By ANDREW PORTER
DailyPhiladelphian.com Flyers Writer
Depressing, overwhelming, impossible, shocking, devastating, unbearable, disheartening, demoralizing, disappointing, and crushing.
Those are ten words that I can attempt to use, which only barely describe the feelings of Philadelphia sports fan after this painful weekend. Our once soon-to-be 2010 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies, well, are now not-to-be. As the final pitch of this year’s NLCS loomed, breaths were hard to come. It was truly the most heart-wrenching moment I have ever experience as a sports fan. But as the knees of the former NL MVP and 2010 postseason RBI-less Ryan Howard buckled, the championship hopes of a couple million Phillies fans expired.
The Phillies had an awful NLCS at the plate, taking visions of another WFC parade with them.
And then, we woke up on Sunday, finally realizing there was no game 7. Comprehending that the World Series instantly lacks importance and our intention quickly turned to the grid iron, which would eventually lead to more agony. We confidently watched our birds dominate a game against the Tennessee Titans, but impossibly the final read: Tennessee 37, Philadelphia 19.
But before all this dissatisfaction came a Philadelphia sports win. Granted, a regular season hockey win is not very meaningful. But there was some meaning in it, as the Flyers completed their five-game home stand with a win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. After winning the first game of the hand stand, the NHL’s 28th ranked scoring team manage to string together three straight loses, before breaking out with 5 goals, in a 5-2 victory Saturday night.
The Flyers are now 3-3-1 in their first seven games. However, last night marked first’s for captain Mike Richards and second year forward Ville Leino, as they both got off the shnide, each scoring their first goals of the young season. Richards’ production is always expected to be high, and with Leino’s playoff success from last year, fans expect a lot of out of Leino as well.
The Flyers took out every Philly sports fan's aggression against the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
The biggest inconsistency and aggravating aspect of this Flyers team, is the goaltending. On Saturday, Boucher got his first win of the season, as he only had to face 12 shots. After seven games, rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 2-2 and the veteran Brian Boucher is 1-1-1, while Michael Leighton recovers from injury. This platoon thing at goalie is frustrating, and a decision needs to be made. Hey Peter, pick your guy, and adjust from there.
The Flyers now head into an early significant stretch of five games in eight days, 3 home and 2 away. During that stretch, the Flyers will visit their interstate rival Pittsburgh Penguins for, amazingly, their 3rd matchup of the season. The Flyers will also host Carolina at home on November 1st, Peter Laviolette’s former team.
Andrew Porter covers the Flyers for this site. He also operates The School Philly, which covers sports, women and other college minutiae. Follow him on Twitter @TheSchoolPhilly.
