Postive Step My Ass

It's really difficult to take a subjective look at something you think about so objectively. Pile on top of that the Philadelphia fan's general attitude towards his teams and I'm lost. But is it just me, and I would like to ask this question to say a Red Wings or Kings fan - someone who has no opinion about the Flyers or me being a Flyers fan, but do the Flyers ever seem to have control of a hockey game? For a shift even, much less a period? Watching last night's game I felt like I was in a time warp back to last season's playoffs, where the Flyers were always on defense but somehow managed to get a couple sneaky goals.

I know my point of view is skewed, and in some cases it's empirically supported. The Flyers won an abysmal 24 of 60 faceoffs. If you had me guess I would have said 10. They also outshot the Penguins 30-28. I can only remember about 15 real shots. They supposedly had 9 shots on the 6 powerplays they didn't score on. I don't remember any of them. We have five all-stars out there. They have four defensive specialists. We can't even get a good opportunity on a 5 on 3? Three games in a row! Fleury didn't have to rob anyone all night. The Flyers beat him with two deflections - not a purposeful shot in net all gosh darn night. If you asked me to guess time of possession I would say it was at least 3-1 in favor of the Penguins. They were just sticking there big butts out in the corner and warding our D-men off, eventually to cycle out of the corner and rip one at Nitty. Even when the Flyers were in the Pens zone it looked like they were scrambling around chasing a bouncing puck or taking "shots" from the corner.
Last night it just felt like it was a matter of time. And then it was. If you watch that clip again you have to wonder what Lupul was doing in the offensive zone. And then Briere. Brooks Orpik looked like Bobby Orr maneuvering between the two and making an 80 foot pass. Just play hard for ten more seconds! It's no joke - you let your guard down in the NHL for one shift and the other team is going to score unless you're goalie can save you. Dupuis' shot was a laser. Nitty had done enough already - that's not his fault.

I'm going to reserve any judgement on Andrew Alberts and Steve Eminger until I can further observe them. I'll leave my preliminary findings at this - they scare the shit out of me when they're out there together.