After a long, drawn-out, boring preseason in which the Flyers compiled a mediocre 3-4 record and Zac Rinaldo compiled 62 penalty minutes in six total shifts before being sent to the AHL, real hockey resumes tonight at the Wells Fargo Center.
Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, Tim Thomas (ha oh wait nevermind) and Bill from King of the Hill make the trek south tonight after a pitiful preseason of their own in which they went 0-5 and scored just three goals. Brad Marchand won’t be in the lineup for Boston, still sitting for the remainder of his 12 game, team-imposed suspension for wearing a Yankees hat in front of a television camera. B’s fans have protested, demanding Marchand be traded for his attack on their homeland, but no other team has expressed interest in bringing on his services.
The Flyers disappointing preseason was a bit predictable, what with the porous defense Paul Holmgren sent to training camp and all, but last week’s acquisition of Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban changes the whole dynamic. Still can’t believe Montreal only asked the Flyers to rename themselves Flyers de Philadelphie for two weeks in exchange for their best defenseman, but whatever. We’ll take it.
Subban plays his first game for the Flyers tonight, and new assistant coach Chris Pronger claimed yesterday that in the few days since arriving in Philadelphia, Subban has already had the annoying coached out of his game. Pronger cited a few tough workouts and a buying a home in not-Quebec for the quick turnaround in Subban’s attitude.
The Flyers will give away t-shirts before tonight’s game celebrating their new top Ginger Line of Scott Hartnell, Jake Voracek and Claude Giroux. Tickets have been sold out for two months so don’t try getting in tonight. 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Network, though. As usual, we’ll be here with the live game thread beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Let’s. Go. Flyers.
…. shit.
