share
email
font size
options
 
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Time for the captain to step up

    The Flyers didn't deserve to win the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. Not the way they played tonight in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers. And not the way they've played for the last six weeks.

   Tonight's loss left the Flyers and Penguins tied for the fourth spot _ which gets the home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs _ but Pittsburgh gets the No. 4 seed because of the first tie-breaker, most wins. The Flyers finish at No. 5.

   Both teams finished with 99 points, but the Pens had one more victory than the Flyers. (Remember that Feb. 21 game in which Marty Biron made a late blunder that gave Sidney Crosby a gift goal in a 5-4 Pens win? Well, in retrospect, that point helped give Pittsburgh home ice in the playoffs.)

     The Flyers, 2-2-2 against the Penguins this season, will begin the best-of-seven series Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

    Earlier this month, captain Mike Richards downplayed a 3-2 loss in Toronto, saying it was just one game and there wasn't a need to panic.

    Well, it's never time to panic, but there IS a time for urgency.

    And the Flyers haven't had it for the last six weeks, going 11-10-2 in that span.

    Oh, there have been spurts of impressive play _ including a 3-1 win in Pittsburgh on on March 22  and a 4-2 victory over New Jersey the next night.

    But other than that, the Flyers have been a mediocre team since late February.

    The soft-spoken captain needs to step up and light a fire. If not, a very good season could be over in one playoff round.

    That seemed unthinkable in mid-February. Back then, the Penguins were in 10th place in the East.. But the Pens changed coaches and finished on an 18-3-4 run. The streak, coupled with the home-ice advantage, makes the Penguins slight favorites in this intriguing playoff series.

    Can the Flyers win it?

    Absolutely. Compared to last year _ when the Flyers lost to the Pens in five games in the conference finals _ the Flyers have improved and the Penguins have taken a few steps back.

     It will come down to goaltending, special teams and who plays with the most desire.

    From here, it seems the Flyers lost some hungriness around the same time they lost Glen Metropolit and Ossi Vaananen on waivers. (Salary-cap reasons were behind the moves.) Metropolit and Vaananen weren't stars, but they were well-liked teammates and their departures seem to have altered the team's chemistry in a negative way.

 

Posted by Sam Carchidi @ 10:43 PM  Permalink | 11 comments
11
Comments   
Posted 11:42 PM, 04/12/2009
ItsOnLikeDK
On Point Sam. I'm not sure about the Ossi and Metro thing making the difference but this team definately got too comfortable a couple weeks ago and haven't appeared to take many games seriously. Today was a major slap in the face, especially giving up the shorty. As for the Richie thing, I think he still needs a year or two to grow into more of a locker-room leader type and he's looked a step slow for the past month, still all over the ice but he can't get much to work him offensively, especially at ES. I'm not panicing about the Hens and the Flyers shouldn't either. I think what happened today and the fact that PO's are finally here will wake them up again and they'll take em in six. LETS GO FLYERS!!!
Posted 11:54 PM, 04/12/2009
Philly Phan
I agree about the downturn of the "fire" in this team. They seem to just give up too easily when trying to make plays. their play is slow compared to other games that I have watched. That Feb.21 game and today(both of which I was there to witness)were heart breakers. I hope they beat the Pens but something has to change. Everyone needs to step up not just Richards.
Posted 12:36 AM, 04/13/2009
Brian F.
A team like the Flyers needs to open a series on the road - no need for home crowd to hang them for an early loss in a long series. It surely didn't hurt to open on the road last year... Second round will be CAR-BOS and PHL-WSH.
Posted 01:45 AM, 04/13/2009
duffers
Unless Richards suddenly becomes a defenseman, it may not matter how much he steps up Sam. Wow, what a pathetic display from the blue line and goalie.
Posted 03:05 AM, 04/13/2009
yahmpy
Just another case of cap mismanagement forcing the Flyers to put a guy on the ice who wouldn't have been there if the cap was handled better. Lost Vaananen, Metropolit, and Upshall because they needed cap space, played two guys in consecutive games because they needed a guy but couldn't pay him more than $100 (and it directly cost them home ice on the game-losing goal v. the Rangers), and messed with the development of two players (Sbisa and Giroux) by yo-yoing them between the minors/juniors and the parent club. Holmgren has to be accountable for his poor management of the club this year.
Posted 08:20 AM, 04/13/2009
mrkmcc
good point duffers. and i'm not sure what team sam's watching that has improved so much. while i'd agree these guys have definitely gotten better at scoring goals this year, have you seen the defense? i'd trade our bottom 3 for jason smith in a heartbeat.
Posted 08:52 AM, 04/13/2009
LaCroix,Nolet,Gendron
Richards is no Bobby Clarke. KT is the captain and how about going against the Clarke philosophy of goalie as last priority. Trade the shop for a young number 1 goalie and build aroound him. Now there's a plan.
Posted 11:31 AM, 04/13/2009
jazztafari
when this season is over, i never want to see matt carle or randy jones in a flyers uniform again. the team needs a serious overhaul of the defense.
Posted 12:23 PM, 04/13/2009
element_104
I'd give the C to Knuble.
Posted 12:46 PM, 04/13/2009
mikemcnhl
There have been quite a few head scratching moves by the Flyers since the draft last summer. A first round pick for Emminger? The Lupul and Jones contracts seemed like too much money. Cote for 3 years? I wouldn't mind Carle so much if he didn't have such a large cap hit. Downie and Emminger were not NHL players, so the deal made sense player-wise, just not salary cap-wise. Say what you want about Upshall, but that trade affected this team's chemistry. All that said, now that the regular season is over, this team is better than last year's edition which over-achieved. The question will be can this year's team play like they should, turing it on for the playoffs?
Posted 04:22 PM, 04/13/2009
MIKE IN NY
Richards and Carter look like they are in a fog maybe to much on special teams. The passing has been very poor and how many times has a guy took a pass and turned his back to the offensive net. Do they have eyes in the back of their heads?
About Sam Carchidi
Sam Carchidi, who has covered primarily South Jersey high school sports and the Phillies for three decades, is in his second year as the Flyers’ beat writer. He has followed the Flyers since their inception in 1967-68, and remembers when only the third periods of their games were broadcast on the radio - just seven years before they became the city's most popular franchise.

Carchidi has written three books _ the nationally acclaimed Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story, which he co-authored with Scott Brown; Bill Campbell: The Voice of Philadelphia Sports; and Standing Tall: The Kevin Everett Story, which was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

A lifelong South Jersey resident, Carchidi lives in Wenonah, N.J., with his wife, JoAnn, and he is a passionate sports fan of the colleges attended by his daughter, Sara (tiny Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland, which qualified for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament last season and is unbeaten in football since 1951) and his son, Sammy (West Virginia, an annual challenger for the nation’s No. 1 ranking in football and men’s basketball).
Advertise Here