Flyers best Canes in shootout, face Islanders today

New night, same story for the Flyers as they again got off to a good start, blew a nice sized lead by sitting on their heels and needed some late game heroics to pick up the win. But hey, at this point a win is a win, who's going to argue with that? Shutout or shootout, the Flyers needed two points last night and they got them winning 4-3 over the Hurricanes thanks to scoring two in the skills competition.

That said, they're going need to fix their defense. You can't be blowing leads against the league's best teams and, be it by hook or crook, expect to come out on top in the end. Fortunately for the orange and black, they are currently getting a bit of a breather from playing the league's elite teams, which continues with today's road match up with the NY Islanders. Not that you can take any of these teams lightly, especially not when you yourselves are one of the league's bottom dwellers, but right now mistakes won't end a game as quickly as they would against, oh I don't know, say the Capitals or Penguins.

The Flyers jumped out to a 3-0, with goals by Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Danny Briere, two of whom I recommended leaving in the woods. Again, I won't take full credit for their success, but I do deserve some and by some I mean a lot and by a lot I mean basically all. I missed a good chunk of the early part of the game so I won't bore you with reciting what I saw on highlight reels. Immediately following Briere's goal in the third, the Canes went on a 3-0 run of their own as the Flyers attempted to sit on a lead, something they haven't been able to do well at all in recent memory.

No fault goes to Michael Leighton, who started his second game on a row in place of the injured Brian Boucher. Leighton, who was a member of the Hurricanes a few weeks ago, performed admirably, stopping 37 of 40 shots and Tuomo Ruutu's in the shootout. Carolina's other shooter, the always dangerous Jussi Jokinen, hit the post. Carolina pummeled Leighton in third, firing 20 shots his way while his team stood flat footed in front of him.

The Flyers went of the attack in OT after killing off the last minute of a Jeff Carter high sticking penalty. They directed seven shots on Carolina goalie Cam Ward and he stopped them all. His luck turned during the shootout, an area where the Flyers have traditionally struggled. After Leighton made a fantastic glove save on Ruutu, Briere beat Ward low to the stick side with a nice move. Jokinen, who has 25 career goals in the event, the most of any player ever, hit the post. It was all up to the Captain, Shadow Richards to put it away, which he did by besting Ward five-hole to end it with a brilliant move.

At 5 p.m. today, the Flyers will look to beat the Islanders for the 13 consecutive time. The Flyers are still in desperate need of points and could leap frog the Islanders in the standings with a regulation victory. The Flyers still have two games in hand over the Islanders.

Alright, well go Flyers this eve. I'll be out for a dinner with the family for the early part of the game, but hopefully I'll catch enough of it to do a better job with the next recap. Fingers crossed for a good game tonight. These points are key, remember... the Winter Classic looms.