and Ian Laperriere, no offense to those guys, are the best players on the ice for the Flyers throughout the rest of the season, this team will go nowhere.

Meanwhile, Ottawa comes in with a whole host of their own issues. They've lost five of their last six and have been called out publicly by the general manager and their owner. Some of their top scorers, notably Jason Spezza and Alexei Kovalev, aren't scoring. Their best defenseman is probably Filip Kuba, which goes to show you how good they are on defense. They have a goals for/against differential of minus-7. And their starting goaltender is out of the lineup because his own teammate hit him in the head with a puck while he was on the bench during a game.

Still, the Senators are in a playoff position, much more than the Flyers can say right now. They also have Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher, and Milan Michalek, who have all been very successful with the putting the puck in the net thing so far this season. 

Watch out for Jarkko Ruutu tonight if you're heading down to the Center. He's a dirty SOB.

After the jump, Flyers line combinations, questions to answer, this evening's starting goaltenders, and of course, our in-game open thread.

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"I hit him in the first [Islanders-Flyers] game. He told me, 'Keep your head up.' I didn't realize he meant the whole season."

>> John Tavares, speaking about Chris Pronger (via Lighthouse Hockey)

Welcome to the NHL, kid.

Chris Pronger gave the first overall draft pick a less-than-legal shove to the back on Tuesday night, causing the wunderkind to knock his skull into the glass, chipping a tooth. Islanders fans across the hockey world were furious at the hit, egged on by Pronger's little smirk as he skated away from the scene of the crime.

Yes, it was a crime. Pronger was given a two minute penalty on the play, but nothing more. Did he deserve a suspension? Do Isles' fans have a gripe? Sure, but they'll be over it in a week. Is Tavares going to keep an eye out for Pronger when the Isles play the Flyers between now and 2017? You bet.

Pierre LeBrun at ESPN.com has a fascinating proposal this morning.

I suggest we gather all 30 NHL front office staffs, player agents and media in a hotel June 29-July 3 and let the fireworks go off baby. Buzz city!

[...]

The start of NHL free agency is July 1, but there is a lot of chatter on June 29-30 as teams try to re-sign players before the market opens.

Somebody please tell me how this is isn't a great idea?

This is basically identical to what Major League Baseball is doing this week with their widely publicized Winter Meetings. The hype and attention that the event brings to baseball is second to none. During an otherwise quiet time of the baseball year, SportsCenter and the Internets are abuzz with MLB rumors. I mean, seriously, major news outlets are liveblogging the events. Why shouldn't the NHL steal a page from baseball's book and start up the "NHL Summer Meetings?"

Gary Bettman and company would be smart to give themselves a similar platform. Besides, it's no secret that, as one agent told LeBrun, "the best way to consummate deals is, and always has been, face to face." Putting everybody in the same hotel for three days would likely boost the amount of activity surrounding the opening of free agency on July 1, and hockey could gain some exposure at the same time.

Mr. Lebrun, it is a great idea.