Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Posted: 10 p.m.Updated: 11:20 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
OTTAWAThey keep promising theyll flip the switch when it matters most next week as the playoffs begin.
The Flyers have been trying to convince usand themselvesof that for weeks now.
So ask yourself this question: on a night when it was conceivable you could clinch the Atlantic Division title, why would you skate into Scotiabank Place and just go through the motions of a 5-2 loss to the Senators?
Thats 13 losses (and four straight) over the last 19 games for Peter Laviolettes club. Last year, the Flyers lost eight of their final 12 going into the postseason.
NHL
Its very alarming, said Sean ODonnell. We had a 1-0 lead and then we were just flat. I cant explain it. Pittsburgh is right there. Were right there with Washington. To come up with an effort like that is just inexcusable.
The mostly AHL-Senators outworked the Flyers everywhere on the ice.
100 percent, ODonnell said.
If we were kinda in the middle wondering how this team was doing and to come out and lay an egg like we did tonight, we need to look in the mirror and get ready to gotomorrow and then Friday and Saturday because this is just unacceptable.
Had the Flyers matched the effort they gave on Sunday in a loss to the Rangers in a shootout, this is a W.
Its so frustrating, said Andrej Meszaros, who had his head down the entire time he spoke. A lot of their guys are playing in the AHL and they come here and outwork us, out-battle us, everything. They were a better team.
That cant happen. It doesnt matter if theyre not making the playoffs ... We have to get way better than we showed tonight because were going to have a tough time in the playoffs.
To compound the loss, the Flyers also fell to second in the Eastern Conference as Washington defeated Toronto, 3-2. The Caps (105 points) now have a two-point lead on the Flyers.
We play a pretty good game against the Rangers, then come here and we just didnt show up and just packed it in, Meszaros said.
Flyers captain Mike Richards scored twice on the power play, giving him 23 goals for the season. That should have inspired his teammates, but it didnt.
A lack of intensity and focus for these game led by me and its gotta change and its going to change starting Friday, Richards vowed. Its extremely frustrating. Its tough to come into a building when we desperately need the points and just not play well.
Twice the Flyers led and twice they blew the lead. Whats worse, however, was the Sens scored a go-ahead goal in the final 13.3 seconds of the second period.
Ottawa scored three power play goals against the usually-strong Flyers penalty kill units, but two were off deflections. Jason Spezzas power play goal and fourth point of the night at 8:03 of the third iced the game at 4-2.
Laviolette didnt have much to say after the game.
No jumpeverywhere, he said. Extremely alarming.
He also would not allow Chris Prongers absence (right hand injury) as an excuse.
We miss all of our players in the lineup, he said. Blair Betts, Danny Briere, Chris Pronger, all of our players.
Youd think the Flyers would exploit a lineup without Daniel Alfredsson and Sergei Gonchar, right? Nope. They simply didnt approach this game with the kind of urgency youd expect given what was at stake.
Then again, when was the last time the Flyers played consecutively with a sense of urgency in their play?
The Flyers came into the game with just two power play goals in their last 29 chances over the previous 11 games.
Richards' first power play goal came 3:40 into the game. Kimmo Timonens point shot never made it to the net and instead ended up on Richards stick just outside the right circle.
That should have given the Flyers the edge they needed.
Soon after, rookie center Ben Holmstrom, called up because of injuries to both Briere and Betts, had a questionable hit that resulted in him dropping gloves with Chris Neil.
Matt Carle checked Zack Smith in neutral ice into Holmstrom, who had a part shoulder, part hip check on Smith. Smith hit the ice, holding his head, trying to sell a head shot. Neil immediately went after Holmstrom.
The officials didnt buy an illegal hit from Holmstrom and also gave Neil an instigator and 10-minute misconduct.
I dont think we won many battles, Claude Giroux said. I dont know if somebody got a hit in the game except our new player Holmstrom. Weve got to change our mindset and find a way to play with more urgency.
Ottawa tied it at 15:37 on its own power play when Nick Foligno, boxing out Sergei Bobrovsky in the crease, made a nice, blind backhanded deflection of Jason Spezzas shot. There was probably nothing Bob could do to prevent that goal.
Richards second power play goal of the game broke the tie at 15:56 of the second period when he took a pass from Nikolay Zherdev and rifled it past goalie Craig Anderson.
That brief momentum didnt last as Ryan Shannon re-tied it at 18:42 with another Sens power play goal, this one a high shot from the point.
Then came the stunning end of the period as Jeff Carter hit Smith in the neutral zone causing a turnover. It was a good play by Carter, except the puck went directly onto Bobby Butlers stick.
He had a clean breakaway on Bobrovsky and made it count, giving Ottawa its first lead at 3-2.
Two goals against in the final 1:02 of a period. Unthinkable.
Its not good enough, at all, by any stretch, Laviolette said.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net
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