Where to start?
Seriously, do I begin with reminding you how awesome it was when Jagr back-handed the puck to the twine while the Penguin barn booed him every second of his possession?
Or do I raise the starter's pistol with Talbot's empty netter which all but solidified the final orange middle finger to the attending 'Burgh crowd?
Can't forget about Bob! The backup netminder holds the strongest case to start between the pipes in the Bridgestone Winter Classic event just days away. His play guarding the twine was genius all night long in his eighth win of the season against our Western rivals.
Skating into this contest, the Flyers were looking at possibly losing their third straight game. One of only a handful of NHL teams remain safe from that miserable encompassment.
It's funny how Philadelphians get such a bad rap for being "classless." When Donovan McNabb returned to Lincoln Financial Field after being traded away to the Redskins, our home crowd cheered his name. Same went for Pat "The Bat" Burrell when he stepped to homeplate at Citizen's Bank Park in a San Fran uni.
And who can forget when we, the Philly fans, gave Jim Thome a standing ovation in the bottom of the 9th inning when the Phillies held a lead against the Twins, and Thome rocked the ol' leather ball into our stands to spark Minnesota's comeback???? We still cheered. AND WE LOST!
How 'bout Recchi? Foresberg? Roenick?
Many believe it's next to impossible to be a professional sports player and canonized in this City of Brotherly Love simultaneously. We're animals. We're scum. We're the most classless group of assholes this country's ever seen root on their sports teams.
Furthest from the truth. And the facts stand to prove just that.
Yet here we are on December 30th, less than 24-hours from just witnessing a city maliciously boo a hockey player who once skated for their club and won them two Stanley Cups all because.........he's now employed by a divisional rival franchise.
Jaromir Jagr may not have left the Pittsburgh Penguins on the best terms, but is that really any excuse to boo him, flip him off and publicly curse his name? Like I said, Pittsburgh won their first two Lord Stanley's.
As the match grew on, the hustling boos thrashed the ice each second the vulcanized rubber touched the end of Jags' stick. Instead of hindering his performance, the voiced displeasure fueled it --
BOOM, SHAKA JAGAAAAAAH! (<--- see what I did there?)
Quickly following Jagr's goal which put the Flyers ahead 2 - 1, he figured he'd give his once-home crowd the salute....
Ahhhh, what an awesome welcoming. A picture truly is worth a thousand words. Though the trailer park colossus sticking her tongue out in ice row cannot manage any words at the time.
Or how about the rude Clark Kent feeling no shame and leaning his hipster frame over a progression of seats to give Jaromir a face-full of Fuck You....
Like I said, a thousand words.
Imagine if this happened in Philadelphia? It'd be all over sports pages, websites and blogs before we woke up the next morning.
Nevermind. If I get into it, I'll never stop.
Onward we go.
Contributing to the lit lamps was Kimmo Timonen (his first of the season), of course Jaromir Jagr, then Matt Read (breaking a 9-game scoreless skid), and finally......the cherry on top --
Max Talbot with the empty netter to seal the deal.
It was glorious. It was amazing. It was a moment of happy tears for Flyers nation worldwide. And the best part? This was all happening against Pittsburgh. It was like all the planets aligned with the sun and a beautiful orange portal formed over the Consol Energy Center, emptying happiness, epicness, and rhythmical joy from its heavenly aura.
Our Philadelphia Flyers continue their reign and ownership over Pittsburgh's newest Igloo. We stay tied at the helm of the division with the New York Rangers at 48-points and leave the Penguins in the wake of a two-point trailing.
All is good.
And it gets better --
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!