Laviolette takes blame for losses
Daily News Flyers blog
Laviolette takes blame for losses
In the shadow of yesterday’s 7-0 shellacking at Madison Square Garden, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette shined the spotlight of blame on himself.
The Flyers did not practice today in order to revive their tired legs and slumping spirits.
Laviolette observed that the lack of energy in the worst loss of the season should be directly attributed to the Flyers’ recent workload. Following a 4-1 clunker against Ottawa, Laviolette put his players through three days of grueling workouts in preparation for a March push of 15 games in 29 days, a strategy the coach hopes will pay dividends as his team top-seeded club enters the playoffs.
The three practices preceded three games in four days, two of them day games, all of them losses. The Flyers also practiced briefly but vigorously on Friday.
It didn’t help that several members of the team were battling a flu bug at the time.
"I have to take one hundred percent responsibility for what happened yesterday," Laviolette said, referring to the loss, which ran the Flyers’ losing streak to a season-high four games.
Laviolette said he expects the team to be “great” tomorrow night when Edmonton visits.
He also said that he does not expect any major line shakeups, including the once incendiary line of Danny Briere, Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell.
“The easy thing to do is blow everything up,” Laviolette said. “I believe in that line.”
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you better be right, lavvy, or it could be your #ss.— otown philly fan- In Laviolette we trust? To be determined.— shawnmac
- otown - There's not even a snowball's chance in hell that this could be his #ss. He's the best coach in the league and everyone in the world knows is but you.— Bateman
- He's obviously trying to take heat away from the players but If I were him , I wouldn't make any more predictions. He looked so beaten up after yesterday's game. If he loses his edge, we are in trouble— debbyt
- This sounds like the coach being a stand-up guy and trying to take some of the heat off the players. If the team doesn't respond, it's all on them. They're pretty much out of options at this point, except to man up and start getting it done.— Hame of Famer
- Unless I see Lavy lacing up his CCM's, there is no blame on him, he is one of the smartest, hockey-minded coaches in the league. The one's that have the CCM's laced are to blame. Turnovers, not getting the rebound off the first shot, no forechecking, losing face-offs - ALL the things that they learned in Pee-Wee hockey. They don't show some legs, some smart hockey and some heart, the Links are going to see them early. As far as Boosh, you gotta make some of those saves, BUT with that being said, once again the goalie was left out to dry. Time for the STARS to step it up, play hungry with heart, not in panic mode and desperation..you lose Tuesday, then you can push the panic button. Home ice is slipping away with each loss!— poshnspice
- The stupid statements that appear on Philly blogs never fail to amaze. Some idiots are ready to fire the person who is arguably the best coach in the NHL, a man who already wears one Stanley Cup ring, because of a bad couple of weeks. Before you fire Lavy please tell me what team has the best record in the NHL East? What team has the second best record in the entire NHL? And how does the Flyers' record compare with all of the other teams in the League starting with the day that Lavy arrived on the scene? And what period in the last ten years of Flyers' history is better? Have they played poorly in the last two weeks? Did they look like dogsh** in New York? You bet. Suggestion for those who want to fire Lavy----put some money on Edmonton for Tuesday night with your local bookie. Put your money where your mouth is. Idiots.— Al Wilson
- I just think this is a dead period for the team. I think their legs are`t there right now,and the best thing for them to do right now, is to rest. I also do think the flu has helped the cause much either. With that being said I think this team, better come to play the next two games against bad teams. I also can`t stop thinking about what Homer was saying about a week ago. About how the team needs a attitude adjustment, if that`s the case then this team has learned nothing from last year.— Dangles 28
- Again, why is Nodl on this team? Where is Wellwood?— kevin44
- "I didn't put the players in a position to win and for that I take full responsibility."— brio
- I think the coach should send a message or two with a deserved scratch for a regualr player or two. Most notably Braydon Coburn who was as useful as a traffic cone yesterday and pretty poor over the last few weeks. If he's sick, all the more reason to scratch him. Watch him closely, his game is very poor right now.— homerjay99
- Quit whining Flyers "fans" ... they'll be fine. This is early March, not early April They have one tough stretch in an 82 game season and everyone is bailing out. Chill. They'll be back to winning games and piling up points soon.— Phront_Runner
- Couple things can be done, and soon. Get ZHERDEV back on the damn bench!!! 2 points since January 14th? Pathetic, get rid of him is even better. Boynton in for O'Donnell for a few games. O'Donnell is like minus 6 for the past month.— twpman1
Seriously phront runner - I agree - the 7-0 shellacking is a wake up call - for those who might be coasting a little - in hockey its effort and who wants it more - they are facing some desperate teams now and quite frankly - the flyers aren't desperate. But as one goal losses pile up the tendency is to shrug it off - not until the entire team goes "whoa - whats going on here" do you begin to crawl out of your funk and match the desperation level of the struggling to make the playoff teams. The ebb and flow of the season - in a week or two they'll be firing on all cylinders as they head into the playoffs -
