Winning streak! Flyers win 2 in a row

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

The curse of Sarah Palin is finally over. The Flyers won both games in a home-and-home with the Devils on Friday and Saturday to finally get themselves into the win column and out of their early season funk. The two wins puts the Flyers record at 2-3-3 which actually isn't a bad way to start the season.

The big star on Friday night's 6-3 win was Mike Richards, who notched 4 assists. The Flyers did an excellent job of staying out of the penalty box and not giving the Devils a bunch of powerplay chances.

The penalty situation in Saturday's 3-2 overtime win was completely different as each team racks up 40 penalty minutes. There were four fights in the game, including this double-fight:

This was all something that should have been expected given it was the second game in as many days between two rivals. Most of the penalties offset but the Devils still had five powerplay opportunities, scoring on one of them. Jeff Carter scored on a deflection for the game winning goal for the Flyers in overtime.

The Flyers earned both wins without Danny Briere, who will be out 3 to 4 weeks as he recovers from abdominal surgery. In Briere's absence, the Flyers have called up Darroll Powe and re-called Jared Ross and shuffled their top line to include Glen Metropolit at center between Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble. Philly seems like they are a forward short even when Briere returns, unless they plan to play Ross, Powe or Andreas Nodl every game.

The Flyers have finally broken out of their early season slump. If you've followed this team at all, you know how streaky they can be. They started the season with no wins in 5 games so I expect them to run off a 5 game winning streak at some point this season.

Now that the curse of Sarah Palin has been lifted, we can get back to a normal hockey season.

Flyers fans boo Sarah Palin

Looks like Obama might win Pennsylvania. Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin dropped the puck at the Flyers home opener and got just the reaction everyone would expect from Flyers fans: boos! Yeah, there was a mix of cheering and booing, but from what I could hear, the crowd reacted much more negatively then positively. The Flyers arena was pumped full of music as she was being introduced, likely because they knew what kind of reaction she would get, and that helped to drown out the crowd's reaction.

Here's a video of the whole ceremony:


I still don't understand why the Flyers would put themselves in this situation for their home opener. Talk about a negative way to start a season.

"Hockey Mom" Sarah Palin will drop the first puck for the Flyers season

Who's bright idea was this? Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will drop the first puck at the Flyers home opener on Saturday against the Rangers. With Pennsylvania being a swing state, Palin is hoping to win over a few more voters by making an appearance with the Flyers.

I'm not going to get into politics here because that's not what this blog is about, but is this really a good idea? Palin has been under some heavy scrutiny, and knowing how Philadelphia fans tend to act, I don't see how she isn't met with a resounding chorus of boos. Sure, some will cheer, but Palin is such a polarizing figure that people either love or hate.

From the Flyers perspective, it's hard to say if they are endorsing Palin or not. On the one hand, they could just be taking advantage of the media attention they are going to get, on the other I don't hear any announcements about Joe Biden dropping the puck in the near future.

Love her or hate her, Sarah Palin will be kicking off the Flyers 2008/2009 season. In a few weeks that could either be a really cool moment or a really embarassing blunder. I am sure you all have your own opinions already.