Flyers Prepare to Rumble With Ducks

In the metallic gold corner, weighing in at an average of 208.1 pounds, with a record of 2 wins, 4 losses, and 1 overtime loss is our challenger. Led by aging star, the Finnish Flash, Teemu Selanne and his rag-tag cast of brawlers….the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. In the orange corner, weighing in at an average of 204.8 pounds, with a record of 2 wins, 2 losses, and 1 overtime loss is our home team. They are last years Stanley Cup runners-up…the Philadelphia Flyers!

The Ducks come into this game leading the NHL in penalty minutes with 181, while the Flyers sit tied for 6th at 103 PIM’s. Anaheim also has the most fights, with 9, while the Flyers are a bit off the pace with only 3. With these two tough teams, sparks are sure to play.

So, for the thousands in attendance, and the hundreds of thousands watching around the world, ladies and gentlemen…LET’S GET RRRRRREADY TO RUUUUMBLE!

These teams do not face each other often, but they put on a show each time they’ve met over the last few seasons.  They’ve met one time in each of the past three seasons, with the Flyersposting a regulation win, a shootout win, and a shootout loss.  There have only been three fights in three games, but plenty of rough stuff and penalty minutes were given out. They’ve combined to average about 33 PIM’sper game, and with the way things are going this season, more are sure to follow.

Gordon Bombay, Charlie Conway, Fulton Reed, Greg Goldberg and Adam Banks are long gone. The Mickey Mouse organization now features Teemu Selanne, local boy Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf, Jonas Hiller and Corey Perry.  Since winning a Cup a few seasons ago, the Duckshave gotten progressively worse during the regular season, finally missing the playoffs last year. This season look troubling too, as they started off with three straight losses, before splitting their last 4 games.

We, of course, have had our own struggles on the ice in the early part of the season.  But it’s going to take a bit more than a triple deke and a bit of rough stuff to edge us.  The orange and black are coming off a 5-1 pounding by the Pens and have had 5 days off to think about it. Meanwhile, the quackers lost last night mighty (ha!) Columbus Blue Jackets.  This is a game we need to assert ourselves in.  Both sides have grit and talent. But we’re playing at home, and we need to get into a groove.

Normally after an extended layoff we come out flat. I kind of expect that tonight, but I also expect us to pick things up quickly. And an early fight to wake up the team, and the crowd, would be nice. And I wouldn’t mind 4 or 5 more scraps along the way either.  But in the end, what I really want to see is for our offense to finally wake up. The Ducks are giving up 42.5 shots per game, with is 4.5 more than the next worse team. they are ripe for the picking, so let’s get out there and tear them a new one.

Let’s Go Flyers!

Make sure you check out what Sue over at Ducks Daily is saying about the quack attacks latest misfortunes.

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