The Flyers take their show on the road tonight to tangle with the 9-2-1 Buffalo Sabres. Having grown up in Buffalo, I can assure everyone that the mood there surrounding an early-season game is nothing like the mood of a town two days removed from a World Series and two days before a huge rivalry football game. Nope, there’s not much to do in Buffalo other than play hockey, ski, drink Labatt Blue and watch the Sabres. A Friday night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo is an event, kind of like going to the prom all over again except there are way more Canadians with mullets.

The Buffalo News has a great piece today about the different styles played by the Flyers and the Sabres. The 12 regular forwards for the Sabres have recorded 73 points this season and the 12 Flyers forwards expected to dress tonight have 72. The major difference is that the Sabres’ lines have much more balanced scoring distribution. In Buffalo’s case, their top line has accounted for 37% of scoring. The next 3 lines have scored 31.5%, 17.8% and 13.7%. In the Flyers’ case, their top two lines of Richards-Hartnell-Giroux and Carter-van Riemsdyk-Laliberte have accounted for 44.4% and 41.7% of their 72 points. The checking and energy lines of Pyorala-Powe-Asham and Betts-Carcillo-Laperriere have accounted for only 9.7% and 4.2% of forwards’ scoring.

What does this mean? In the Sabres case, it means that Lindy Ruff has put together line combinations that stress constant pressure as he has less top-heavy scorers with which to up the goals production. With Thomas Vanek in one game and out the next with injury, Buffalo doesn’t have guys like Richards and Carter who will tally 40 goals in a season. In the Flyers case, it means they come at opponents with very different styles depending on which line is on the ice. They’re comprised more like an early 80’s team: big guns up front and two genuine grit and energy lines down low.

Another thing to watch for tonight is the goaltending matchup of Ray Emery and Ryan Miller. Miller has started 10 games and is 9-1 with a 1.7 GAA, a .941 save percentage and 2 shutouts. He ranks 1st in the NHL in save percentage, 2nd in goals against average, 1st in shootout save percentage, 1st in shutouts and 1st in winning percentage. As good as Miller has been, Ray Emery has consistently played well throughout this season and has under his belt one of the great multi-player goalie fights in NHL history against Buffalo. Expect Emery to be fired-up for the game as his days in Ottawa produced an intense dislike between himself and the Buffalo fans.

To close, a spot of Buffalo Sabres trivia. Who is the only player in NHL history to win a playoff series on an overtime, shorthanded goal? And what goalie yielded it? A hint? Both players will be playing in tonight’s game. For the answer click here.

A spot of trivia for you: Who is the only NHL player to have won a playoff series on a short-handed, overtime goal? If you’re a Buffalo Sabres fan you know the answer and if you’re not well then it’s darn-near impossible (Ottawa folks may know it too): Jason Pominville. As you can see from the video, Pominville skated past two Ottawa players and managed to put the puck past a listless, disinterested goaltender.

Well that spineless miscreant, Ray Emery, is now the Philadelphia Flyers starting goaltender. He signed a whopping 1-year, $1.5 million dollar deal today. For those of you jackasses out there calling for Biron’s head all year, here’s your huckleberry. While Biron will hit the market and likely get a deal in the $4 million neighborhood, the Flyers present their fans with a guy fresh off a great season in Siberia, literally. Hoping for J. S. Giguere or Craig Anderson or Nikolai Khabibulin? Nope. You’re getting the Canadian version of Pacman Jones.

To be fair, Ray Emery does have some talent and is capable of putting together some good stretches. The problem is that his demeanor is not suited to that of a goaltender. He is mentally weak, scatterbrained and too interested in his own vanity and pride to be effective in the crease. For the Flyers sake, I hope he finds his stride but given his past, there is a greater downside to this signing than there is hope for success. Unless of course, you see the addition of Emery as a good thing because of his entertainment value in which case we just landed Roberto Luongo.

Put the blame on Paul Holmgren’s shoulders. His ludicrous contract with Daniel Briere is preventing him from pursuing a real starting goaltender. He’s being tight with the salary for that position he knows he’ll need what little scratch he has left to sign a top-notch defenseman. Word on the street is Mike Komisarek and Jay Bouwmeester (the same guy he tried and failed to land at the trade deadline, costing the Flyers Scottie Upshall in return for Daniel Carcillo) are names being thrown around. Hopefully, neither of those two are as pessimistic about the prospect of protecting Emery as I am.

The great thing about being in touch with the sports scene in this town is getting to bear witness to the doomsday hysteria that spreads like a pack of hemhorroids once something goes wrong. If it’s the Eagles who lose a game, you can bet your shore house that Donovan McNabb will get the blame and it seems now that the Flyers are out, Marty Biron is the scapegoat.

Philly.com is currently tickling the ivories of the great Marty debate. Suggestions that the series would still be going on if Biron were a “shut down” goalie are running wild and despite scant mention of the fact that Paul Holmgren handcuffed himself by overspending on scoring, the real problem this team has is they’re dreadfully outmanned on the blue line. Timmonen and Coburn are the only legitimate pairing this team fields. Say what you like about the person manning the nets but when the shot totals are consistently in the mid-30s, there are only a few guys capable of “shutting down” opponents.

Like Eagles fans who blame McNabb for every loss and suggest it’s time to turn the page, Flyers fans seem to think management is going to snap its fingers and Ken Dryden or Roberto Luongo will instantly materialize in the orange and black. Sorry, Eagles fans, John Elway and Peyton Manning aren’t available and to Flyers fans: Marty Biron is not the best goaltender in the League but even Luongo or Brodeur will break down when constantly peppered by Malkin and Crosby.

It’s easy to put the blame on the most high-profile guys, as if sports always unfold as the great individual leader taking control of games and willing his team to victory. Playoff success, in any sport, is a result of each unit on the team playing to its highest level. When it doesn’t work out, scrutinizing the reasons why becomes more difficult that simply blaming the one guy you think “underperformed.”

In the Flyers’ case, where were Jeff Carter’s 46 regular season goals in this series? Where was the scoring push from Gagne and Richards? Where was the sense of professionalism in maintaining a 2nd period, 3-goal lead in Game 6? Where was Daniel Carcillo’s good sense to walk away from Maxime Talbot right before he tried to get his team fired-up with a fight? Lots of questions to answer, but I’ll tell you for sure the simple response is not to blame Biron.

So the talk, of course, is not the pondering of why the Jay Bouwmeester trade didn’t work out or which defensemen are on the market this offseason (or why Luca Sbisa didn’t show his promising face). Talking about defensemen isn’t sexy, much in the same way offensive lineman don’t elicit a Pavlovian response like receiver talk does. So now the chat is about goalie replacements: Craig Anderson, Scott Clemmensen (two young, part-time goalies), Manny Fernandez and Nikolai Khabbibulin (seriously?). The talk should be about getting the defensive house in order and finding out where the real leadership is going to come from on this team.

Watching a be-mulletted Rob Ray pummel a deranged Nordiques fan should get everyone in the mood. The mood for what, you ask? The mood, my friends, for a little Daniel Carcillo chat! I was inspired to write this post for three reasons: one, I was amused by the fact that D. Carcillo’s name is pretty puffy in the tag cloud on the home page. Two, Rob Ray’s mullett looks just like one I saw at the ballpark yesterday and three, Daniel Carcillo is on fire.

It’s amusing to me that 2 of the last 4 goals (including the only Flyers’ goal in Game 4) scored by the Flyers in this series have come from Carcillo, a guy who hadn’t put the puck in the net since coming to Philly from Phoenix. There’s really no sense in complaining when scoring comes from unexpected places but as more games are played, this reliance on 4th line scoring (Arron Asham lit the lamp last night too) may be indicative of a bigger problem.

The Flyers are going to need to have their big names on the stat sheet if they’re going to win the next two. Simple as that. You’re not going to win a 7 game series against Pittsburgh by relying on Carcillo for goals. Carter, Briere, Gagne, Richards–these guys need to be bigger presences as the games get weightier.

The good news is that Martin Biron’s confidence has to be sky-high. He outperformed Marc-Andre Fleury last night (two of the Flyer goals were open nets but Fleury’s failures in both instances to prevent rebounds put him at fault). He’s coming home after a dominating performance and it looks like the Flyers will have a rock between the pipes tomorrow afternoon. Let’s hope Marty can keep it up and his front line scoring decides to send this one back to Pittsburgh.

Aside from Marc-Andre Fleury’s stellar performance in Game 4 of the Flyers-Penguins series, this play has to be the most frustrating for Flyers’ fans to swallow. Or maybe the icing on the turd cake is that the Flyers’ only goal came from Daniel Carcillo. Either way, the frustration has to be mounting for the fans. The Flyers accomplished everything they wanted to in the stats department (out-shooting Pittsburgh by a whopping 46-26, taking fewer penalty minutes and out-hitting the Pens) except for the proverbial only stat that matters.

The Flyers aren’t out of it by any means and the team knows this. Mike Richards said after the game “I thought we did everything well except put the puck in the net.” In hockey, you just have to keep crashing, keep pushing and eventually it will go your way. That’s really been the story of Games 2-4; there’s no reason for the team to feel like they’ve been dominated and while the fans may be in despair, I’ll bet dinner that the Flyers know they’re still in it: a win in Pittsburgh in Game 5 puts the pressure solely on the Penguins’ shoulders as they’ll have to come back to Philly and try to prevent the nightmare of a forced Game 7. Excepting Game 1, the series has been incredibly tight so the Flyers don’t need to feel they’re being outplayed. A bounce here, a Jeff Carter goal there, a stellar Martin Biron performance; the Flyers just have to win Game 5 and they’ll see the coastline.

And just to put any stupid homer comments to rest, the Crosby goal was a good one. It hits his stick and trickles in off his arm though there’s no directing motion on the part of Crosby’s arm or glove and the puck is in the back of the net before the net comes off its moorings. Marty Biron said after the game “it’s a dangerous play when you’re sliding in both feet first toward the goalie. I don’t like that.” Well, like it or not there’s no rule against crashing the net. Here’s to hoping Biron has more to like after Game 5.

ANOTHER THING: If the NHL officials and broadcasters would stop saying “good goal” I would be much obliged. There is one kind of goal: a goal. There is also something known as “not a goal,” but there is no such thing is a “good” goal. Either it’s a goal or it isn’t.

What I like about this photo from last year’s playoff series between the Flyers and Pens is that this kid spelled “Fleury” wrong. If illiteracy were fostered by bees and cows then Western Pennsylvania would be the land of milk and honey. Unfortunately for the Flyers, it’s the land of offensive ineptitude, bad goaltending and absurd penalties.

Last night’s performance against Pittsuburgh showed one of two things (and both are quite likely the scenarios that will define this series): one, the Penguins are head-and-shoulders above the Flyers or two, the Flyers just don’t seem to have the mindset to get the most out of themselves. After fumbling away the chance for home ice against the Rangers, the Flyers played another game where they ceded control of the pace of it and played the entire game in chase mode.

As ususal, Martin Biron faced more than 30 shots (he’s not getting a pass from me on that count this time; the first three goals against were simply bad fundamental positioning on his part). He was outperformed by Marc-Andre Fleury who, in fairness, didn’t face much in the way of a spirited Flyers attack (27 shots against, two hit posts by Mike Richards) but still made the stops he needed to. The Flyers were almost doubled-up in faceoff wins, losing that contest 38-21, a stat that goes a long way in explaining their inability to set up in the offensive zone or control play defensively. But the stat that will haunt them the most if it continues is the penalties.

Of course we shouldn’t expect the team that led the NHL in penalty minutes to change its stripes completely, but the cost of constantly being in the box is that it nullifies the team’s ability to do anything but play from behind. While Pittsburgh only scored one power play goal (Crosby’s in the first), the Flyers’ 35 PIM kept them on their heels and ruined any opportunity for a sustained push. And in case you were wondering, Pittsburgh only sat for 15 minutes.

To make matters worse, John Stevens resorted to that Neanderthal Hockey League mentality late in the third when he reverted to “message sending” mode by turning an embarrassing performance into a show of pre-Cambrian thuggery. For the effort, Scott Hartnell’s only shots landed in the game were to Penguins’ faces. Not surprisingly, Daniel Carcillo will be meeting today with the NHL brass because of his actions against Maxime Talbot.

Perhaps there’s a brand of hockey fan that likes to see his team flub its way through a game and then attempt to lay the groundwork for the next game by turning it into an MMA match. Then there’s fans like me who like to see my team win by playing smart and utilizing their offensive skill. After watching last night’s Flyers performance, perhaps the description I gave of myself makes me a Penguins fan.

I don’t know who this pleasant woman is, but I do know that the cretin on her arm is Daniel Carcillo. I’m thinking of an actor whom he resembles, specifically this actor in a particular role: a Spaniard bent on revenge with a penchant for repeating a particular line. Who is he?

Click here if you’re a punk ass bitch and can’t figure it out.

As you can tell, both Daniel Carcillo and I are excited. He’s excited to be leaving Phoenix, a place where the only ice other than the rink is in the drinks of the douchebags at the Scottsdale bars. I’m excited to have acquired a guy with 10 points this year and a minus-13. And you’re excited because you don’t have to read any more posts about the NHL trade deadline.

No. Seriously. I don’t have a problem with the Flyers doing nothing. I’m glad they didn’t ship Biron and while I would have liked to see them get a stud D-man, they say Carcillo is a real physical presence and frankly, nobody will miss Upshall. Good no call, as they say.

UPDATE: The Flyers get Defenseman Kyle McLaren, a former 1st round pick (1995) from San Jose for a 6th round pick. That’s great. He’s played this season in Worcester of the AHL. I don’t get this (not that I’m stuck on a 6th round pick); don’t the Flyers already have a non-NHL roster defenseman who’s over the hill in Derian Hatcher?

WGR55.com just reported that the flyers send Scottie Upshall and a draft pick to Phoenix for Daniel Carcillo. This should free up some cap space for them to continue to overpay Briere for the next 6.5 years.