Nice to spend a night just scanning a bunch of NHL games ... One thing struck me as odd. Al Morganti and Keith Jones kept referring to the Flyers as starting the "second half" of the season against Toronto.
Last I checked, Game 42 meant the second half. At the very least, the All-Star break. Yo guys! You're a few weeks too early. It's still the first half and just Game No. 36 coming up tomorrow afternoon in Tampa Bay.
Tampa looks a mess. The Lightning have lost 8 of their last 10. Awful game against Montreal last night. Florida looks damn good. Quietly, Count Jacqula has those Panthers on the move, lately.
This could turn out to be a flip-flop weekend for the Flyers. Instead of going on and getting pasted by Tampa and then beating up on Florida, which usually occurs, it could be the other way around.
Flyers have won just one game in Tampa since 2003-04 -- John Stevens last December. Hitch lost four of five.
“Sometimes, it’s like going into a hornet’s nest,” Stevens told me this morning after a short practice. "Every team has issues, including us.
"I think it is important to worry about ourselves. I know they have struggled, of late, but I’m sure they are anxious to get going at home. They are still a dangerous team.”
I keep waiting for Mount Tortorella to erupt with one of those Richter Scale 6s. He spewed a 2 on the Richter Scale to reporters after the 5-2 loss to Les Miserables.
“We have zip for confidence,” Torts said. “We can't give our problems to someone else. We need to mentally, first of all, start thinking, 'I need to make a difference. I need to regain my confidence here.' Hopefully a few guys start doing that, and maybe a good thing happens.
“It is one of the worst stretches that I can remember since I’ve been here, how we have played, it really is. You think you’re at the bottom and maybe you’re going to start working up; you see something and you see stretches of the game that, holy crap, we’re going lower.
"We have to stay within ourselves here and we can’t be begging for help. We need to take the onus of this mess ourselves and try to find a way to work out of it.”
BTW: Did we mention Danny Boy did not practice today? He is nursing a sore ankle from Thursday's 4-1 win over Toronto.
"Where were you last night?" Briere asked me before I could ask him where he was on the ice today.
"I was scouting your next two opponents," I replied.
Briere says he will play both games on this trip and Stevens did not dispute that, adding the only question mark is Randy Jones, whose right knee seems to be getting worse, not better.
Briere knows the Bolts are in trouble.
“I’ve seen them slip in the standings a little bit,” he told me. “I heard they recalled [Karri] Ramo and they were gonna try to find a way to let go of [Marc] Denis. They’re looking for a shake-up there. I have not seen them play. I’m hoping it’s a good time to play them.
“Even if a team is struggling, you have to go all out and bury them. Don’t give them a chance to think they can win. Teams have taken it to us lately; they didn’t take us lightly. We have to do the same to the Lightning.”
Joffrey Lupul seems energized. When he is moving his feet, he's into the game.
“This is one of those instances where we have t o be prepared for them to come out hard," Lupul predicted about the Bolts. "But they are probably lacking a bit of confidence. If we can get out to a 1 or 2-goal lead early in the game, that will be tough on any team [to come back] when they are losing."
Should be ... but the Flyers never seem to play very well in Tampa, anymore.
BTW: 22 blocked shots against Toronto. When the Flyers are blocking shots, they feed off transition, generate offense and seem committed to defense. If this team gets back into a defensive mind-set, they will be fine.
“Couldn't agree more," Stevens said. "We talked a lot lately about our urgency. When we have more urgency, we block shots. When we’re willing to pay a bigger price defensively which we did, we seem to create a lot more offensively.
"It’s just the make-up of pour team. The harder we play without the puck, the better we are with the puck. It’s our focus her coming out of the break.”
**
Someone told me they thought they saw Ek on remote beach in the Florida Keys demonstrating his slap shot with a bearded fellow, who looked a lot like Castro.
Ask him for a Cohiba for me and Garth, will ya?
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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