Philly Sports Today

Playing their second game in as many days, the Flyers not only had to travel to Toronto, but also faced a tough Maple Leafs team that appeared rejuvenated by the arrival of General Manager Brian Burke. Toronto has not been one of the better teams this season, but they gave the Flyers much more than they could handle with an intense, physical style of play that they have not really shown thus far this year.

The Leafs took an early 1-0 lead on a puck that deflected off of Lee Stempniak’s skate. Mike Richards countered shortly thereafter with a goal to tie the game at 1-1 heading into the intermission.

The Flyers caught a bad break early in the second period when Nik Antropov scored an easy power play goal after Martin Biron misplayed the puck directly in front of his net. The luck continued to stay on Toronto’s side as Dominic Moore scored a breakaway goal after receiving a pass from Antropov as he sprung from the penalty box. Richards inched the Flyers closer late in the second period on a shorthanded goal, but the Flyers couldn’t seem to capitalize on several other scoring chances.

Pavel Kubina scored a back-breaking goal on a shot that ricocheted off of the post early in the third to put Toronto ahead 4-2. Vesa Toskala made big save after big save for the Maple Leafs as Toronto held on for a 4-2 win. Toskala finished the game with 28 saves. Biron stopped 23 shots.

The effort was clearly there for the Flyers last night, but they just couldn’t find the net. Hopefully, they’ll have better luck on Tuesday when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Flyers have proven that they are too talented to go into an extended slump. In fact, this was Philly’s first regulation loss since November 8th, which coincidentally was when they hosted Tampa. Maybe they’ll get some revenge on Tuesday.

Let’s Go Flyers!

Not a bad showing on Thursday. Let’s see what happens the rest of the week. Home teams are in CAPS:

CLEVELAND (+5) over Indianapolis
Rationale: Even though the Colts have been winning, it’s only been by the skin of their teeth. In Indy’s seven wins, six of them were by single digits and five of the six were by four points or less.

Baltimore (-7) over CINCINNATI
Rationale: Baltimore’s D will just be too much for a Bengals team that is just terrible.

ST. LOUIS (+8.5) over Miami
Rationale: The return of Steven Jackson should make the Rams somewhat better–at least enough to keep it close.

GREEN BAY (-3) over Carolina
Rationale: The Panthers have looked really bad on the road all season. They’re only averaging 16.8 points per game while allowing an average of 24.4 points. While it’s not reflected by their record, the Packers have been solid at home, averaging 27 points per game, while only allowing an average of 18 points.

TAMPA BAY (-4) over New Orleans
Rationale: NFC South teams are 21-2 at home and 8-13 on the road. The Home team is 7-0 so far in each divisional match-up.

New York Giants (-3.5) over WASHINGTON
Rationale: The G-Men have just looked like a juggernaut in recent weeks and it hasn’t mattered who they’ve inserted into the line-up. While the Redskins have a nice record, they haven’t looked dominant at any point this year.

BUFFALO (-6.5) over San Francisco
Rationale: West Coast teams playing on the East Coast are 0-15.

Atlanta (+4.5) over SAN DIEGO
Rationale: Neither team has a great D, but there’s just something about the Falcons. Atlanta is 2-1 against the AFC, while S.D. is 0-2 against the NFC. Michael Turner should have a nice day in his return to San Diego.

OAKLAND (-3) over Kansas City
Rationale: The Raiders thrashed the Chiefs at Arrowhead earlier in the season. Everyone has been overlooking the fact K.C. has lost 19 of their last 20 games and is coming off of a 54-31 loss. On the other hand, Oakland picked up a big win in Denver.

Pittsburgh (+1) over NEW ENGLAND
Rationale: The Steelers’ D slows down Matt Cassel and their offense gives them just enough to beat the Pats.

NEW YORK JETS (-8) over Denver
Rationale: The J-E-T-S have been on a roll and Brett Favre should be able to light up the Broncos’ porous pass defense.

MINNESOTA (-3.5) over Chicago
Rationale: The Vikings are a much better team at home and Da Bears have lost five of six in the Metrodome.

HOUSTON (-3) over Jacksonville
Rationale: The Jaguars have lost four of five on the road in Houston.

Thanksgiving Day: 2-1
Season: 101-76-3

Even after attempting to channel the days of the Stanley Cup Champion Broad Street Bullies through the debut of their alternate jerseys, the Flyers were unable to win their seventh game in a row. Sergei Samsonov used his speed to fly past Matt Carle and put a nifty move on Martin Biron to score the game-winner with 1:07 left in overtime. The loss denied the Flyers of their longest winning streak since the 1999-2000 season.

Despite being thoroughly outplayed in the first period, the Flyers held a 1-0 lead after Joffrey Lupul scored on the power play. The Flyers held their 1-0 lead until late in the second period when Pat Dwyer scored his first of the season to tie the game at 1-1. The ‘Canes took the lead just over a minute later when Tuomo Ruutu scored his eighth of the season. Luckily, Jeff Carter netted his league-leading 16th goal of the year to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the third period.

Carolina dominated the third period, but neither team was able to score despite numerous chances. Just when it looked like the game was destined for a shootout, Samsonov sped past Carle and beat Biron. Tough loss for the Fly Guys, but you can’t win them all.

Biron made 27 saves and Cam Ward stopped 24 for Carolina, including two breakaways by Scottie Upshall and Jeff Carter. The turning point of the game was probably when Mike Richards’s goal was disallowed. In hindsight, that was the reason that the Flyers took the loss. Oh well.

The Flyers look to get back on the winning track tomorrow when they travel to Toronto.

Let’s Go Flyers!

After beginning the season 0-3-3, the Flyers have played like one of the best teams in the NHL, going 11-3-1 in their past 15 games. What makes the Flyers’ turnaround even more impressive is that almost all of it has been done without Danny Briere. With Briere in the line-up this year, the Flyers are a pitiful 1-4-3. However, without Briere, Philly is a sparkling 10-2-1. It’s kind of weird how the Flyers play so well without one of their best players, but I just hope they continue their great play whenever Briere comes back.

A lot of the credit this year has to be given to Simon Gagne (2nd in the NHL in points), Jeff Carter (1st in the NHL in goals), and Mike Richards (12th in the NHL in assists) for carrying the offensive load, plus Mike Knuble has been a beast on the power play for the Flyers with 4 goals and 3 assists out of his 16 total points. When Briere comes back, this offense should be even more explosive.

Let’s get to last night’s game, where the Flyers picked up their sixth consecutive win. Gagne put the Flyers on the board first by being in the right place at the right time. After a face-off right in front of Carolina goalie Cam Ward, the puck rolled free to Simon, who buried it into the wide open net. The Flyers defense was also impressive in the first period, only allowing one shot on goal.

Carolina tied the game early in the second after Flyers goalie Antero Niittymaki, who made 27 saves, couldn’t control the rebound off of Chad LaRose’s shot and LaRose was able to find the net on his second attempt. After struggling offensively in the first period, the Hurricanes bounced back in the second, out-shooting the Flyers 16-9.

With the score still tied at 1-1early in the third, Carolina turned the puck over deep in the Flyers’ zone. Gagne led a 3-on-1 break the other way with defensemen Matt Carle and Luca Sbisa. Simon got Ward out of position and found Carle with a cross-ice pass, which Carle buried into the top right corner. Carle has been a fantastic pick-up for the Flyers and has been a star on defense since being acquired from Tampa Bay earlier this month. Carle, who scored his first goal for the Orange and Black, leads the team with 53 blocked shots. The Broad Street Bullies clamped down on D the rest of the period and Gagne scored an empty-netter that just beat the buzzer to ice the 3-1 win.

The Flyers look to continue their winning ways tomorrow when they return home to take on the Hurricanes in a Black Friday matinee.

Let’s Go Flyers!

While the Flyers continue to climb the standings, the Sixers seem like they’re just treading water. The Magic came out of the gates firing, connecting on 20 of 33 field goal attempts in the first half to take a 55-45 lead at the break. However, the second half was a different story for O-town as Mickey Mouse’s men missed 13 of their 19 shots in the third quarter, which allowed the Sixers to jump back into the game. Philly outscored Orlando 27-16 in the third, which was capped off by Marreese Speights’s 38 foot buzzer-beater as the quarter expired. Speights’s first career trey gave the Sixers a 72-71 lead, which was their first lead of the game, heading into the final frame.

The Sixers led for much of the fourth quarter, but they never could get a large enough lead to put the Magic away. Philly’s largest lead of the fourth was six points despite Orlando’s continued cold-shooting. With 35 seconds left, Hedo Turkoglu sank a pair of free throws to put the Magic ahead 93-92. Andre Iguodala answered for the Sixers by drilling a pair of free throws to put Philly ahead 94-93 with only 14 seconds remaining. Rashard Lewis inbounded to Turkoglu, who dribbled down the lane and Philly’s D collapsed on him. Turkoglu found Lewis alone in the corner on the left wing and Lewis buried a back-breaking three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left to put the Magic ahead 96-94. With no timeouts, Andre Miller dribbled down the court and unloaded a 40-footer that came up short as time expired. Miller probably could have gotten a little closer before taking the final shot, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

Dwight Howard led Orlando with 21 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Lewis added 19 points and Turkoglu chipped in 12 points to go along with 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Tony Battie gave the Magic a huge lift off the bench, scoring 20 points on 9-for-9 shooting.

Elton Brand paced the Sixers with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Iguodala had 17 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds. Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams each contributed 13 points, while Speights tacked on 12 points.

The Sixers return to the court tomorrow night when they travel up to Boston to take on the defending World Champions. It’s probably going to be a rough night for Philly.

Go Sixers!

Week 12 was very kind to my picks. Hopefully there will be more of the same out of lucky Week 13. Home teams are in CAPS:

Tennessee (-11) over DETROIT
Rationale: The Lions are an absolutely terrible team that is still in search of their first win. Detroit has already lost by double digits six times this year. They’ve also lost their last four games on Thanksgiving by a combined score of 132-52. Detroit doesn’t have a lot of things going for them. I think the previously unbeaten Titans will take out their frustrations over their first loss of the year on this pitiful Lions squad.

DALLAS (-12) over Seattle
Rationale: Dallas is a totally different team with Tony Romo at quarterback and the offense runs like a well-oiled machine. Romo has led the Cowboys to Thanksgiving Day wins the past two seasons by an average of 29.5 points. The Seahawks boast one of the NFL’s worst defenses, so this looks like another Thanksgiving mismatch in Big D.

Arizona (+3) over PHILADELPHIA
Rationale: This game features two teams moving in opposite directions. The Cardinals are a team on the rise and the Eagles are in steep decline. After last week’s debacle in Baltimore, I think the Eagles are in need of some major changes. I don’t know why Donovan McNabb is starting this game, but you have to figure that if Philly loses again, Kevin Kolb will take over as the starting quarterback. The Eagles can’t seem to do anything right and I think a lot of the players have quit on Andy Reid. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are on the verge of clinching a playoff spot, have a rejuvenated Kurt Warner at QB leading a high powered offense and look like a confident team. My only concern with the Cards is that they’re 0-3 this year when playing in the Eastern Time Zone.

Last Week: 10-6
Season: 99-75-3