Quick start leads to win

I'm starting to get depressed not being able to watch this Flyers team. From the looks of things they're on fire right now. And a 5-3 win over Florida last night only makes things better. The Flyguys now have recorded a point in 10 of their last 11 games.

The Flyers have been known for being a second period team this year, but it was their scorching start that propelled them to a win yesterday. They scored four goals in the first, thanks in large part to All-Star Kimmo Timonen, who scored the first goal and recorded two assists. The other All-Star Mike Richards notched a couple of assists and Simon Gagne got a Pecoooooohhhhh power play goal of his own. Not to mention a couple of goals from Danny Briere.

The team's offense is very impressive right now (as it appears to me). The lack of scoring that was evident last year has been completely made up for. There are so many weapons Philly can throw at an opponent, and the team keeps putting high numbers on the scoreboard even without one of their best goal scorers, Joffrey Lupul. It seems to me if everybody on the team is healthy, we have one of the best offensive attacks in the league, right up there with Detroit and Ottawa, who I think have the top two offenses in the NHL (probably not coincidentally, they are the best two teams overall...of course it doesn't hurt when Chris Osgood turns the clock back and plays out of his mind, but that's another story).

- Power play was efficient again (2/7)...it's not hard to see that many games hinge on how special teams perform (just ask the Eagles, but again I digress) and the Flyers have been great at home all year.
- Antero Nittymaki is now 5-0-1. The question is, will he continue to play a lot? The Flyers wanted Marty Biron to be their starter, but Nitty's giving him some stiff competition. This is the kind of problem you don't mind having.
- 12 penalty minutes from Scott Hartnell, including two fights. Not to mention he scored a goal. Busy day.
- 24-15-5, 53 points, STILL 3rd in the Atlantic, but now only TWO points behind New Jersey AND Pittsburgh.

The Devils lost (a rarity these days) to the Islanders last night, 3-1, so that's nice. The Flyers have a critical four-game stretch coming up against the Islanders, Senators, Devils and Penguins. A lot will be revealed in the coming week, and maybe by the end of it we'll be back on top of the Atlantic.

-ajd