Flyers Rookies Torch the Big Smoke & Hand 'em Their 11th Straight Home Loss, 7 - 1

Jussi Rynnas got his first NHL start last night, but unlike most goalies, Jussi will want to forget about this one. The 24yr old Toronto netminder allowed 7-goals against his twine completing his evening with an abysmal .767 save-percentage. 

Prior to the tilt beginning, both James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson were injured, and the Reading Royal (the Leafs' ECHL affiliate) was an emergency call-up to guard the Toronto cage. 

“When Gustavsson got hurt, I just wanted to fire pucks,” Brayden Schenn said.

Schenn did just that. 

Lighting the contest's first lamp was Brayden just a little over 5-minutes into the 1st period, and then potted his game's second goal later in the first frame at the bitter end of a four-minute Power-Play. 

On the ice, the Flyers sold a handful of customary give & go plays all game long. Toronto bit down on most of them which is what led to Flyers rookie Eric Wellwood's tally in the 3rd period --

Schenn and Wellwood weren't the only rooks to burst the bulbs on the scoreboard. 

Matt Read and Max Talbot worked in tandem on a penalty-kill during the middle mark of the contest. Possession was gathered at Philadelphia's blue line, and together our two boys stormed the offensive zone where Read plugged the puck home after Talbot centered the play --

Another give & go, another rookie on the scoresheet. Matt's shorthanded finish was the Flyers sixth of the season, and Read's 23rd goal of his freshman career. 

Matt Read now leads all rookies in the National Hockey League, and continues to strengthen his argument as the NHL's 2012 Calder Trophy winner. 

But maybe not, because he's a 25yr old rookie, right naysayers?

Gordie Lachance, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio better get off the tracks, 'cause The Wayne Train's steam rollin'. 

Simmonds went Jules Winnfield  all over Rynnas and the Toronto defense last night, potting his 24th and 25th goals of the season. Not only is he having a career year in the column, but he's not even finished yet. Both tallies were snap shots, and about as clean and concise as a surgeon's scalpel. 

But no one takes the limelight from last night more than Danny Briere. 

Danny Boy registered a career high 4-assists in the victory. Briere dished on both lamps from Schenner, and on both of Simmonds' goals. The three forwards skate together as one of the Flyers most impressive combinations. It's like the line has the right mix of everything; grit, speed, youth, tenacity, awareness and experience. 

It's also building up Briere's confidence who's having less than a stellar season. However last night was a breakout performance for #48, and especially his linemates -- 

"There's a lot of guys we were expecting good things from," Danny said. "It's a surprise, but it's not at the same time. You know those guys have a lot of talent and sometimes it's going to go their way.

"I don't remember having so many rookies on the team. And now, not even just rookies taking spots - they're playing key roles on the team. It's fun to see them contributing. Nobody expected this, but it's a very nice surprise. They keep getting better, so all the credit goes to them."

One final orange nail was driven into the blue & white coffin, and that was Jakub Voracek's addition to the scoreboard, aiding in the completion of the Touchdown & Extra Point --

It was a slaughter house. Throughout the night, Toronto's attending faithful mocked their misery by chanting in unison, "LET'S GO BLUE JAYS!"

The cutaways to Leafs GM Brian Burke were both hilarious and distressing. Sort of like watching your grade school teacher get furious with a classmate. 

Sergei Bobrovsky filled in quite brilliantly for the injured Ilya Bryzgalov. Bob stopped 14 of 15-shots, and recorded a .941 save-percentage. Though that's not a lot of attempts on his net, Bobrovsky still made a few very key stops, including a breakaway save on Leafs leading scorer Phil Kessel --

Overall the Flyers did exactly what they should have against a lousy adversary; they stomped a mudhole through the backs of their sweaters. Philadelphia's successfully swept Toronto in their regular four-game season series, and the Leafs have now lost eleven straight home games. 

"We just can't figure it out," Toronto forward Phil Kessel said. "We're trying. I don't know what else to say. It's not a good feeling."

No time to feel sorry for Kessel or his Leafy brethren. The Flyers advance forward towards the weekend where they'll face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. 

The Flightless Pigeons just lost their second in a row last night, falling to the New York Islanders in both contests of their Home & Home. Philadelphia's chewing their heels as we're now only two points behind our division rival. 

“We talked about it a lot. We expected the guys to have a better effort,” Pens center Jordan Staal said. “It just wasn’t there. We have to definitely find a way to get our game back and do the things we need to do to win games. We’ve got to worry about our game. The standings will be the standings. We want to win games. Right now, we’re not playing our best hockey and we’re losing games. That’s definitely something we’ve got to address first.”

“When things go your way for a while, it’s tough to be losing like that,” Fleury said. “Got to learn from it and just try to put it behind us and be ready for (Friday) night.”

Pittsburgh battles against the white hot Buffalo Sabres tonight. 

Buffalo's won five straight contests, which has successfully broken them into top contention. Two months ago we all figured the Sabres to be completely dead in the Eastern waters. Especially after dealing out an enormous centerman like Paul Gaustad at the NHL's trade deadline. 

Our Orange & Black won't be skating against anyone tonight, so the best we can hope for is Buffalo to make it six in a row, and gain the win in regulation time. This way if we win tomorrow's tilt versus the Senators, we're tied in points (100) with the Penguins, then face them on their ice on Sunday. 

Remember.....the Flyers have not lost once at Pittsburgh's new Consol Energy Center. That wasn't written to jinx the whole thing. Just letting everyone know that if the Pens continue falling past tonight, Sunday's game could be a mind-game played on Pittsburugh's skaters. 

Let's keep it going, boys!

Good night. Awesome hockey.

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