Flyers victorious in "must win" pretend game

Boy this is going to be fun.

So, I beg your forgiveness, but I was a touch late getting to tonight's Flyers game, which turned out to be their first victory of the preseason. The game's final was 5-2 over the visiting Detroit Red Wings. I was really only able to catch the third period and I missed how the good guys scored their final goal.

Basically, what I'm, trying to tell you is that this will be brief and also, I'm considering skipping the first 1 3/4 periods of every Flyers game this season as good things seem to happen.

A couple of thoughts on the game though. We'll get the bad stuff out of the way first. The discipline problems continued for the Flyers. They were short handed 6 times tonight, compared to only two power plays. That needs to change. But why focus on the negative? Tonight is a night for pretend celebration and champagne-less champagne, after all!

On the happy side of things, Danny Briere's return to glory continued as he notched another goal and continues to look like the Daniel Briere of old. It's a wonderful thing.

Also, Chris Pronger has been pretty much as advertised. He picked up two assists and was solid defensively. Nothing new there. Kimmo Timonen also played a solid defensive game. The man just doesn't have a medium or low setting.

The real surprise is James vanRiemsdyk, who picked up two goals in the contest. He played a few shifts with Briere and Claude Giroux, a foreshadowing of things to come, perhaps? We shall see.

Yes, the games and stats don't matter, but getting that first win is nice. Especially for me. I tend to get a bit--- how should I put this--- panicky when it comes to hockey. Playoffs, preseason, I'm a mess either way. Ok, well that is all. Thanks for stopping by.

Player of the Game: James vanRiemsdyk for goodness sakes!
Next game: Thursday home against the New Jersey Devils at 7 p.m.