Betts and crew deliver an early Christmas present to Philly

What the devil was that about?

Last night the orange and black got their Walt Disney Presents "The Flyers Six Game Road Trip" off to a good start by beating the Lightning 5-2. Blair "SNL Allegedly Fired Me For Dropping Too Many F-Bombs" Betts and Mike "Shadow" Richards each netted a pair of goals, while Michael Leighton stopped 31 of 33 shots on route to his second win of the season.

The Flyers won the game by doing the exact polar opposite of the type of nonsense they've been passing off for professional hockey lately. They scored first, they scored early, they scored on the power play and they scored often. They dominated the third period both in chances and in results, outshooting Tampa 15-10 and outscoring them 3-0 during the game's final frame.

Rookie yet studly defenseman Victor Hedman scored his third goal of the year, firing a laser beam past Leighton in the second to tie the game at two. Earlier in the period, the only guy in the NHL with more PIMs then Danny Carcillo and future Flyer Zenon Konopka scored his first goal in over three years to cut the orange and black's lead right in half. Props to Konopka not for the goal but for having the greatest first name at present in the NHL. His name sounds like it would fit in better on the Periodic Table of Elements then on an NHL score sheet and that is a wonderful thing.

For the good guys, Betts' first goal came off a gaping rebound left by Tampa goalie Mike Smith. Betts batted at the puck, but it was Tampa defenseman Andrej Meszaros who actually put the biscuit in the basket, as the kids say. About six minutes later Gagne converted a broken play in gold, finding Richards all alone down low for a slam dunk power play goal.

With things tied up at two midway through the third, Betts redirected a Oscars Bartulis shot past Smith to give the visitors a lead they wouldn't relinquish. After failing to score on a 2-1 break earlier in the period, Richards fired a hard wrister past Smith on his second odd man rush attempt to make it 4-2. With under a minute left to go, Gagne added an empty netter.

Well, I don't want to pat myself on the back too heartily for this, but here I go. It was just yesterday, after all, that I campaigned for Richards to be abandoned in the woods along with Scott Hartnell and Jeff Carter to re-enact the beloved children's film "Homeward Bound: The Incredible journey." Looks like "Shadow" Richards is off the cast for the time being but "Chance" Carter and "Sassy" Hartnell are still on board. The two were non-factors last night as alleged fourth-liners Betts and Laperriere logged more minutes then Hartnell and Carter respectively.

So where to go from here? Well the Flyers are off until after Christmas, when they take on the lowly Carolina Hurricanes. The team would be misguided to think this tailspin is over after just one win, however. These things don't just end with one game. You have to keep working every day. Look no further then the poor performances that followed recent wins against the Islanders and the Bruins for examples of this. One win does not a season make. Just because you beat the Lightning, it doesn't mean the Stanley Cup is your for the taking. The Flyers need to start stringing wins together and gain some ground in the standings. Playing a weak opponent like the Canes is nice, but you can't take them lightly. On any given night, Eric Staal may just decide he gives a crap and go off on one of his tears.

This calls to mind this past summer summer, when after every one save Brad Lidge converted, his season of horrors was suddenly pronounced to be over. He was finally back to the old Lidgey-poo that we all loved so much from the previous year. Then of course he would blow the next three saves and everyone would turn on him again. Then would come another save and he was BACK baby!

This crap went on all summer.

Like I said earlier, these ugly runs don't just stop with one good game. There is no internal switch that was suddenly flipped from "Suck" to "Awesome." Things don't work that way. If the Flyers go out there and underestimate the Canes, they will lose a very win-able game. If they fall back into the same bad habits that have been costing them in recent weeks they will also lose. Hard work and determination will end this madness and maybe no one will have to be traded away or left in the woods to face porcupines, water falls, cougars and all manner of other woodland perils.

Not the good kind of cougars either...

Merry Christmas eve to all...