A thumping. That’s what I’d call it. The kind of game you wish had never taken place or at the very least you hadn’t watched it. But I did. I watched the entire thing, unable to turn away as the Flyers teased me with the little hope that they might yet get into the game before Chicago stretched the elastic one more and pulled clear. That was the tale of the tape … Chicago would dominate play, score a handful of goals only for the Flyers to claw a few back to move within two of tieing the game only for Chicago to once again open the gap. In and out the gap went but never close enough for the Flyers to level it and now they find themselves 3-2 down on the series with the Chicago Blackhawks one win away from lifting the Stanley Cup.

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You don’t always have to deserve your win. So long as you win, that is sometimes enough.

Tonight the Flyers won 4-3 … they lead 4-1 at one point … but while Chicago were the better team throughout the game the Flyers defence, who were rock solid at times, did enough to allow the team to hold on for a much needed victory. The series is now split at two and means we now have a three game series, with two games in Chicago to decide the cup. I said before the game that whoever won tonight’s game would win the cup and I stick by that … ever since the lockout, the team that won game four went on to win the cup every single time. The Flyers have clawed their way back from a 2-0 deficit to level the series with back-to-back wins and will head into Chicago with momentum on their side and a real belief that they can beat this Chicago team.

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Game four tonight goes in Philadelphia at 8 p.m. and in a way you could almost call it a must win game for Philadelphia again. Lose tonight and they go 3-1 down heading to Chicago and against this Chicago team you’ have to favor them to get the job done. Win though and the series is tied, Philly have the momentum and suddenly Chicago are on the ropes heading home trying to get their game in order. Game four is such a pivotal game in this series and while I said the winner of game three would win the series I really mean it about the winner of game four. It’s been a fascinating series so far with so much drama both on and off the ice.

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When I typed in the title above my spell checker highlighted the word ‘Pronger’, but when I clicked on it instead of hitting ignore, I hit ‘learn’ because in the coming year or so with Chris Pronger now a Philadelphia Flyers player I believe I’ll be writing quite a bit about him and I don’t want red lines all over my articles before I hit submit.

Last night during the NHL Entry Draft the Flyers made a big splash by giving up their pick late in the first round, their first round pick next year and two young players for veteran defenseman Chris Pronger. Why should I be so interested other than the fact that my team have picked up a marquee player who, even at 35, can still make a difference to the point that he could be the missing cog in a Stanley Cup challenge?

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There is no real official starting point for making trades in the run up to the NHL trading deadline. Unlike football there is no set window, the teams can trade at anytime throughout the season right through until 4 March — this coming Wednesday. Unofficially though today marked the start of the ‘deadline season’ with the first big move. The Pittsburgh offloaded Ryan Whitney to Anaheim for Chris Kunitz and a prospect. It was a strange move in that the Pens only signed Whitney to a five year contract last year, but circumstances have changed, they have salary cap worries and want to do everything possible to keep Crosby and Malkin in the same line-up. Whitney can at least take solace in the fact that he remains a bird in some form transforming from Penguin to Duck.

Whitney is only in his mid-20s and has a lot left to give. He broke into the NHL as a hot prospect, he helped lead the Penguins to the cup final last year, but started this season on the injury reserve list missing a lot of games. His offensive production from the blue-line this season has fell away from previous years and the Penguins have decided to move him on in exchange for a top-six forward.

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