I cant remember the last time the Flyers had a solid goalie. Well,Brian Boucher was very good, Hextall...well I dont remember too mucha bouth im to comment on him cause he was leaving hockey when I began watching and following it, so..lol. Robert Esche is very good though, but the defense is what were definetly lacking. Were scoring the goals, so the offense is there, but when the defense is doing well, that usually seems to keep the goalie confident, and therefore he does well. But the goalie is the last line of defense, not the first and last line of it. Whenever Bobby Clarke realizes this, that will be a miracle. Unfortunately, I dont forsee him realizing this anytime soon. Hopefully, the return of Desjardins will pick the defense up a bit, if not more than a bit. Its sad that the rookie Joni Pitkanen is carrying all the defensive weight on the team. Therien,he is another story. I swear he has no talent half the time. Im convinced he is there as a defensive decoy. Timander is only "there" half the time. Clarke needs a wake up call. And soon. How he expects to be the #1 team in the Eastern Conference with the way weve been playing is beyond me. The wins we have been getting lately were dumb luck. If it wasnt for Gagne( Woohoo! ;) :D ),Recchi, LeClair and Johnsson...I dont know where we'd be lately. The Primeau and Roenick injuries were a major setback and still are,but Keith is looking for a comeback shortly. We just got Brashear back, and I am still irritated that Somik is being a healthy scratch for the past few games. He has been doing quite well before they started scratching him. Gagne really has been emerging as a very great player lately, and his check against the Preds lats night proved that with the puck steal to Zhamnov to Amonte for the goal. Im just looking forward to Desjardins' return, not just because he is my favorite player on the team besides Gagne, but because he is the unspoken defensive leader on the team. His return should get the defense working. Eric(Desjardins) will not stand for the defensive lines just skating around like a bunch of clowns that they have been acting like lately.
Clarke has this problem with giving up young players who are just BURSTING with talent and potential. For instance, giving up Dan McGillis,Chris Gratton, and Valeri Zelepukin(aka Zele-Put-the POOK-in...dont ask, just nod your head and agree with me, it saves time).
Anyway....go Flyers! :) They play tomorrow against the Sens. And Jill is gonna shoot me for this, but I hope Burke is in net. He did PHENOMINAL against the Sens last time and I think he can do it again. I actually am putting my faith in him, cause I have a good gut feeling about it if he starts. He knows the team very well from all the shots he faces in the last meeting between the teams, stopping 39 of 40 shots on goal.
DA2KOKIB!
~~jules~~