The last time the Philadelphia Flyers opened a season on their ice was Saturday, October 11th, 2008 against the New York Rangers. The Flyers lost, 4 - 3.
The last time the Philadelphia Flyers opened a season on their ice and WON the tilt? Thursday, October 9th, 2003 against the Buffalo Sabres......yeesh!
Here's to hoping we break that skid come this October 11th when we faceoff against the Big Bad, Thomas-less Bruins.
Earlier today the NHL released the schedule for all 30-teams. Philadelphia's can be found here.
Couple of quick observations; Our boys play the Pittsburgh Penguins in a rematch bout just three games into our schedule (October 18), and then the two division rivals won't see each other again till.....FEBRUARY 12, 2013? That's lunacy.
The Flyers' traditional Western road-swing begins December 21 in New Jersey, and ends January 6 in Vancouver. Between those dates, Philly takes on Ottawa, Nashville, St. Louis, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Jose.
The two biggest games during that stretch are LA (for obvious reasons) and San Jose. The Flyers haven't beaten the Sharks in over 10-years. In fact it was Thursday, December 21, 2000 since we've chalked a 'W' against the Guppies. And we haven't won in The Shark Tank since the turn of the new millennium. November 5, 1999 was the last time the Philadelphia Flyers skated victoriously out of San Jose. Last year when we visited the Sharks, we went down by a score of 1 - 0.
Enough's enough. Beat the goddamn Sharks.
The largest break in the schedule is five gameless days. That'll come between Wednesday, January 23 when we host Toronto and Tuesday, January 29th when we're back on the ice against the Wild in Minnesota.
No, we don't host "Flyers West" in Philly this season. Truth be told, I should be strung up by my jimmies for just using that braindead terminology.
Moving along....
Remember, all of this is to happen given there is no lockout. I'm hoping there isn't, but something tells me we're in for quite the labor battle.
* * * Don't forget about the 2012 NHL Entry Draft taking place in the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, which begins (tomorrow) Friday evening at 7:00 with Round 1, and then the remaining six rounds conclude Saturday starting at 10:00 in the morning.
Round 1 can be watched on NBC Sports Network.
Rounds 2 - 7 can be watched on the NHL Network.
I bid you adieu!
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