Flyers Blow It in Third, Lose 3-2; Drop to Fifth Seed

I remember it well.  It wasn’t quite the playoffs, but it sure felt like it.

On April 4, 2008, the second to last game of the 2007-2008 regular season, the Flyers humiliated the New Jersey Devils, 3-0, to clinch the playoffs.

They came out like a team possessed, like a team that was completing its mission.  The crowd fed off their energy, and deafened the Devils, even going as far as chasing all-star goaltender Martin Brodeur from the net (a memory I’ll relish forever).

Turn the calendar forward 12 months and you’d see the exact opposite situation play itself out at the Wachovia Center. 

When the Flyers took to the ice on Easter Sunday, they had already clinched the playoffs, but not the crucial number four seed.  Gaining a single point during Sunday’s game versus the New York Rangers mean that the Flyers could have wrapped up the fourth seed and home ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the point eluded them. 

Instead they blew it in the third.

To their credit, the Flyers did lead for the better part of the game – even taking their lead into the third period on goals from Claude Giroux, Jeff Carter, and Danny Briere. 

But there was a sense that the lead wouldn’t last.  The Flyers entered the third and played lackadaisical hockey; not necessarily BAD hockey, but they certainly did not play like a team fighting for a valuable playoff position.

Case in point was Sean Avery’s game tying goal.  A little under five minutes into the final period, Rangers centerman Scott Gomez picked up the puck in his own end and deked through three, count’em THREE Flyers poke-checks before dropping the puck to Avery in the Flyers zone.  What’s worse, the lazy checking came from two of the Flyers’ more defensively responsible forwards, Simon Gagne and Mike Richards (I’ll give emergency callup Jamie Fritsch a pass here, because, 1) I don’t know anything about him, and 2) he was put in the unenviable position as an emergency call up [thanks Paul Holmgren!] and playing on a pairing with Andrew Alberts [thanks John Stevens!]).

With the game tied early in the third, there was a sense at the Wachovia Center that the Flyers were doomed (but hey, the game was tied and all they Flyers needed was one point, why cheer and try to help the team?).  Blair Betts scored the game winning goal for New York with eleven minutes to go in the game.  The culprit here?  Marty Biron, who got his pants deked off of him by the Ranger’ six goal-scorer.  The Flyers played with gusto for the rest of the period, but Henrik Lundqvist proved up to the challenge.    

Analysis

 Instead of rising to the occasion, the Flyers blew it on Sunday.

My frustration was reflected by the team, especially Danny Briere, in his post-game comments.  “Most of the year when we had big games we came up strong,” Briere reflected.  “I guess I was just expecting that again.”

What I take exception to is the second half of Briere’s statement about expectations.  If the Flyers are to take the series versus Pittsburgh, they’re going to have to surpass their own expectations, and play serious hockey.

There will be more pre-series analysis to come, but I wanted to stop and congratulate Jeff Carter for scoring yet another goal.  His 46^th of the season was a full 17 more than last year’s total, and provided him with the second highest total of the National Hockey League!

Carter Watch

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