Coming off two outstanding road games to open the 2009-10 regular season, the Flyers will face another tough test tomorrow night when the high-powered Washington Capitals come to town. If the Flyers are to run their record to 3-0, it will be crucial to do a better job of staying out of the penalty box than they did in Carolina and New Jersey. This, of course, is not a new issue.
The Philadelphia penalty killers did a fine job (12-for-13) in the first two games but it would be wise not to tempt fate against Alexander Ovechkin, Mike Green, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Bäckström. In particular, the Flyers need to avoid penalties like the silly cross-checking penalty Scott Hartnell took in the New Jersey game.
The Flyers otherwise seem to be well-prepared for what promises to be a thrilling game. It will be interesting to see if the Capitals go with veteran Jose Theodore or youngster Semyon (formerly Simeon and Semen) Varlamov in goal. The latter looked a bit shaky in the third period of the Caps' 6-4 win over Toronto.
The Flyers have sent goaltender Johan Backlund and defensemen Marc-Andre Bourdon to the Phantoms. Brian Boucher and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen have been activated from injured reserve. Neither player will start tomorrow.
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Some notes from the farm system:
* Patrick Maroon and Andreas Nödl provided the goals in Adirondack's season-opening 3-2 loss. In his pro debut, goalie Nicola Riopel stopped 26 of 29 shots.
* Goaltending prospects Adam Morrison (Saskatoon, WHL) and Joacim Eriksson (Leksand, Allsvenskan) are off to strong starts for their clubs. Although Morrison has just a 2-2-2 record through six starts, lack of goal support has been the culprit. He's allowed fewer than two goals per game (1.95 GAA) and given his club a chance to win. Eriksson is coming off a subpar outing but played very good hockey in his first three starts for Leksand.
* Goaltending prospect Jacob DeSerres (Seattle, WHL) got off to a horrid start last season and, unfortunately, is off to another rough beginning so far this October. In two outings, he's allowed 11 goals and stopped pucks at a mere 84% clip.
* Simon Bertilsson has been in the starting lineup in all five games Brynäs IF has played so far. He's minus-one and has not registered a point, but he's never been a big stats player. The fact that he's already a starter in Elitserien speaks to his potential. On the flip side, the fact that Denis Bodrov is logging just 14:12 of ice time per game for Atlant Oblast Moscow and wore out his welcome in Lada last year suggests that it may be a good thing for the Flyers that he's stayed in the KHL.
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In my
Daily Drop column at Versus.com, I took a team-by-team look at the highlights and lowlights of the opening games around the NHL -- including the 15-game hockey overdose on Saturday.
The Eastern Conference rundown ran yesterday. The Western Conference will run today.
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As of now, it looks like I will be a guest on Brian Startare's show on WIP on Wednesday. We'll talk some Flyers hockey and discuss the Pelle Lindbergh book as well.
You can order
Pelle Lindbergh: Behind the White Mask online at
Barnes & Noble, via
Amazon or through
Middle Atlantic Press.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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