Heading into the offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers have, roughly, $42 million committed to 11 players for the 2009-10 season, and none of those players happen to be a goaltender. That's because the team's two-headed monster from this past season, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, is eligible for unrestricted free agency, and there's really not a long-term solution banging down the door in the pipeline to the NHL.
Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins rallied from a bit of a swoon around the All-Star Break to easily win the top seed. Even if you subscribe to the idea of Boston being favored because of their strong overall record, there are no sure things in these here playoffs. Who will threaten to knock the Bruins off their pedestal?
With the NHL playoffs just around the corner, FanHouse takes a look at some of the lesser-known teams that qualified.Friday's installment: the Carolina Hurricanes
When the Whalers left Hartford back in 1997 to become the Carolina Hurricanes, they left a lot of things behind: the best jerseys in the NHL, Brass Bonanza, and, perhaps, most importantly, a losing tradition. In their 18 seasons in Hartford, the Whalers qualified for the playoffs eight times, and only once advanced beyond the first round.
Since moving to Carolina, the team has played in the Stanley Cup Final twice (2002 and 2006) while ultimately winning it all during the 2005-06 campaign. Heading into the playoffs this year, the Hurricanes are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, steamrolling the opposition. So, who are these guys?
Wild 3, Oilers 0: Bruce Ciskie already posted on the details of Marian Gaborik's triumphant return to the Minnesota lineup in its 3-0 win over Edmonton, and to continue the coverage here's some video of the Wild's third goal. Let's just give an assist to the Oilers on this one:
That's just an unfortunate -- and depending on your rooting interests, hilarious -- bounce for the Oilers. Amazingly, it wasn't the only goal a team scored on itself during this weekend's action.
If the Pittsburgh Penguins wanted to claim home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Sunday's game against Philadelphia was pretty much a must-win. The two teams entered play tied for the No. 4 spot with 86 points, while the Flyers had three games in hand.
Thanks to a strong special teams performance -- and a sloppy one from the Penguins -- the Flyers managed to hold off a late surge and pull out a 3-1 win.
Have you ever heard an announcer make some cliche reference to the two-goal lead being the hardest to protect? Never made much sense to me, seeing as how a two-goal lead is always better than a one-goal lead.
The Penguins, however, seem determined to prove the two-goal lead is the hardest to protect, as they've developed a troubling habit of coughing them up late in games. On Saturday, Pittsburgh entered the third period of its game against Ottawa with a 3-1 lead, only to watch it slip away as the Senators stormed back for a 4-3 shootout win.
February 25th, the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA.
6:43 PM, during pre-game warmups. Martin Biron gazes longingly at the ice, contemplating his place in the universe.Antero Niittymaki is in net, taking shots from teammates. Biron is hunched over in front of the Flyers' bench.
MB (thinking to himself): Oh boy. Things have really gone south lately, eh Marty? What happened? Things were so good in Buffalo. They loved me. I loved them. It was one big lovey love fest. Was it fate that sent me here? Or is it some, higher force?
Red Wings 4, Sharks 1: In the fourth -- and final -- regular season installment of Western Conference Finals Preview '09, Detroit picked up a 4-1 win over San Jose on Wednesday night. Henrik Zetterberg scored a pair of goals in the win, including a shorthanded marker early in the second period to give the Wings a commanding 3-0 lead.
Marian Hossa and Ville Leino also scored for Detroit, while Ty Conklin turned aside 34-of-35 shots in net. The loss snaps San Jose's four game winning streak, while the two teams split the season series.
The Penguins-Flyers rivalry is one of the great ones in the NHL. They're separated by about five hours of turnpike, the fans don't like like each other, and the players don't like each other. Penguins fans hate Scott Hartnell, Flyers fans hate everybody, sometimes even themselves, and especially Martin Biron.
Whenever the two teams meet in Philadelphia, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is booed relentlessly every time he touches the puck. The popular consensus among Flyers faithful is that Crosby is, among other things, a whiner, a diver, and, according to their well-timed chants during stoppages in play, a person that sucks at his profession. On Saturday, there were more diving allegations being thrown around, only this time they were being tossed in the direction of the Broad Street Bullies.
This will certainly help the goaltending situation in Philadelphia. With the Penguins and Flyers tied, 4-4, late in the third period, Martin Biron came charging out of his net in an effort to steal a loose puck away from Pascal Dupuis.
With the puck in his glove a good 30 feet from his crease, Biron attempted to throw the puck out of his glove, presumably to avoid a delay of game penalty. He probably would have been better taking the penalty.
Heading into the offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers have, roughly, $42 million committed to 11 players for the 2009-10 season, and none of those players happen to be a goaltender. That's because the team's two-headed monster from this past season, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, is eligible for unrestricted free agency, and there's really not a long-term solution banging down the door in the pipeline to the NHL. 
With the NHL playoffs just around the corner, FanHouse takes a look at some of the lesser-known teams that qualified. 
If the Pittsburgh Penguins wanted to claim home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Sunday's game against Philadelphia was pretty much a must-win. The two teams entered play tied for the No. 4 spot with 86 points, while the Flyers had three games in hand.
Have you ever heard an announcer make some cliche reference to the two-goal lead being the hardest to protect? Never made much sense to me, seeing as how a two-goal lead is always better than a one-goal lead.
February 25th, the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA.
The Penguins-Flyers rivalry is one of the great ones in the NHL. They're separated by about five hours of turnpike, the fans don't like like each other, and the players don't like each other. Penguins fans hate 
