Saturday, March 12, 2011
Posted: 9:35 p.m.Updated: 11:08 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
It cant get much worse than this in Flyerdom.
Blow a three-goal third period lead on home ice to the Atlanta Thrashers, then lose 5-4 in overtime.
Fan Appreciation Night? How about Fan Unappreciation?
The lack of mental toughness to protect leads and finish what you started has vanished from the Flyers. And the playoffs are fast approaching.
NHL
I dont really have an answer for it, but its scary, Danny Briere said. With 15 games, the way we blew a 3-0 lead, 4-2 lead. We knew they would fight for everything they had. This is basically their season. And we have to see them twice again. I wish I had a better answer. To me, its scary.
This is essentially the same team, with some new faces, that went to the Stanley Cup Final last season and seemed unstoppable in late January. On paper, this is a better team.
And yet, this team cant defend, cant hold a lead, and seems to panic at the end, treating the puck like a live grenade on their sticks in the final minute.
Witness Kris Versteeg trying to pass it back to Matt Carle. His pass hit the net and then caromed to Andrew Ladd for a goal that sent it to overtime at 4-4.
And its not just today, Briere said. The frustrating part is that its been going on now for most of the year. It seems we cant lock up games.
A lot of times we were able to overcome it because we scored a lot of goals. Somehow find a way to get another one butThis is something we have to fix before the playoffs come. Games in the playoffs are closely played
If it happens once against the Islanders, yeah, it happens, no big deal. But the scary part is, its happening way, too often. We need to figure it out. It seems its always something different, some different breakdown.
Incredibly, the Flyers did a lot of things right even without Chris Pronger (right hand) in the lineup.
They had an even strength goal, their 12th shorthanded goal, and for the third straight game, they scored on the power play. Plus, Ville Leino notched his first, career hat trick in 135 games.
Fans appreciated that. But not the ending.
The night turned into an embarrassment at the end, Leino said. I dont know how to explain it. We didnt take care of the puck. We didnt make plays when we had chances. They were coming hard and we werent ready for it.
The OT game-winner by Ron Hainsey against rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who wasnt very sharp, was a three-on-two rush. Bob went into the third period ahead 3-0 when Evander Kane scored unassisted off a faceoff.
He then had four stellar saves, looking like Gumby, sprawled on the ice during a Thrashers power play, only to give up a bad goal minutes later on a point shot from Zach Bogosian, which caught part of his right pad, making it 3-2 at 12:15.
By then, the Wells Fargo Center natives were getting restless, but their nerves were soon soothed when the Flyers went back on the power play and Leino beat goalie Chris Mason with a slap shot for his third goal, giving Bobrovsky some breathing room at 4-2.
Alas, Atlanta got a power play goal from Tobias Enstrom minutes later when Bobrovsky lost his stick to again make it a one-goal affair.
How did he feel about what transpired?
It does happen but it bothers me, Bobrovsky said of the ending.
Strangely, coach Peter Laviolette felt the effort was there and were it not some bad breaksVersteegs pass and Bobrovsky losing his stickits a different game.
My mindset is different tonight than it has been, and I think what you guys are talking about, but to look back at it, certainly an unacceptable loss at home, Laviolette said. Losses and wins happen for different reasons, this is not in the same chain that the last few have been. Were still hunting, we have offense. Were still looking to score out there. Like I said, the chain of events is tough.
defensively there were things, again there are things that happen that you need to fix and you need to do better at ... Theres games where you want to win, I felt like we were going down the road we were going to win and the end of it you dont.
Its one of those tough nights. Im not happy with the way the third period went and Im not happy with the result of the game, as I would suspect the players are not either.
Flyers captain Mike Richards, a man of few words even when the team wins, seemed perplexed.
Im not sure, he replied when asked of the collapse. Penalties, obviously, not a good thing. Turnovers? An awful thing. And the puck ends up in your net.
Carle said the Flyers are getting too comfortable with leads in games. Kimmo Timonen said the same but added, theyre getting kicked in the a at the end.
The part, to me, that is so frustrating is that this is happening time and time again, Carle said. This time, we couldnt pull out the win where usually, in those one-goal situations, we can pull it out.
We talk about this every time between the second and third periods about not sitting back. They score that first goal and its here we go again.
The 3-0 lead came easily. Great puck movement by the Briere line saw Leinos first goal at 14:11 in the opening period against Thrasher starter Ondrej Pavelec, who lasted two periods.
In the second period, Timonen scored shorthanded on a nice feed from Richards in the crease.
That last goal was probably the easiest I have ever scored, Timonen admitted.
He has just two goals in his last 18 games and both of them are shorthanded.
Leinos second goal came at 14:22 on the power play to make it 3-0. His hat-trick goal in the third period was another power play goal that made it 4-2.
The third period was utterly unacceptable.
Like I said, sometimes its turnovers, sometimes its the neutral zone, sometimes its a breakdown inside our zone, missed coverage, or a puck that we dont get out of the zone, Briere said. It just seems like a lot of games when we have the lead we find a way to give up goals.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net