Flyers pepper Theodore but come up short

Note to Flyers: I like roller coasters as much as the next guy, but this is getting ridiculous.

The orange and black continue to do their best thrill ride impression as the bounce from winning streak to losing streak, and back again. The team opened the year with three straight wins, followed that up with three straight loses, washed that down with two more wins and now, thanks to tonight's 4-2 road loss to the Washington Capitals, they have lost two in a row for a gorgeous 5-4-1 record.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this start to the year. A few seasons back the Flyers played win/ loss hockey for about two months, but this mess seems weirder.

Things got off on the right foot for the good guys tonight as they jumped out to a 2-0 midway through the second period thanks to a pair of power play goals by Scott Hartnell and the much maligned Braydon Coburn.

Hartnell's goal came off a spectacular cross ice pass from Mike Richards, while Coburn rocketed his in from the circle.

While the game was still 1-0, Hartnell muffed an opportunity for an easy second goal when his shot on a wide open net hit off the heal of his stick.

The Capitals, a one line team if there ever was one, proved just how true that was by getting all four of their goals from their top line. Alexander Ovechkin had two, including an empty netter, Alexander Semin scored one off of Kimmo Timonen's leg and Nicklas Backstrom scored a power play goal to go with his three assists. The line also accounted for 14 of the team's 35 shots.

The Flyers peppered netminder Jose Theodore with 43 shots, 20 of them in the third period alone, but he was more then up to the task. You may remember Theodore from his time warming the Caps bench during last season's playoffs as youngster Simyon Varlamov stole the show.

Fortunately for Theodore--- and unfortunately for the Flyers tonight--- Varlamov had little interest in hanging on to the starting job and he promptly gave it back. Oh well, you win some an you lose some, unless your the Flyers, then you win two and loss two, win three, loss three.

The team deserved a slightly better fate tonight. They weren't able to sit on a two goal lead, but few teams can against the Caps, especially so early in the game. They kept plugging away, but Theodore had all the answers, including stonewalling Darroll Powe on a third period penalty shot attempt.

Three Keys Revisited:

1.) Solid Goaltending- Hard to argue with 32 saves. Emery played well, but fell victim to a few bad breaks. It happens. This loss can't be pinned on Emery, who continues to impress me.

2.) Get Some Help for the Young Guys- Well Hartnell scored which is nice, but Simon Gagne missed the game with hernia's in his groin, which may require surgery. Very bad times. The young guys contributed again as both Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk picked up assists in the contest.

3.) DEFENSE- Look no further than Kimmo Timonen's -3 for the night to see how he fared. Coburn's goal was nice, but he still looks shakey in his own end. Maybe its time to split up Chris Pronger and Matt Carle? Couldn't hurt.

Player to Watch: Braydon Coburn- 1 goal, -1, 5 SOG, 21:21 TOI