Meet the Best Line in Hockey: Flyers v. Blues Preview

Okay, a slight exaggeration...  or is it?  There was a long stretch before this current three game win streak where the Flyers were a bit of floating debris, awash in a sea of inconsistency and turmoil.  I will attest that erratic defensive play and a ridiculous schedule had alot to do with that.  But the most important factor in TEH EPIC Flyers FAIL was the loss of checking center Blair Betts.  I cannot stress enough what his presence on the third (or call it fourth if you want) line means to this Flyers team.  The most obvious benefit of having the former Ranger signed this season was a  providing relief to star offensive forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter on the PK.  What most people didn't know was that putting Dan Carcillo and Ian Laperiere on either side of Betts would create one of the strongest checking lines in the league.  They take care of business in their own end with blocked passing lanes and blocked shots, and when they dump it in the corner, this line forechecks and cycles like its their job.  After the DUMP... err... JUMP, I review last night's win in Buffalo and preview tonight's game against the Blues.The prevailing story heading into last night's game against the Sabres was "Flyers fight Flu, face stingiest defensive team in league."  Usually, Jim Jackson likes to get his excuses for a Flyers loss out of the way so the actual loss doesn't seem so bad.  In this case, half the team was dying from the flu and Ryan Miller of the Sabres turned into God at some point.  Fast forward a couple hours later and you have a completely different outcome.  Namely, the Flyers, specifically their lower lines, feasted on Miller and netted 5 goals.  Another "bizzarro" moment came when the Sabres scored their 2nd Power Play goal on a very capable penalty killing Flyers club.  Maybe that third line was too busy trying to light the lamp?  
Actually, the two opposing goals were on the flukey side.  Derek Roy scored after a slapshot wide caromed off those end boards Coatsey is always warning us about.  It came around to the opposite side of the net where Roy squeezed it past a sprawling Emery.  Truth be told, the Flyers usually give up about three of these a year.  The other Buffalo goal came on a rush from rookie Tyler Myers.  In a desperation play, he banked in a back hander from behind the net off of... guess who.  BRAYDON COBURN!  He may have rebounded a bit in the past few games, but strange goals are still going into the net off of number 5... and I'm sure he's not Emery's favorite person.

On the offensive side, Pronger scored again... as did JVR.  Aside from him averaging more than a point per game so far this season, I can't help but be impressed by his ability to emerge from traffic with the puck.  He doesn't have the zippiest of stick handling skills and his moves can look a bit slow, but they are most definitely steady.  Last night, he picked off a tricky outlet pass, settled it on his stick, took it wide on Miller and put it through his five hole on a errant cross ice pass to Carter.  The puck follows him around on the ice and it finds the back of the net whether he's looking for it or not.  That's a very good thing.
I'd also like to congratulate Dan Carcillo for his first two regular season goals as a Flyer.  He used his rock hard hands to "softly" deflect an airborne shot past a confused Miller.  He then proceeded to spend the rest of the night trying to obliterate any Sabre within "carbombing" distance.  He has a very bad reputation in this league, and we as fans of the Broad Street Bullies were basically force-fed a huge helping of "this guy was born to be a Flyer."  Well, with a full year under his belt devoid of any outrageous penalties on a line that's very responsible, I will concur that the Flyers' faithful are going to love Dan.

As far as tonight's game is concerned... you'll find everything you need to know in the above graphic.  The Flyers go for four in a row tonight at the Wachovia Center.