Penguins provide true test for Flyers

After a 6-1 start, the Philadelphia Flyers have slipped to 8-5, and are now tied for the Atlantic Division lead...with the Islanders. I think it's pretty safe to say that the Flyers are light years beyond the basement dwellers of last season, but are they the team that roared to a 6-1 start? It appears the answer is no. But who really knows this early in the season. In the next three games, the Flyers play Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh again, in the first home game after their season long 8 game road trip. And that is where we will learn a great deal more about where this team actually is.

Wrap your head around this: The Flyers played the Penguins 8 times last season to an 0-8 record, getting outscored 42-19 in the process. They were simply a team that couldn't match up any worse against the Pens, and the stats show it. Granted, the Flyers lost to most teams last year, and lost bad in some situations, but the Penguins were, and are, a type of team that dominated the Flyers. They were fast, skilled, and played an aggressive style of defense. In fact, the Flyers' biggest struggles came against teams that played that way.

Despite this season's early success, and relatively speaking amazing success, the Flyers still have shown that they struggle against that style of play. Teams that bring the pressure with flying forwards and pinching defenseman have had success against the Flyers this season, even when it didn't end in victory. The Flyers can thank Marty Biron for that. Two specific losses on the current road trip that demonstrated that weakness against that style of play were against Tampa Bay and Montreal. Both those teams made the Flyers look a little like they did last year, and in those situations, Biron was not able to bail the team out.

If the Flyers truly are as improved as they have looked at times this season, then they need to show it in the upcoming three games; specifically against Pittsburgh. They simply need to show that they can beat the Pens, and they need to show it right away. The longer they go this season without knocking down Pittsburgh, the harder and harder it will be to finally do it, as those demons creep closer and closer to the forefront of everyone's psyche.

They have two chances in the next three games to exorcise those particular demons, and if they do, they will prove to everyone - the fans, the Penguins, and, most importantly, themselves - that they truly are a team improved to the point of being a season long threat to take the division.