Warning Received by Flyers

In the Flyers' first action after they were hit with their fifth suspension of the young season, and received a stern warning from the league regarding further indiscretions, they skated to a 3-1 win over the home Minnesota Wild. And in the process, they perhaps learned what the league meant by "warning." The door to their penalty box is going to open much more frequently than the opponents for the remainder of this season.

Within the first minute of Wednesday's game, the Danny Briere was sent to the box after being pushed into the Wild goalie. Within the first two minutes of the game, the Wild had their first two man advantage when Mike Richards was caught for "slashing" when his stoke broke on the ice within a crowd of players. In all, the Wild had eight power plays, including two man advantage time totaling 3:24, to only two power plays for the Flyers.

Ok, granted; sometimes this happens. Sometimes one team is forcing the play and that is causing the other team to "chase" and the penalties are soon to follow. However, that was not the case on Wednesday. Despite three power plays to none in the first period, the Flyers entered the dressing room with a 2-0 lead, only being outshot 10-9 in the process. The Wild were not forcing the play.

And it wasn't just what was being called against the Flyers. Sometimes games are called tight. I'm fine with that. But this was not an example of that. The Wild, while they didn't get away with murder, they got away with much more than the Flyers. Thankfully for the Flyers, Nittymaki was on his game and they held the Wild to just 1-8 on the PP.

Maybe it's a bit of conspiracy theorist in me when I say this game was the result of the league bringing the hammer down against the Flyers. Maybe it's the referee's taking matters into their own hands, and keeping an extra close eye on the Flyers (at the expense of an eye on the other team). Whatever the reason for the clearly uneven officiating, the Flyers need to be prepared for it the rest of the season. Whether it's fair or not, they have gained a reputation of being dirty, and that is something that is not easily ignored by officiating crews. So far, the Flyers have dealt with that in the right way....by winning.