The Flyers still own fourth place in the Eastern Conference, but after Sunday's action, that could very easily change depending on what the Penguins do vs. Montreal and what the Devils do vs. the Canadiens. There's only one way to explain today's 6-4 loss to the Pens at the WFC, then: It's all part of the plan.

While the Devils and Penguins beat the crap out of each other in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup in the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers will have the luxury of playing the crappy winner of the Southeast Division, either Washington or Florida. It makes so much sense.

Because really, that game didn't make any sense at all. From the awful officiating -- in both directions -- by Stephane Auger and Co. to the atrocious goaltending by Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky to the pitiful defense in front of them to Matt Cooke scoring a 3-on-5 goal, it was just stupid from start to finish.

Perhaps the Flyers thought the Carnival was today, not tomorrow.

Questions with Answers

1. It's one thing to score seven goals against the Sabres. But is the offense there today against the Pens? Offense was fine.
2. Can the Flyers stop Evgeni Malkin? Yeah, but they forgot about Matt Cooke...
3. Speaking of, Orange Jesus is just two points behind Malkin for the points lead. How's that race look at the end of the day? Each had an assist, so no change.
4. How does Nick Grossman look? Grossman was fine. Not the problem at all. Kimmo Timonen in particular didn't look good, but overall, the defense just wasn't sound ... yet again.
5. What about JvR... and Briere... and Jagr? Reemer had strong moments, Jagr had two goals, Briere assisted on one of those goals.
6. Over/under on stupid Crosby sucks chants set at 5. So, over or under? I only heard one, but wasn't in the building today.

Comment of the Day

The feeling I get when Jagr scores on the Pens is basically the same feeling as when I find money in a jacket pocket that I didn't know was there

>> DannyMcG