Phil Sheridan: Flyers beat themselves against Rangers

NEW YORK - The Flyers ran into the one team they can't seem to beat here Friday night: themselves.

With everything to play for against the New York Rangers, the Flyers charged onto the ice with the competitive fire of Bambi on the interstate.

"I don't know if it's confidence or we came out a little bit deer-in-the-headlights, waiting to see what was going to happen," coach Peter Laviolette said after a 4-3 loss left his team one game from being roadkill. "You've got to play a full 60 minutes. You'd rather go down swinging instead of keeping it close. You'd rather swing for the fence."

It wasn't just Laviolette, either. Flyers captain Mike Richards couldn't explain how his team lacked the "energy" to match New York's. Veteran forward Daniel Briere was similarly at a loss.

"I don't know if we were tight or what was it," Briere said. "We didn't look like a very confident group in the first period. That's the mind-set we have to change. . . . I can't explain it. We knew they were going to come out hard. I expected us, with the guys that we have, I expected us to be ready and to have a way better first period than we did. It's too late now. We can't change anything about it."

The Flyers have one night to change everything about themselves. If they beat the Rangers Sunday afternoon at the Wachovia Center, they're in the playoffs. Lose and they will write their epitaph as one of the more disappointing teams in a history full of disappointment.

Can they change in one day what they couldn't change in a year? Last April, the Flyers looked lost in important season-ending games that cost them home-ice advantage and a first-round matchup with Pittsburgh. The Penguins made short work of a clearly inferior Flyers team.

So it's not as if this performance was a complete shock. Worse, it was riddled with exactly the kinds of mistakes that anyone paying attention to the Flyers could have predicted would come back to bite them.

Would it shock you to hear that dumb penalties by Dan Carcillo and Scott Hartnell did major damage to the Flyers' cause?

After Richards stunned the Rangers and a rabid crowd at Madison Square Garden with a goal just 40 seconds into the game, the Flyers had a tremendous opportunity to keep all the pressure on the home team. They were incapable of following their captain's lead.

"We were giving pucks away, giving away opportunites instead of having the confidence to make plays," Richards said. "They had it and we didn't."

What the Flyers did have was Carcillo, who drew blood with a high stick to the face of Brandon Prust. The Rangers, gifted four minutes with an extra man, tied the game. Three minutes later, they scored again on a fluky goal by Jody Shelley, who is better at throwing fists than scoring goals.

The Flyers were playing catchup from then on. They did catch up, too. Down 3-1, they showed exceptional fight. Briere scored on a great shot from the faceoff circle. Then Richards gathered in a perfect pass from Chris Pronger, broke in alone on goalie Henrik Lundqvist and made the Garden very quiet.

But chasing the game takes a lot more effort and energy than protecting a lead. Pronger lost control on a patch of rough ice and a routine pass to Matt Carle became a turnover. Marian Gaborik stole the puck, fired an odd-angled shot that caromed off Carle's stick and over Brian Boucher's shoulder.

So it was 4-3 and the Flyers were chasing again. Cue Hartnell, who cross-checked Michael Del Zotto in the head, away from the play and right in front of a referee. The Rangers didn't score on the ensuing power play, but the Flyers were forced to play shorthanded just when they were trying to rally one more time.

"When you're down a goal," Laviolette said, "the last thing you want to be doing is killing penalties. It takes energy."

The Flyers kept at it. Lundqvist made several excellent saves. The last few minutes, the Flyers played with a desperate intensity that would have been mighty useful in the first period. It is a desperation they won't have to manufacture Sunday. The home fans will make sure they're feeling it.

"You have to embrace it," Briere said. "It doesn't get any better than this in the regular season. It's already the playoffs. Let's get excited for it."

Can they manage in Game 82 what they couldn't in Game 81?

"I'm confident in my team." Laviolette said. "I think you play the whole year for this game."

Actually, most teams play the whole year to avoid this game. The Flyers, however, have this unfortunate habit of being the Flyers.