PHILADELPHIA, PA – Another season down the drain. That is how Flyers fans, and media members alike, will view the Flyers season after another early playoff exit at the hands of those evil Pittsburgh Penguins. Not since 1975 have the orange and black been able to say the season was a complete success.
The Flyers blew a 3-0 lead to lose 5-3 to the Penguins and set off the post game interviews in motion. The Flyers last blew a three-goal lead in a playoff-elimination game was a 5-4 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the 1988 Patrick Division semifinals. This time they did it at home in front of their hard core fans. The only other time the Flyers blew a three-goal lead in a playoff game was against the visiting New York Rangers in 1982, 4-3.
Flyers captain Mike Richards was the first to take the spotlight in the locker room. He took the questions well but still looked as though he lost his favorite puppy after the game. “Maybe we sat back a bit and tried to protect the lead too much,” said Richards, who was a minus 3 in the game and a minus 4 in the series. “Give them a lot of credit. They came at us in the second period, and their big players stepped up.”
The Flyers, outshot by 28-14 over the final two periods, had just five shots in the third.
“We gave them life. Once again, we let one goal turn into two and eventually three,” said Daniel Briere. “I think we lost our focus after we scored the third goal. We just missed that killer instinct. All we had to do from that point on was just play solid hockey.”
In 1974 and 1975, the Flyers won back-to-back Stanley Cups. They will have to wait another full year to get their shot at the title. The Chairman of the Board, Ed Snider, has seen every Flyers season in existence. Snider helped bring NHL hockey to Philadelphia back in 1967. The Flyers are his baby, his life, and his legacy. Very few fans feel the losses like Snider. Like everyone else, he had his own thoughts on the game, his team, and the future.
“I really felt confident at that point,” said Snider. “There’s no excuse, because we got beat. Pure and simple. It went against all of the hockey rules.”
“They took it to us and we didn’t respond. They came at us and we didn’t have an answer. It’s something we have to look at and figure out why.”
Flyers Head Coach John Stevens was pretty blunt as to what happened in the game and what should have happened.
“We get a 3-0 lead, it should be over,” said Stevens. “I thought Malkin and Crosby almost looked like they took the game over, to be honest with you.”
“We had ourselves where we needed to be. The first 10 minutes was extremely intense for both teams. We capitalized on a few opportunities there. You get a 3-0 lead, it should be over there.”
“I just felt like our competitiveness wasn’t as intense as theirs and that was the difference. I just felt the competitiveness of our team at the net through all three of those goals wasn’t as intense as theirs and it made a difference. “I am extremely disappointed. I really thought we could get this game back to Pittsburgh and then anything can happen. Every year you want to make steps as a team. I thought we made big steps last year and I think we made big steps this year.” “It may not seem like it right now because we are not going as far as we did last year, but we certainly put up a better fight against a team that, in my opinion, is just as good as last year. I still think we have some work to do if we want to go further.”
General manager Paul Holmgren said after the game that John Stevens would return as Head Coach. That is not necessarily news worthy, but you can bet Stevens will be on the hot seat next season.
“We’ll be all right. We have a strong group here, a lot of character guys,” said Jeff Carter who had a bad series after scoring 46 goals in the regular season. “It’s obviously going to be a long summer because it’s not the way we wanted to go out, but we’ll learn from it and build on it and be better next year.”
As with any other year, the focus in the off-season will be on the Flyers goaltending situation. Marty Biron will be an unrestricted free agent. Still, probably no one in the Flyers locker room felt worse than Biron. Biron had tears in his eyes when speaking to the media after the game.
“We’ll talk about that in a few days,” said Biron when asked whether he hoped to return to the Flyers. “I mean, I really enjoyed my two-plus years here, and I’m looking at seeing what happens in the next couple of months, and we’ll talk about it in the next couple of days.”
Biron will become a UFA on July 1 along with teammates Antero Niittymaki, Mike Knuble and Andrew Alberts. If the price is right, Biron will stay. The Flyers will be addressing the defense in the off-season, but the good news for Biron is, there are very few quality goaltending prospects that will hit the market since Tim Thomas and Nicklas Backstrom resigned with their current teams. Biron made $3.5 million the past two seasons.
“I thought Marty played great,” said Holmgren of Biron’s goaltending performance in the playoffs. “For the most part, he gave us a chance to win every game.”
Asked whether he wanted Biron back next year, Holmgren was typically diplomatic after the game.
“We’ve talked off and on during the year. I’m just going to sit back and reflect here for a little while and map out a plan.”
Not exactly a vote of confidence but, what is he going to say in front of a bunch of hungry reporters hoping for a scoop they know they will never get, as usual.
Don’t expect the Flyers to resign Antero Niittymaki. He is a productive goaltender but he never took control of the spotlight whenever he had it in the four seasons he has been with the team.
Snider said the team doesn’t need major changes, and he is right. Snider said their will be “tweaks” by Holmgren. One thing Snider loved, like everyone else in attendance this season, was the play of rookie Claude Giroux.
“He reminds me a whole lot of a young Bobby Clarke.”
That’s high praise for someone who thinks of Clarke as a son and who thought of Clarke as the face of the franchise for years. Needless to say Giroux will start the season with the Flyers next season, not in the AHL like he did this year.
That, if nothing else, will be something Flyers fans will look forward to next season.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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