Jan 20, 2013; Buffalo, NY, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) waits for a face off against the Buffalo Sabres during the first period at the First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL lockout ended with a tentative agreement being reached on January 6, 2013, but the Philadelphia Flyers must have missed the memo.  The team is off to a horrible start thus far, having lost all three games dropping two to division foes Pittsburgh and New Jersey.

At this point many Flyers fans would expect the sporadic goaltending of Ilya Bryzgalov would be the cause for the 0-3 start which is not unreasonable to think.  However, Bryzgalov is not the problem at all right now.  The defense on the other hand has seemed lost at times on the ice, often finding themselves out of position to defend anyone.  This lackluster defensive play has given opponents too many quality scoring chances leaving Bryzgalov little hope of a save.

Not all the blame should be focused on the defense.  Sure, the team has been outscored 11-3 which includes five power play goals, but seriously just three goals from the Flyers is difficult to comprehend.  Scoring goals was expected to be a strength this season and in time (but not too long) hopefully we will get there.  Claude Giroux has been the lone bright spot on offense with two of the teams three goals.

Is it time to hit the panic button?  Clearly, the answer is NO.  If you rewind back to 1994-95 season, the other shortened season due to a lockout, the Flyers also started the season with three straight losses and the team responded by winning the division.  Does that ease the painful start?  Of course not.  This team will clean up its sloppy defensive play, score more than one goal a game and be just fine.

Thursday night the Flyers host the New York Rangers in another divisional matchup.  Like the Flyers, New York is winless thus far with an 0-2 start.  The Flyers have their work cut out for them having lost eight consecutive games to the Rangers.  Win or Lose at least one of these teams will leave the ice with their first victory of the season.

April 29, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (30) celebrates overtime win with center Danny Briere (48) who scored the game winning goal in game one of the 2012 Eastern Conference semifinals at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers defeated the Devils, 4-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Not so good news from the Philadelphia Flyers practice facility in Voorhees today, as Danny Briere shared with reporters that he is likely to miss the first week to 10 days of the lockout shortened 2013 season.

Briere suffered the injury while playing for Eisbaren Berlin in Germany.  Despite the 113-game NHL lockout, the good news for Flyers’ fans is Briere is already in mid-season condition.  If it weren’t for playing in Germany, Briere would likely miss more than 10-days since he would also need time for conditioning

On Monday, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren expressed mild concern on Briere’s injury, but didn’t want to speculate until team doctors were able to examine the injury.  Hopefully that visit is soon, but technically the lockout remains ongoing until the NHLPA and the NHL’s Board of Governors ratify the new CBA agreement.

Briere was injured December 28th at which time, he was expected to miss approximately two weeks.  He told reports on Sunday that he had sustained a bone bruise and sprain to his left wrist and hoped to visit a hand specialist later this week.

If Briere is truly going to miss the start of the season, let’s hope it’s only two or three games at most.

April 29, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (30) takes a drink against the New Jersey Devils during the third period of game one of the 2012 Eastern Conference semifinals at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Reports earlier this week stated that Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov was missing from the Channel One Cup tournament because Bryz was at “Mission Control Center” with the Russian space program.  Well, turns out the man who brought us “humongous big universe” was literally at Mission Control donning a space suit.

Bryzgalov was pulled from the Russian national team roster days before the tournament which followed with reports that indicated his was sick and nothing more than that.  However, the Russian publication Sport Express contacted Bryzgalov to get the exact story on his absence.

SE - Why are not you on the team? You have really a health problem?

Bryz – Sorry, but, unfortunately, I’m not ready to talk in detail with the press.

SE  – Why not?

Bryz – The thing is that now I am in the Mission Control Center, you wrote about in our last interview. Astronaut suit on me. And you will understand that it disturbs me to communicate.

It sure appeared that Bryz was just playing his usual self and having a little fun with the media (Sport Express), but seems the joke was on us when lenta.ru released story.

Translated from lenta.ru with Google translations: 

Goalkeeper of the Russian Ice Hockey Ilya Bryzgalov visited the Cosmonaut Training Center and put on the suit there. The goalkeeper made it on the air TV “Hockey 24″, which goes to the TV channel “Russia 24″.

In the program “Football 24″ showed how Bryzgalov met with a hero of Russia, cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and asked him a few questions. “I’m interested in space and I did learn a little bit, but more by the stars – as infancy universe, how it all happened,” – admitted goalkeeper. The astronaut said all that one sees in space, except for the planet Earth – “cold, lifeless and dead in our understanding.” “There’s a man can not live,” – said Tokarev.

The program also showed how Bryzgalov dons the suit. “I like Darth Vader is from ‘Star Wars’,” – said the goalkeeper, when dressed in the clothes of the astronaut.

Oh, but wait, there is more.  While this story of Bryz remains entertaining, clearly the following video (and pictures) bring it to a whole new level.