Remember when things were falling in the Flyers favor, despite the fact that it didn’t feel like they should be falling in their favor?
No worries about that anymore. In their last seven, the Flyers have gone 2-3-2. Ew.
Yeah, the Flyers have fallen back down to Earth and it’s been significantly less fun. Turns out, watching them steal wins is way more enjoyable than watching them rack up losses that they deserve. Who would have thought?
By contrast, the Blue Jackets have won seven straight, are only two points behind the third place Flyers, have two games in hand, and are hosting the Flyers in their thousandth regular season game today. Things seem to be stacked against the Flyers, with Columbus holding all of the momentum.
After a game where energy seemed to be the issue, it should be easy to get excited about tonight’s matchup. There’s a lot on the line: January is winding down and playoffs are on the not-so-distant horizon. The Flyers are obviously aware of this, so you have to assume they come out a bit stronger than they have lately. Of course, that’s a big assumption.
Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start in goal tonight, as is Ray Emery, so no Bob/Mase matchup if that’s what you were hoping for. In his last start, Emery played really well for sixty minutes and sort of forgot what was going on in the shootout, so pray for a regulation win.
All games are big games nowadays, and the Flyers need to start playing that way. With a win, Flyers jump to second place. With a loss, they drop to fourth. It’s bound to be a desperate game for both clubs, as Columbus is looking to jump into contention and the Flyers are looking to stay there.
There’s only so much that a team can do in short segments of above-average play, so the Flyers need to start stitching together sixty-minute performances. Otherwise, it seems like our schedules will be pretty empty come April.
At the very least, the Wells Fargo doesn’t have a giant cannon that they try to deafen people with. We win because cannons are dumb. Go Flyers.
