Broad Street Hockey Radio

Well, here we are. One game left in the Flyers season, perhaps. They're 5-0 in this situation, but this Finals thing is a different animal. We don't know how this will turn out, and honestly, the Boston series and the entire past doesn't matter at this point. We do, however, know a few things. We know that the Flyers lost Game 5, for example. On this week's BSH Radio, Ben, Geoff and I talk about how the Flyers got here. What went wrong in Game 5? Was pulling Michael Leighton the right move? Can they take the performance from the second half of that game and improve upon it for Game 6? And what about Game 6? Will we see any line shuffling? Will Chris Pronger return to form? Will Dustin Byfuglien, then, revert to his Game 1 thru 4 form? Ultimately, can the Flyers force a Game 7 back in Chicago on Friday night?

The Flyers are down 0-2 in the Stanley Cup Final, but do not fear. BSH Radio is here. Or something. On this week's program, we break down the Flyers pair of losses in Chicago to open the series. What went wrong? Should the Flyers feel fortunate that the games were close? Should the Blackhawks feel lucky that they squeaked them both out? What about matchups? Was putting Dan Carcillo back in the right idea? But most of the focus of the show is on tonight's Game 3. The Flyers return home with a chance to either make this a series or hand the Blackhawks a Cup this evening, but returning home gives the boys in orange and black reason for optimism. They get the crowd boost, of course, and they'll hopefully get some bounces in their favor on home ice. Ben, Geoff and myself discuss the hopes for the series and what we think happens from here on out. Oh, and lots of Oskars Bartulis talk. Never anything wrong with that, now.

The Cup Finals are here, and while we'll likely be stepping up the radio game during the next two weeks or so, we're here with our typical Wednesday show this week. On the show this week, Ben, Geoff and I spend a few minutes on the celebration of an Eastern Conference Championship, but much like the team itself, we quickly turn the page to the Chicago Blackhawks. What are their strengths? Their weaknesses? What are the big matchups we should keep an eye on? Do the Flyers stand a chance? We'll tell you right now that, yes, we make our predictions for the Final on this week's show, and yes, Geoff does pick against the Flyers again. It's working. But for Ben and myself, it's a pretty insane question. It's not just making a prediction. It's asking the question "will the Flyers win the Stanley Cup? Absolutely wild.

A lost episode of BSH Radio from May 20, 2010. Flyers lead Montreal 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals.

While it's still hard to believe that the Flyers have moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals, and it's even harder to believe that they have home-ice advantage in those Conference Finals, reality says it's happening. The Flyers will take on the Habs at Wachovia Center this evening, and to get you ready for the game, we bring you a special weekend edition of BSH Radio. To begin, we contemplate the history the Flyers made over the weekend. Ben, Geoff and I talk about the madness that was Game 7 and the unbelievable feat this Flyers team put together. But we must look ahead eventually, and we do as we try to break down the Montreal series as best we can. We also make our picks for the next round, in which Geoff picks against the Flyers for the third straight series. The team is clearly using his picks as bulletin board material, so for this, we thank him.

It's incredible, isn't it? Brian Boucher goes down to injury, Michael Leighton steps in, the Flyers go on to win Game 5 in dominating fashion, and somehow, someway, our confidence is at an all-time high in this series with the Bruins. Really, truly incredible. This week on BSH Radio, Ben, Geoff and I discuss the pretty surreal circumstances that surround the Flyers right now. We talk about Boucher's injury, Gagne's return, Krejci's loss and the slim-but-ever-growing chance that the Flyers can actually pull off something amazing in this series. If the Flyers lose in Game 6, is the season a success? If the Flyers force Game 7 and lose, is the season a success? If the Flyers win the series and then lose, is the season a success? We try to answer these questions on this week's show. In addition to the usual plethora of Flyers talk, we discuss the other happenings around the NHL, from the Canucks-Blackhawks series to the San Jose Sharks eliminating the defending Western Conference champions, to the other series in the East between Pittsburgh and Montreal. We also talk a bit about the Phoenix Coyotes ownership mess and what it could mean for the future of the team.

We pick the second round and review our round 1 prognostications. Short show -- 20 minutesish.

Anthony SanFillippo of the Delaware County Times is our guest this week on BSH Radio. Our first ever repeat guest, SanFillippo is the one writer on the Flyers beat who actually gives our humble little site the time of day. In fact, he actually has shown up to commune with us a few times, soi n that regard, we respect him more than just about anybody else on the beat. But it's not like we had him on the show again because he gets internet media. No, he knows the Flyers pretty damn well too, and he's actually a pretty timely guest since he's been at the core of a few mini-controversies lately. Late last week, SanFillippo threw a post up on his blog saying he was "embarrassed to be a hockey writer" after his colleagues from the Professional Hockey Writers Association named Capitals defenseman Mike Green as a finalist for the Norris Trophy. We talk about those criticisms and the harsh words he had for his fellow writers on this weeks show. We also take a step back to the week prior and discuss his criticisms of the atmosphere at Prudential Center in Newark. It's not all the off-ice stuff, though. We also talked with SanFillippo about the loss of Ian Laperriere, who the Flyers should hope to play come the second round, the potential return of Michael Leighton, and finally, we discuss his justification for comparing Mike Richards to Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman.

The Flyers have a 3-1 series lead of the New Jersey Devils. This is very, very good. Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne are both injured, though, and this is kind of on the opposite side of the happiness spectrum. On this week's edition of Broad Street Hockey Radio, we discuss all of these things. From the impact of the injuries to Carts and Gags (or Gaggy, as the kids are calling him), to the phenomenal play of Brian Boucher and Claude Giroux, to the invisible play of Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise. We also discuss some action from around the NHL playoffs and we report on Mike Richards' Lady Byng scare.

The playoffs are here, and we cover them on this week's edition of Broad Street Hockey Radio. To kick off the show, Geoff, Ben and I were joined by Steve Lepore. He writes the wonderful hockey media blog Puck The Media, which covers all things surrounding the coverage of the sport. Lepore is also a Devil(s fan), and he writes over at SBN's Devils' blog, In Lou We Trust. We talked to Steve about why the Flyers-Devils quarterfinal series is being ignored by national television, much to the dismay of displaced Philadelphians. We also talked about the Devils team, of course. Why should we be worried about the Devils? Does the regular season matter? After he signed off, the BSH trio talked about the series a little more in-depth. Will the excitement of this past weekend carry over and translate into playoff success? How will Jeff Carter help the Flyers? Can our defense shut down Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk? ... Boosh? Get the show after the jump. The hour-ish-long program is a perfect lead in to get you pumped for Flyers playoff hockey tonight.

Before we taped this week's edition of BSH Radio on Tuesday night, we had no idea how things would turn out over the last two nights. We didn't know the Flyers would beat the Leafs, we didn't know the Rangers would fall to the Sabres, and we didn't know the Rangers would rebound and crush those same Leafs a night later. What it all adds up to, of course, is a two-game battle royale to finish off the season this weekend between the orange and black and the hated Blueshirts. We assumed that this would likely be the case at recording time, so we enlisted Joe Fortunato of Blueshirt Banter to come on this week's show and discuss that hated franchise from the north. Prior to our chat with Joe, however, we welcomed Justin, aka JFein, onto the program to challenge Ben Rothenberg in a trivia duel. Discover the winner by listening to the show.

On this week's show, we discuss at great length the complex state of goaltending in the Flyers organization. From Ray Emery to Michael Leighton to Brian Boucher to Johan Backlund and beyond, who will be the backup this week? Who will be the goalie next year? What about next years backup? What about next years AHL goalies? Can Brian Boucher win a round this year in the playoffs? None of these questions have clear answers, but we try to answer them on this weeks show. Beyond that, what's the deal with the multitude of goaltending prospects that call the Flyers organization home? From Joacim Eriksson to Nic Riopel to Michael Teslak, where will they all be next season and beyond? It's all goaltending all the time this week on BSH Radio.

Short show this week, and it's a few days late, too. Sorry about that. We taped on Tuesday night and I was supposed to have this up Wednesday morning, but those are the breaks. So what that it's Friday? Anyway, as mentioned, it was a shorter show this week. Ben, Geoff and I talked for about 20 minutes regarding Jeff Carter's injury and how it hinders the Flyers chances going forward. We were then joined by Shaun Kreider, known as KreiderDesigns here on the site, to talk a little bit about the BSH Store that opened for business the other day. Shaun spoke about the creative process and how he came up with some of the ideas. Afterward, he challenged Ben to a rousing game of Flyers trivia... the closest match so far. See who won by listening to the show, after the jump.

Tim McManus, Adirondack Phantoms beat writer at the Glens Falls Post-Star, joins the show this week to talk about everything Phantoms. Unfortunately, at recording, we weren't aware of Johan Backlund's injury, but that doesn't take away from the discussion we had at all.We talked about the inseparable defensive duo, Kevin Marshall and Marc-Andre Bourdon. We talked goalies, from Backlund to Jeremy Duchesne (now a Flyer?!) to Nic Riopel. We talked forwards, from Patrick Maroon to Stefan Legein. Tim gave us updates on Mika Pyorala and Danny Syvret. Syvret is injured, by the way. We also checked on on Ryan Dingle (yeah, the throw-in from the Pronger deal) to see if he ever has a shot at making the NHL. Greeted with laughter.Finally, we discuss the future of the Phantoms in Glens Falls and when we should expect to see them in the Lehigh Valley. After Tim leaves us, we play back this week's trivia competition. William, aka CoburnsCuddleBuddy, came on to challenge Mr. Ben Rothenberg. Listen to find the results. Get the show after the jump.

As we prepare for the trade deadline, we welcome Donny Rivette from Litter Box Cats, a man who covers possibly the most active deadline team in the league. Everybody is for sale in Florida, it seems, so the timing is right to have Donny on the show. We talked about his team, his thoughts one what they might look like after Wednesday's deadline and if they'll be a competitive hockey team come that time. David Booth will be playing tonight for the first time against the Flyers, so we talked to Donny about the impact that may have on Wednesday night's game. We also chatted about Tomas Vokoun and his likely availability at Wednesday's deadline. Oh, and a Dennis Seidenberg reference is dropped. We then move on to some more Flyers-centric stuff, specifically Ray Emery's potentially career-ending injury and what that means for the Flyers moving forward at the deadline. Roloson? Vokoun? Ellis? Biron? We also listen in on a voicemail from a caller angry about Sidney Crosby.