Daniels propel Flyers past Leafs 6-2

Not a bad way way to follow up a humiliating loss. Last night the Flyers came out and pounded the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2, scoring six goals in a game for the second consecutive Wednesday. Remember last week they smoked the Rangers 6-0. It was the Flyers first home win since they... wait for it... beat the NY Islanders 6-2 on Dec. 8.

Yesterday's date? January 6th. Dun dun DUNNNN! I feel like Jim Carey in "The Number 23" all of a sudden. Now, I just need to grow some shaggy bangs and I'll be all set.

So back to the game. Somehow I managed to miss most of it so I won't belabor you with things that you could easily find in any highlight video. I caught the game's first goal, missed the second and third due to dog walking, caught the fourth on the radio and my memory is spotty from there. Having sporadically watched the game and diligently watched the highlights, here are some very brief thoughts.

• Welcome back Daniel Briere! Not that he ever really left us, but finally the Danny Briere haters can exit stage right. See yourselves out, please... Two goals last night, his 15th and 16th of the year were also good for his 499th and 500th career points.
• What's in a name? The Daniels Carcillo and Syvret each netted a goal to go along with Briere's two. For Syvret it was his first career indoor NHL goal (he scored his other goal this season at the Winter Classic), while Carcillo's 4th of the season was a painfully pretty effort from a guy who is used to just dishing out pain. Look out Ovechkin, Carcillo's got your number. Seems like Toronto's problem was not having a SINGLE Daniel on their roster... not one! They have a Nikolai and a Colton, but no Daniels. Seriously, who brings a Nikolai to a Daniel fight? Oh Canada!
• The orange and black went a studly 3-6 on the power play last night. Nothing beats making teams pay for their dumb penalties and any team with Colton Orr on its roster is bound to take more then a few of those.
• The Flyers worked their power play very effectively while only giving Toronto four, and holding them scoreless. This is huge people. The Flyers PK is still ranked near the bottom of the NHL but they been much better as of late. Kudos to Blair Betts and co. for their work on that end.
• Fight! Fight! Fight! The game turned into a playground brawl during the third period with Arron Asham squaring off against Toronto's Garnet Exelby, Scottie Hartnell taking on Jeff Finger and Carcillo doing battle with Jamal Mayers. Earlier in the game Mayers took on Ian Laperriere.
• Colton Orr. In a game where the rest of his team was willing to duke it out with the Flyers tough guys, Orr was strangely silent. Why, oh why could that be? Oh that's right, because Colton Orr is the most useless player in the NHL. He has one job to do--- drop the gloves--- and he didn't do it. Instead he took an idiotic run at Mike Richards as the second period expired, put his team shorthanded and had to watch as Richards scored on the subsequent power play. The only thing Orr does is attempt to hurt people. Throw this waste of space out of the league before he succeeds. Well, that or force Toronto to trade him to the Penguins so he can bring his unique brand of hockey there and cost them some games. I like that plan better actually.
• Lastly, Michael Leighton is NO pumpkin. Well, not yet anyway. He stopped 30 of 32 shots and made some huge saves while the game was still close. How's this for an underdog story? Waived by the worst team in the league, a goalie finds new life and leads his perennially underachieving team to the promised land... Jake Gyllenhaal as Michael Leighton in "Flying High: The Michael Leighton Story." I smell an Oscar. Lots of them. Certainly one for Scruffles, the trained bear that will be portraying Chris Pronger in the film.

Well, that's all folks. Tonight the Flyers are in Pittsburgh to take on the Pens for the fourth time this year. The Flyers are 0-2-1 this season against their cross state rivals and were blown out by them 6-1 on Dec. 15. The Flyers lost to the Pens 3-2 in a shootout the next day. The Pens recently ended a five game losing streak by beating Atlanta 5-2 at home on Tuesday night.

For a team that was picked to win the Stanley Cup before the season began, beating Toronto isn't exactly a parade worthy achievement. A win tonight would go a long way towards proving that Flyers have actually turned a corner and that they are a legitimately good team.