About the Flyers - 12-13-08

A preview of the Flyers.
Record: 15-7-6
Leading Scorer: Simon Gagne, 34 points (15 goals, 19 assists).
Last Game: 6-5 home shootout win against the Hurricanes. Scott Hartnell had a hat trick.
Last Game against the Penguins: 5-4 shootout loss at Mellon Arena, Nov. 13. Sidney Crosby scored two goals. The Penguins won despite giving up two shorthanded goals to Simon Gagne.
Flyers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Gagne. He has three goals in two games against the Penguins this season and he has three points in his last three games.
Ex-Flyers on the Penguins: Mark Eaton, defenseman, Ruslan Fedotenko, LW; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.
Ex-Penguins on the Flyers: Joe Mullen, assistant coach.
Useless Flyers Trivia: Eaton made his NHL debut with the Flyers Oct. 2, 1999.in a 3-0 loss to the the Senators. In doing so, Eaton, a native of Wilmington, Del., became the first Philadelphia-area player to ever suit up for the Flyers.
Best Flyers YouTube Video We Could Find: There was a time once long ago when ESPN was actually still a sports network and not a mutated version of MTV. And during that time, they actually acknowledged hockey. Following Canada's gold medal in the 2002 Olympics for men's hockey Gagne made this very sharp commercial with Scott Van Pelt:
Notes:
-Connor James was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.
-Even though Marc-Andre Fleury is available to them, the Penguins have Dany Sabourin officially listed as their starting goaltender for today's game on their Web site.
-Michel Therrien declined to say which goaltender would start.
-Martin Biron is expected to start for the Flyers.
-According to the Flyers' Web site, defenseman Matt Carle is "90 percent" sure he will play today. He has not played since Nov. 29 due to a rib injury.
-Flyers forward Daniel Briere is sidelined until at least January due to a groin injury.
-Each team had 36 points coming into today's game. The Flyers hold the tiebreaker for second place in the division standings since they have played 28 games to the Penguins' 29.
-The Flyers will need a complete effort if they hope to win.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 1 p.m. Please tune in.


