Last year the Flyers captured the city of Philadelphia in an improbable playoff run. They got into the playoffs on the last day of the 2009 regular season in an overtime shootout win over the New York Rangers.
The Flyers then took care of the New Jersey Devils in the eastern conference quarterfinals, winning the series 4-1.
After falling into a 0-3 hole against the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the hockey world declared them dead.
Everyone gave up on the Broad Street Bullies except for themselves.
The Flyers then did the unthinkable; they came back from a 0-3 series deficit to win game seven and move closer to the Stanley Cup.
Philadelphia sports teams do not execute comebacks; fans of this town are used to getting disappointed by its teams.
The Flyers got everyone’s attention after defeating the Boston Bruins.
After easily dismantling the Canadians they earned the right to play for the Stanley Cup. Despite losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup there is still a lot to be optimistic about.
In seven games this year the Flyers are 3-3-1.
You might say that is not impressive, however Michael Leighton is still recovering from surgery.
In the off season the Flyers brought in defensemen Sean O’Donnell, and Andrej Maszaros to be the third defensive pairing and to give guys like Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timmonen some rest.
It is still very early to predict how well the Flyers will do, but I think everyone learned last year not to count them out.
When Leighton gets back between the pipes we will be able to really see what this team can do.
Do they have another Stanley Cup run up their sleeve?
Perhaps the team is full of winners.
Captain Mike Richards has won everywhere he has been, including a Memorial Cup with the Kitchner Rangers, a Calder Cup with the then Philadelphia Phantoms, and a gold medal in last year’s Olympic Games for team Canada.
It is only a matter of time before Richards and his teammates are hoisting the Stanley Cup for the Philadelphia Flyers.