head coach: Wayne Cashman

roster: C - Eric Lindros, Chris Gratton, Dan LaCroix, Joel Otto, Vaclav Prospal. LW - Rod Brind'Amour, Colin Forbes, Dan Kordic, John LeClair, Brantt Myhres, Shjon Podein. RW - Pat Falloon, Trent Klatt, Dainius Zubrus. D - Paul Coffey, Eric Desjardins, Chris Joseph, Janne Niinimaa, Luke Richardson, Kjell Samuelsson, Petr Svoboda, Chris Therien. G - Ron Hextall, Garth Snow.

injuries: Petr Svoboda, d, (neck strain) and Pat Falloon, rw, (abdominal strain) missed Sunday's game against Tampa Bay and are day-to-day; Vaclav Prospal, rw, (broken left leg, is expected to be sidelined until at least late February).

transactions: December 18 - Chris Joseph, d, recalled from Philadelphia (AHL).

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
New Jersey   44  28  14   2    58  132   92  
Philadelphia 44  25  11   8    58  134   97  
Washington   46  21  17   8    50  128  122  
Florida      46  15  21  10    40  117  131   
NY Rangers   45  14  19  12    40  114  123   
NY Islanders 45  15  25   5    35  112  132  
Tampa Bay    44   9  27   8    26   78  135  

game results:

12/30 at Edmonton     W 3-1
12/31 at Vancouver    W 8-0
01/03 at Ottawa       W 7-2
01/08 at Carolina     T 3-3
01/09 at Washington   L 4-1
01/11 at Tampa Bay    W 5-2

team news:

by Eric Meyer, Philadelphia Correspondent

STILL ROLLIN' ALONG...

The talk around the league has been about the five big dogs that seem to make the rest of the teams in the NHL look like little puppies; those teams being: Colorado, New Jersey, Dallas, Detroit, and of course, Philadelphia.

Unlike last season, when the Flyers hit the skids for the first quarter of the season, hovering around the .500 mark, only to go on a huge 18-game unbeaten streak, this year's addition of the orange and black has been relatively consistent: consistently good. Tied with the Devils heading into Monday's action, the Flyers, despite all the line shifting by Head Coach Wayne Cashman, have looked strong. In fact, they have only two losses in their last 15 games, going 10-3-2 during that stretch.

I've talked about it all season, but if I fail to give John LeClair some sort of accolades in each and every article, I feel like I've slighted him and done some sort of injustice. The man who hasn't missed a single game this year for the orange and black has notched 33 goals in 44 games, putting him on pace to notch 62 goals. Let's not forget that ever since a December 5th tie in New York, John LeClair has not been paired with Eric Lindros as a linemate on the ice.

As a neat little transition, how about we talk about a guy who has been paired with Eric Lindros, namely Trent Klatt. Two goals, one assist and some physical play by Klatty helped pace the Flyers to a 5-2 victory over the Lightning on Sunday. Nonetheless, this reporter is still a little skeptical about putting Trent Klatt, a third-liner under former coach Terry Murray, on the first line with Eric Lindros and Rod Brind'Amour. Eight goals on the season, paired with Eric Lindros for much of that stretch, just doesn't cut it for me. But hey, I'm not the coach and the team I'm not coaching, the Flyers, are atop the Atlantic Division.

Yes, the phone lines on most talk shows here in Philadelphia are often inundated with hockey critics like myself, suggesting a trade for a sniper, or a stay-at-home defenseman, or a goalie (personally I would go the goalie route: CuJo - while his stock is down a bit). Yet, for all of the critics that called in earlier in the season, and for all of the media in this town that were against Wayne Cashman, those voices have become relatively quiet in recent weeks.

Goal scored by number 6?

Yes, that's right! For those of you who browsed through the box scores on Monday only to see that Chris Therien had notched his first goal of the season... well, don't be surprised. That's no misprint. The empty-net goal that defenseman Chris Therien scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning, capping a 5-2 Flyers road win, was Therien's first regular season goal in 112 games, dating back to Oct. 30, 1996.

Tough Break (bad pun)

Six to eight weeks is a long time to wait, especially if it means missing the Olympics. Yet that's the amount of time that right wing Vinnie Prospal will miss after fracturing his fibula against the Ottawa Senators. Prospal was injured during the first period of the Flyers' 7-2 win over the Sens at Ottawa on Saturday, January 3 when he and Senators defenseman Lance Pitlick became tied up behind the net. Prospal fell to the ice, only to get his foot caught in the ice surface, causing his leg to snap as he awkwardly collapsed to the ice. Two screws were inserted into the leg of Prospal by team physician, Dr. Arthur Bartolozzi.

As I mentioned before, the timing will be costly not only to the Flyers, but to the Czech Republic Olympic team who will now be without the services of Mr. Prospal during the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Defenseman Petr Svoboda will be the lone Flyers representative on the Czech team.

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