So now whats the excuse?

On a scale of 1-10, my frustration level with this team is 22. Stop me if you've heard this one before...the Flyers lost last night. In the 2nd game under new coach Peter Laviolette, the Flyers looked better, but still fell short. 3-1. I will say I loved watching the 1st period last night. I haven't seen them hustle that much in a long time, they had a very aggressive forecheck, which is something that Laviolette preaches. They only allowed 1 shot all period and overall looked like a completely different team. A sweet Danny Briere goal put the exclamation point on the period, but after that, the Habs had their way with us. As I said the other day, Im gonna give them a pass over the next couple weeks as they get used to the new coach, but that dosent mean that I cant be disappointed & frustrated, because I certainly am. How much worse can this get? Please dont tell me it wont. If it does continue to get worse, what happens next? Trade? If so, who goes, who would other teams want? Could me even make it work salary cap wise? Im hoping we never have to find out the answers to these questions.

On to something thats been bothering me for a few weeks now. As we all know, the team has been struggling. Theres been a lot of criticism to go around. John Stevens was widely criticised (heavily by me) He gets fired. Mike Richards leadership has been questioned/criticised. Injuries have been blamed. The power play has been blamed. Bonehead penalites have been blamed. But why hasnt anyone talked about Jeff Carter? He is supposed to be our top offensive threat. 46 goals last year, and so far, only 9 this year. To make things worse, he just seems to be floating around out there. Is it just me, or does he seem extra lazy this year? Skate up the side, lazy wrist shot from the circle, repeat. You cant score on NHL quality goalies that way. I expected to see Jeff come out on fire this year since he was playing for a spot on team Canada in the Olympics. Looks like I was wrong. The Flyers wont snap out of their scoring funk, until #17 snaps out of his. If he continues the whole year like this, could he possibly be traded for a 1st round pick at the draft? Dont forget, his contract is up at the end of next year, we dont have a 1st round pick this year thanks to the Pronger trade, and we need to lock up Giroux & JVR long term. Just a little something to think about.

Tonight the Flyers are back home against John Tavares & the Islanders. I honestly have no idea what to expect. I can see a dominating win, or a sloppy loss. Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but I think the combiniation of being at home & having a little more time with Laviolette will help the orange & black tonight. Right now the Sixers are getting more positive attention than the Flyers.......thats gotta change!!!

Flyers-3
Isles-2