We all know that the Philadelphia Flyers have gotten off to a horrible start this season - a start that was so bad their GM Bobby Clarke resigned and took the head coach, Ken Hitchcock, with him on the way out the door. However, thanks to a West Coast road trip the Flyers are beginning to turn their season around.

It started with a 7-4 thumping of the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. Until then the Ducks had only lost one game in regulation all season and had been one of the toughest teams in the league to score on. But the Flyers, at the time just 3-12-2 and in last place in the league, routed the Ducks with five goals in the first period. They added two goals in the third even though they only took two shots in the third. Peter Forsberg, who had been slowed by an ailing ankle, was on fire and the top line of Forsberg, Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble were clicking.

The good times continued for the Flyers the very next night in Los Angeles. Against a team that has struggled almost as much as they have this year the Flyers were able to score three goals in the third period to pull a 4-3 win out of the jaws of defeat. Two wins may not seem like a lot, but for a team that had only won three of their first 17 games - it's a very big deal.

A similiar thing happened to the Rangers when they came out West. New York had lost six of it's previous nine games before beating the Ducks and Sharks in back-to-back games and have now gone 5-2-1 in thier last eight. Can the Flyers use these two wins as a springboard to get themselves back into the playoff race? Time will tell. But one thing's for sure - Eastern Conference teams should WANT to play on the West Coast every year instead of fighting so hard to avoid it.

By the way - I know that there have been a lot of rumors about Peter Forsberg potentially being traded before the deadline (his contract expires after this season) and Doug talked about that very topic, among many others, with Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Daily News. That interview will be played in the Puck Podcast this week and if you like frank discussion of the NHL and the Flyers in particular, you do not want to miss this interview. One thing's for sure about East Coast reporters - they don't mince words. Ed Moran gave some strong opinions and some great insight.