Ping-pong ball, Kane haunt gallant Flyers
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Ping-pong ball, Kane haunt gallant Flyers
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Oh, that damn ping-pong ball.
With a little luck in the 2007 lottery, the Flyers would have had the first overall draft pick that summer and would have selected winger Patrick Kane.
The Flyers had the worst record that season, but they lost the lottery to the Chicago Blackhawks, who chose Kane.
The same guy who broke the collective hearts of the Flyers and their loyal fans Wednesday night at the Wachovia Center.
Kane scored 4:06 into overtime to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 win that clinched their first Stanley Cup since 1961.
“It stings. It hurts,” said Flyers winger Scott Hartnell after a heroic, two-goal performance. “It’ll give us more fuel in training camp next year.”
Kane had three goals and five assists in the Finals. On Wednesday, he also had a pair of assists as Chicago won the series, four games to two.
The Flyers played gallantly and had a remarkable playoff run, highlighted by their comeback from a 3-0 series deficit against Boston in the conference semifinals.
But Chicago was the better team. The Hawks showed it by thoroughly outplaying the Flyers in the last two games.
The first period figured to set the tone, and the Hawks were dominating. At one point, they were outshooting the Flyers, 16-3. They finished with a 41-24 advantage in shots, and they controlled the game with their passing, fore-checking and speed.
But the Flyers, to their credit, would not go away. They sent it into OT when Hartnell scored with 3:59 left in regulation, and they almost won it when Jeff Carter had an open net with 1:29 remaining.
Carter couldn’t get the shot up, and Hawks goalie Antti Niemi, who was sprawled on the ice, was able to make the save,
Throughout the game _ and most of the series _ the Flyers had only one line working. Danny Briere, Hartnell and Ville Leino combined for all three goals and seven points. Leino tied an NHL rookie record with 21 playoff points, and Briere fell one point shy of the NHL record for points in the Finals _ 13 by someone named Wayne Gretzky in 1988.
The Briere line was plus-15 in the series.
The Mike Richards-Carter and Simon Gagne line was a combined minus-21 in the Finals.
So where do the Flyers go in the off-season?
Probably shopping for a goalie.
Michael Leighton had a very good season and was superb in the conference finals (three shutouts) against Montreal, but he was shaky in the Finals _ and allowed a bad goal to Kane, who was deep inside the left circle, nearly at the goal line, when his shot appeared to go through the goalie’s legs for the Cup-winner.
The hunch here is that the Flyers, who have said they want to re-sign Leighton, will now explore the goalie market. Montreal’s Carey Price (not my No. 1 choice), Vancouver’s Cory Schneider, Nashville’s Dan Ellis and Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier are among the candidates.
But that’s for another day.
The Flyers, seventh-seeded in the East, should be saluted for a sensational two-month playoff march in which they overcame injuries, deficits and higher-seeded teams as they came within two wins of their first Cup since 1975.
“We went through a lot this year as a group,” Richards said. “I can't analyze the season right now, but like I said, we went through a lot. We've gone through a lot together. When you go through stuff like that, I think it brings the group closer together.”
Hey "Dustin Bufflin" you spelled Dustin Byfuglien wrong...— Ughhhh- Defense, Goalie and speed. Holmgren fetch....— philscheapowners
- Sam you're hopeless. Real fans don't need you to point out irony number 302 of this series with the lottery. Kane's a good hockey player but you know what? They can have them. We did just fine with our pick, JVR, who is also going to be a good player. Only we won't need to worry if he ends up getting arrested after being found naked in the back of a limo. Kane seemed to really appreciate the moment last night in his on ice interview being jealous of Toews' Olympic Gold medal, Conn Smythe trophy, and hoping this will ensure him more success with "the girls". Class. JVR, here's one fan who's glad you're a Flyer.— Paul1954
- Sam you're hopeless. Real fans don't need you to point out irony number 302 of this series with the lottery. Kane's a good hockey player but you know what? They can have him. We did just fine with our pick, JVR, who is also going to be a good player. Only we won't need to worry that he'll end up getting arrested after being found naked in the back of a limo. Kane seemed to really appreciate the moment last night in his on ice interview being jealous of Toews' Olympic Gold medal, Conn Smythe trophy, and hoping this will ensure him more success with "the girls". Class. JVR, here's one fan who's glad you're a Flyer.— Paul1954
What if..... ha ha ha ha (typical). Pretty sad coming from a bunch of low class booing so-called sports fans. Go run up Rocky's stairs.- what if chicago actually had more than one sports team which was a contender? what if chicago stopped living in the past and stopped focusing on that arrogant jerk michael jordan who wouldn't be anything w/o pippen? chicago has overrated food, obama, and oprah! woohoo. good for you. now go away and suck on your deep dish pizza!— liberty_bell
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lets go for 40 years— primo- I think it was a team issue where you come out with passion, hitting, and desire to win. You can only lose so many times before opportunity runs out. I have followed the Flyers since I was young, and they always have a tendency at times to allow easy goals. There have been so many teams that exploited this. Madden was from New Jersey who have done this to the Flyers. Hossa is from Detroit who did the same thing. Chicago exploited this to their advantage. Laviolette has at least broken some of the bad habits and gotten the team to work together and believe in themselves in spite of whatever anyone says. If they want the Stanley Cup, there will have to be sustained effort for a full 60 minutes, constant pressure, a defense that closes gaps in working with the goalie, and scoring more to not always play catch up. I hope the Chicago media and fans who continually trash talk learn to grow up and appreciate they have the Stanley Cup for now because next year all the teams will be after them. This is hockey not professional wrestling. I would love to see sportsmanship from professionals who are showing examples to potential young people who may be playing in the NHL someday.— gaphillyfan
- It will be an extremely interesting off-season...— Grazman
- Try to find a player somewhere who can win faceoffs like toews of the blackhawks. Find a goaltender who can keep his stick down. We need to figure out to counter attack the quick around deep passes thrown in by opposing teams.— louis mazzola
- For Road spoken like a true loser who loves paper victories, for Flyers 1975 you can't spell philly without ill either! :)— snic
- Larry while Chicago may have boys town near it it aint called "the city of brotherly love" like philly is. Wanna go there? I didnt think so.— snic
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- Remember that one time the Flyers won the Cup?— Hawks_Rule
