Skate Bites: Paul Holmgren's Pants Party
[That headline is in honor of the recently announced Anchorman 2]
Last night's 7-1 Flyers win against the Maple Leafs was a classic Dry Island game– Russian netminder out? No problem! Replace him with another Russian and score seven goals… five from the three forwards obtained in the Mike Richards and Jeff Carter trades (Brayden Schenn 2, Wayne Simmonds 2, Jakub Voracek 1). The other goals came from Matt Read and Eric Wellwood, meaning that none of the Flyers goals last night were scored by players on the team last year. They are so, so deep. And it feels so, so nice when they do that.
Somewhere, Paul Holmgren’s hands are under his desk. Which is OK by me– he deserves whatever he’s doing to himself this morning. And where’s Grilled Reuben Frank when you need him to come up with a crazy the last time a team scored seven goals, all from players who weren’t on the roster in the previous season stat?!
I don’t know about you, though, but I’m in playoff mode. It’s that point in the NHL season where regular season games feel like exhibitions for the playoffs. Yes, there are some seeding issues to be determined, but really, who cares? The playoffs are a crapshoot, and the Flyers are likely going to have to play the Rangers or Bruins at some point anyway, whether that’s sooner or later.
Nuggets:
– After the game, reader Wayne sent along this video of Derrick Gunn, host of Gunn-on-One, offering co-anchor Sharla McBride money to ride the mechanical bull at Xfinity Live!
Gunn: I will pay you if you ride that bull. I won't say how much. Might be a dollar, might be 20. But I'll pay you.
McBride: We'll discuss that.
Wow. Attaboy, Gunner. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see Sharla McBride ride… well, you get it. But reader (@b_allen0830) raises an interesting point: This was one of the few times that we’ve seen D-Gunn’s keeping-it-real Twitter persona spill over into his usually well-spoken on-air persona.
We’ll keep an eye on that. I’m voting for the Gunn-McBride Sportsnite tag-team to be called Black Hammer, White Lightning. For now, though, just watch the video clip.
– If you haven’t seen them, Scott Hartnell’s quotes about Eric Lindros skating with the team yesterday were, um, interesting:
“He can still play. He’s a big man, and I think he was just out there for fun and it’s kind of cool to see him in this dressing room. I remember him being a Flyer and just absolutely dominating out there. His big precense, his big checks, big goals. Just to see him wheeling around with us was pretty cool.”
“I’m a midget compared to him. He’s just so thick and I think they need to get him a bigger helmet out there. His face looked pretty squanched [editor’s note: ?] in there. It’s pretty cool to see him around.”
That’s 5 bigs and a thick, if you’re scoring at home. I am.
That video and full game highlights, after the jump.