A storm is a-brewin for the Flyers in Tampa

Another day, another Flyers loss. Whoops! Scratch that, they haven't even had the opportunity to lose yet. It seems I've confused this preview with a recap. No, no, the Flyers won't lose until... oh about exactly seven hours and five minutes from now when they give up the game's first goal in the first five minutes as per the checklist I set down for you all yesterday.

Hmm... it seems the snarkiness has come out a bit early today. I'll try and rein that in and actually give the Flyers the benefit of the doubt. Who knows? Maybe they'll actually come out with some heart tonight and play for 60 minutes... HAHA! Right and maybe I'll get a good job after graduation. Ah, laughter is good in these type of situations, it calms the mind. I mean, the only possible alternative to having a laugh about the pathetic state of my beloved Flyers involves me moving to Thailand and building a Buddhist temple ala Stallone in "Rambo III."

You know something? The Disney corporation gets a lot of flack for being sexist, racist, ageist and just about every other type of -ist that you can possible imagine. The folks at Disney aren't all bad, however. Lest we forget their association with Pixar. Or the fact that, thanks to "Disney on Ice," the Flyers will play their next six games on the road, giving the hometown crowd a break from paying to see the orange and black's particular brand of... "hockey." Finally, fans will get to watch a compelling on-ice product again. So next time you hear someone ripping on Disney, you give them a punch in the mouth for me, ok? That might be too extreme. How about you mention the "Disney on Ice" thing or better yet just agree with whatever hateful nonsense they may be spewing about the house that the mouse built for the sake of fitting in.

Hey, maybe a good road trip is just what the Flyers need to fix this mess. For starters, they can drive out to the middle of nowhere, shove Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards out of the team bus and drive away as fast as humanly possible.

The downside is that I've watched "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" enough times to know that these three will likely find their way home eventually but only after Mike Richards dramatically has to pull himself out of a pit near a rail road, Jeff Carter gets smacked in the face by a porcupine and Scott Hartnell tumbles down a waterfall and hangs out with a kindly old hermit for a bit.

For those of you keeping score at home, the would make Richards Shadow, the aging Labrador who leads the gang, Carter the brash young bull dog named Chance and Hartnell would be Sassy, the witty and snobby Siamese cat.

If only the Flyers played each night with the level of commitment those animals demonstrated... sad.

Well, Walt Disney presents "The Flyers Six Game Road Trip" opens tonight in Tampa Bay at 7:30 p.m. This will be the second meeting of the year for the two clubs. The Flyers pushed around the Lightning 6-2 on Nov. 2 on the strength of two-goal games by Shadow and Chance, I mean Richards and Carter... Tampa is riding high on a two game win streak as they head home after ending a six game road swing of their own.

Superstar center Vinny Lecavalier had one goal and nine assists when these two teams last met and had been demoted to the third line. He's up to nine goals and 24 assists, so he seems to have righted the ship significantly. The real threats on the Lightning are second year sniper Steven Stamkos (21 goals, 14 assists) and his playmaker Martin St. Louis (7 goals, 33 assists). Stamkos had one of the Lightning's two goals during the two team's first meeting.

The Lightning shouldn't have too much trouble scoring tonight as the Flyers are forced to start Michael "Please Be Kind" Leighton (1-4-1, 4.17 GAA, .851 SV%) in net tonight due to Brian Boucher's injured finger. If the orange and black want to win, they will have to provide Leighton with as much help as possible, maybe even play three defenseman at a time as opposed to the usual two. It would be a big help if they scored a whole bunch of goals too. Like 12, or how about an even 20 just to make things safe.

The Flyers have talked a lot about hard work and not quitting in recent weeks and here is yet another opportunity to finally live up to their word. I won't hold my breath, but we'll see what happens. If this thing gets ugly early, I may just pop in my VHS copy of "Homeward Bound" and remember this team during better times.