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The Penguins and Flyers have established themselves as Eastern Conference powers.

What a difference a year makes.

One day short of a year ago, the Philadelphia Flyers<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/teams/phi> and Pittsburgh Penguins<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/teams/pit> hooked up for another installment of the Battle of Pennsylvania and the embattled Flyers took one on the chin, losing 6-1.

Bill Guerin, who retired last week after failing to catch on with a team despite the fact he was coming off a 21-goal, 45-point season, scored the winning goal while Jordan Staal, who has yet to play because of a series of injuries, popped a pair for the Pens.

Tuesday night, it was the Flyers who turned the tables on the Penguins, claiming a 3-2 nail-biter.

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And what does the result prove?

Well, in a word, nothing.

Dr. Phil likes to say the best predictor of the future is the past, or something like that, but when it comes to hockey -- all sports, for that matter -- history often means squat. That doesn't mean teams won't use history as a motivating factor when gearing up for an opponent, but based on two meetings between the Penguins and Flyers 364 days apart, and the fact it was Philadelphia and not Pittsburgh that won the Eastern Conference championship last season, you really can't read too much into the results of what happened in a game a year ago.

For that matter, the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/teams/tor> took it to the Edmonton Oilers<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/teams/edm> last night in the NHL's only other game a mere 12 days after they were embarrassed 5-0 at home by the same team. Go figure.

But getting back to the Penguins and the Flyers, it's funny what a difference a year makes.

One year ago the Flyers were a mess. Despite being the pre-season pick of many to win the Stanley Cup, they were on the brink of a civil war with, no matter how much they deny it, a division in the dressing room between the youngsters (who didn't quite get the correlation between living well and winning) and the veterans (led by newcomer Chris Pronger<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/players/Chris_Pronger>) who took a more business-like approach to game preparation.

We all know what happened; the two sides kissed and made up (inspired by the no-nonsense approach of new coach Peter Laviolette) and the Flyers made it to the Stanley Cup final.

Based on what we have seen this season, is there any way to accurately pinpoint which of these two teams has the best chance to win the East this season? Surely the Flyers and the Penguins are the leading contenders for the conference title, even if you can't discount the Washington Capitals<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/teams/was> and Montreal Canadiens<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/teams/mon> who are also legitimate contenders.

Frankly, there's really not much separating these two Eastern powers. Both have played 32 games with the Flyers having lost just seven times in regulation time and the Penguins nine times. The Flyers have out-scored the Penguins 108-103, but Pittsburgh could make the case it had a disadvantage with Evgeni Malkin<http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/players/Evgeni_Malkin> missing five games and Jordan Staal the entire season because of injury.

Malkin returned to the lineup Tuesday night and looked more engaged than he has all season, scoring twice -- good news for the Penguins; bad news for the rest of the NHL.

Both teams have been exceptionally strong on the road with the Flyers building a 9-2-3 record away from home compared to Pittsburgh's 11-4-1. At home, they are similar. The Flyers are 11-5-2 while the Flyers are 10-5-1.

The Flyers’ rotten start last season wound up meaning nothing. They made peace and found their game when they needed it most and the lessons they learned seem to be paying dividends this season. That alone could make them the most dangerous team in the East.

Thus far, the Flyers and Penguins have met four times with Philadelphia winning three games, all by 3-2 scores. Pittsburgh won 5-1 on Oct. 16. They have two more scheduled matches, March 24 and March 29 and by then, perhaps we'll have a better idea which of these two teams has the best chance of winning the conference.

One thing is certain: those who used to complain the NHL's regular season had very little meaning can no longer make that claim. All you have to do is follow the ups and downs of the Flyers over the past two years and the intense rivalry between the Flyers and Penguins to prove that.

Highest Scoring Team<http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/psh/comments/highest_scoring_team/>

by PuckStopsHere<https://mail.upmc.edu/index.php/member/84/> on 12/15/10 at 02:47 PM ET
Comments (4)

So far this season the Colorado Avalanche have been the top scoring team in the NHL. They have 3.53 goals per game so far this year. This is about 0.2 goals per game more than any other team and a 0.6 goals per game improvement on last season.

For the most part this improvement has come from a deep young offensive team. Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk are all scoring at about point per game rate. Duchene is a talented second year man in the NHL who seems to be on his way to stardom. Paul Stastny has been a good scorer in Colorado for a few years, but has also missed time to injury.

Milan Hejduk is having a comeback season at age 34. In 2002/03 he scored 50 goals and 98 points, but he hasn’t had a point per game season since. It has helped him to be surrounded by better quality linemates.

John-Michael Liles has been a very good puck moving defenceman this year. This is a bit of a surprise. He is on pace to significantly exceed his career bests this year.

David Jones and Kevin Shattenkirk have also been important offensive cogs. Chris Stewart has done well also, but he has a broken hand and will not play until the new year.

This is a talented young team, but there are also signs of overachieving. Their top scorers are on pace for career bests or in the case of Milan Hejduk bests since the lockout. Sometimes young teams have strong seasons where the entire core has a career year together. The Colorado Avalanche may be doing that this season. I don’t see Colorado as the most talented offensive team in the league, but they currently hold that position. They are a good team who should stay near the top in scoring in the league, but I bet another winds up the top scoring team by the end of the season.