Suddenly special teams keep Flyers rolling against Dallas

I'm not sure this is any consolation to the heartbroken Eagles fans out there but here it goes anyway... the Flyers got your back folks. I'm sure the city of Dallas is on the verge of mass hysteria after their beloved Stars fell to the Flyers 6-3 last night, completely forgetting the recent successes of their football team against a team named after a certain national bird.

See? All better now.

Well, I'm feeling better any way. Sadly, "Dexter" with Janice, from here on out referred to as "Spaceman," called last night so I didn't get to see a ton of the game, which seemed to be yet another solid effort from the resurgent Flyers. That being the case, I'll try and keep this sort. Usually when I say this, somehow I end up droning on even longer than ever. I can promise you that will very likely not be the case today.

• Flyers continued their success on the power play, going 2-4 with goals scored by Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell. Not to be out done, the Flyers penalty killing units shut down the Stars power play, holding them to an 0-5 mark. Kimmo Timonen even chipped in a shorthanded goal. Timonen has two of the team's four shorthanded tallies this year.
• Flyers were up 6-1 before packing things in with nine minutes left to play in the third. Dallas scumbag Steve Ott took a break from gouging eyes and boarding people to net two goals long after the Flyers had called it quits. Ott should be very proud of his accomplishments in life.
• Oscars Bartulis, Braydon Coburn, Blair Betts and Danny Syvret were the only skaters on the Flyers roster who didn't record a point in the game. Syvret gets a pass because he only played 39 seconds. No, he wasn't doing his best Riley Cote on a busy night impression but rather left with an upper body injury.
• Hartnell, Powe, Timonen, Giroux, Laperierre and Gagne scored the Flyers goals. Each of the team's four lines are represented.
• Laperriere had the Gordie Howe hat trick. In addition to his goal, he added an assist on Timonen's and fought Mark Fistric after the Dallas defender took a reckless run at a Flyer.
• For the record, Dallas hasn't won a road game since a Dec. 11 shoot out win over the San Jose Sharks.
• Marty Turco got caught playing defense instead of goalie on the Flyers second score of the game. He poked the puck off of James van Riemsdyk's stick once but the puck found its way back to JVR. Perhaps feeling a little too big for his hockey pants, Turco tried again and JVR passed the puck right passed him to a wide open Powe who had time to watch the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (regular cuts not extended, let's not get carried away here) before burying the shot.
• Michael Leighton stopped 27 of 30 shots while starting his tenth straight game for the Flyers. He is 8-0-1 with a no decision in those starts. Ray Emery was his back up last night, while Brian Boucher enjoyed the game from the press box. I wonder if he can play defense?

Alright, that's all for now. Tomorrow night the Flyers head to Toronto to take on the grammatically challenged Maple Leafs featuring Colton Orr and a whole bunch of other players that the free world has never heard of. The Leafs will be looking for some revenge after the Flyers smoked them 6-2 on Jan. 6. Expect Danny Carcillo to fight someone, anyone wearing blue early on as his taunting of Toronto during the last game will likely make him a marked man. Somehow I don't think Carcillo is too worried...