The Philadelphia Flyers finished up season 2007 on a positive note, winning three straight to end the calendar year. However, during the four days of 2008, they already showed that their 2008 start leaves much to be desired and has plenty of room for improvement. The Flyers will try to rehabilitate themselves as they continue a six-game road trip Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leaves.

On Friday, Calgary beat Carolina 4-3, Buffalo crashed Washington 5-6, Toronto outplayed Atlanta 4-0, and Minnesota won over Anaheim 5-2.

Eric Lindros, the winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP in 1995, retired in his hometown of London, Ontario, yesterday, ending a career derailed by a series of concussions and other minor injuries. Eric Lindros, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound center, had 372 goals, 865 points and 1,398 penalty minutes in 760 games for the Rangers, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Dallas.

The Senators are off to the best start to a season in the National Hockey League history after Tuesday night’s 5-1 win over their rivals Maple Leafs. The Senators improved to an impressive 13-1-0, making this season’s Senators the fastest team in the league to reach the thirteen-win mark. Each Ottawa player got a phone call from John Paddock last summer warning against a letdown following their trip to the Stanley Cup final last year. Paddock warned against the type of meltdown that happened to 2006 Cup finalists Edmonton and the Panthers, both of which missed the playoffs last season.

After Wellwood steps onto the ice at Scotiabank Place tonight, the Maple Leafs will welcome back his brains rather than his brawn. Given Kyle’s medium-sized frame, brawn is in short supply with the player, however, he has lots of brainpower that the Maple Leafs’ moribund power play desperately needs. Before last night’s matches, the Leafs’ power play was 26th among the League’s thirty teams with a success rate of 13.4 %. Toronto had also allowed 4 short-handed goals, the most in the NHL.

Kyle Wellwood, who has not played a match this year after requiring surgery for a 2nd time on his sports hernia, will inject a healthy shot of creativity in the power play.

The most obvious reason for this year’s travails is that Kyle Wellwood, defenseman McCabe and winger Tucker, who were regulars on last year’s power play, have not played on it for the past 2 weeks.

Kyle Wellwood is going to play centre on the 4th line with another newcomer to this season’s lineup. Bell finished his fifteen-game League suspension and will play with Kyle Wellwood and John Pohl. On the power play, Kyle will be on the Number 1 unit with Sundin and Antropov as the forwards, with Blake dropping down to the 2nd unit.

There is no better test for the Toronto Maple Leaf power play than the Senators tonight. At 12-1 before last night’s matches, Ottawa is the Number 1 hockey team in the League and they enjoy a perfect record against Toronto’s power play. In the first 2 matches of the season, Ottawa blanked the Maple Leafs on fourteen power-play opportunities in winning both matches.