O.K., first thing's first... looks like the Flyers weren't stretching the truth this time about Matt Walker.

Turns out he has injured his other hip now and will need similar surgery to repair the damage. This will likely cost him another six weeks.

Funny how these things always seem to work out for the Flyers though...

As for Jody Shelley, He had some great stuff to say about the suspension. He's as forthright and honest as they come. Here's what he said Monday at practice:

http://bit.ly/f0L4Wf

So, the Penguins come into tonight's game riding a 12-game winning streak, and now they'll get Evgeni Malkin back. Don't expect that to mess with the chemistry. The Penguins are very good, and Malkin will make them better.

You might be watching the two best teams in the Eastern Confeence go at it in an entertaining game.

“A little more Christmas cheer, I guess, in December,” Sidney Crosby said about how it feels to play the FLyers with both teams going so well. “No, I don’t feel the difference. It could be December, March or October. It usually feels the same.”

It certainly does for Crosby who has 60 points (26G, 34A) in 35 career regular season games against the Flyers.

By the way, that ratio (1.71 points per game) is third best against the Flyers all-time. The top two?

Mario Lemieux (1.75) and Wayne Gretzky (1.72).

Pretty elite company.

As for the goalies....

Look for Brian Boucher to start again tonight against the Penguins. His numbers in his recent starts have been too good to keep him on the bench. That and Sergei Bobrovsky taking nearly an extra half hour of practice after both Boucher and Michael Leighton left the ice tells you the team is concerned with Bob and feels he has some things he needs to work on.

Don't be surprised if Bob's workload is diminished in the near future to ride a hot Boucher, get Leighton some time and get Bobrovsky to fine-tune his work.