Hockey Season in Underway...Someone Should Tell the Flyers

Happiest about the Phillies winning the National League and competing for a World Series championship? That would be the Flyers, who have stumbled out of the gate like a three-legged racehorse. With the city so engrossed in playoff baseball, few have noticed.

At present, the Flyers are the only team yet to record their first victory of the season. Last season's Eastern Conference finalist has collected only three of a possible twelve points, courtesy of overtime or shootout losses.

The perplexing thing is no one really saw this coming. Most of last season's team returned in tact. Team leader Mike Richards was installed as the new captain. And after establishing himself as a legitimate number one, goalie Martin Biron looked exceptionally sharp in camp and the pre-season.

Then the lights went on for real. An opening night loss to the Rangers in which the Flyers fell behind 4-0 in the first period was followed by a 5-3 home loss to Montreal.

A three-game road trip ensued, including a loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh in the waning seconds of overtime. They were never in the game against Colorado, then lost in overtime at the Shark Tank. Another OT loss to San Jose last night puts the Flyers at a very uninspired 0-3-3.

Ouch.

In hindsight, there were some warning signs. Late in the pre-season, defensemen Ryan Parent and Randy Jones, both expected to be among the team's top six blueliners, were lost to injury. Neither is expected back soon. The last exhibition game was a loss to the minor league affiliate Phantoms.

Biron's play has been particularly troubling. So much so that Anterro Niittymaki has started the last two games. Of course, he was chased in the first period last night.

So is it time to lay on the panic button? Not necessarily. Remember, this team endured a ten-game losing streak last February and righted the ship. And, there are still 76 games to play this year.

But they'd better get it figured out quick. Because win lose or draw, this Phillies playoff run will be over in a couple of weeks. And if the Flyers are still winless at that point in time, you'd better believe the people will notice.