Its just another game.
Its a common refrain, one you expected to hear even if it sounded hollow and hard to believe. Some of the players and media tried to spin the Winter Classic that wayas though it was somehow possible to mute the fallout from a nationally-televised event that has been loudly hyped for months now.
There was some discussion about whether it was just another game after the Rangers and Flyers finished playing at Citizens Bank on Monday. Someone in the press box tried to make the case that a win counted the same outside as it does inside, and a loss stings just as much. And while that is true enough, it was impossible to sit in that ballparka stadium full of Flyers orange rather than the usual Phillies redand consider that particular game no more or less important than any other.
Most regular season games do not begin with The Roots playing Rock You or pause, during the second intermission, for a mini-concert by Phillys finest crew. They dont include NHL Network interviews with Pat Sajak (but, sadly, not Vanna White). They dont feature Patti LaBelles national anthem or flyovers by military jets. And they dont have some 46,967 fans in the standsmore than double the usual crowd for an indoor clash.
No. It was not just another game. And as so many sad-faced fans funneled out of CBP, it didnt look like just another regular-season loss for the Flyers, who fell to the Rangers, 3-2 (see story).
Unfortunately, we lost, Matt Read said, but this is something well remember for the rest of our lives.
The pomp and pageantry that goes with the once-a-year spectacle had a lot to do with that, and so did the fascinating advanced publicity on HBO. The 247 show was wildly entertaining, and it served to heighten the drama in the run-up to the event. Viewers were treated to cursing coaches and Mac Miller and crazy interviews with a chatty goalie whose confidence was fine right up until the point when it wasnt.
If the Winter Classic was any other game, maybe Peter Laviolette would have started Ilya Bryzgalov. The Flyers, after all, gave the goalie 51 million during the off-season. But while Bryzgalov has been better than anticipated in front of the cameras this season, he hasnt performed nearly as well in front of a net. Lately, his issues on the ice have become similar to his now famous take on the universe: humongous big. Bryzgalov has lost his last four starts and his season save percentage is a career low for him.
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That the Flyers benched Bryzgalov in favor of Sergei Bobrovsky might have surprised some. How Bryzgalov handled the situationeven for him, even for a man who has as many one-liners this year as Claude Giroux has pointswas far more unexpected.
"I have great news and even better news, Bryzgalov told reporters the day before the Winter Classic. Great news, Im not playing tomorrow night. Good news, we have a chance to win the game."
It was an awkward thing to say and an uncomfortable statement to hear. There was a man, lost once more in the goaltending woods, making a bad joke about how awful hes been lately and how the team is probably better off without him. The fans and the media will remember those words forever, and it might be longer still until Bryzgalov is forgiven for uttering them aloud.
Even without Bryzgalovs strange self-immolation storyline, the game was appointment viewing. New York vs. Philly in just about anything, even a marbles match, would be intense. There is real dislike between the fans there and the fans here, and it becomes all the more heated when longtime rivals are on the ice and first place in the division, not to mention the conference, is up for grabs.
The Rangers have both of those nowdespite an early 2-0 Flyers lead on goals by Brayden Schenn and Girouxas well as momentum and some bragging rights. Those are no small things, especially considering how the Rangers won the last meeting between the two teams without much trouble. That was a tough loss for the Flyers, a defeat made more painful when it was given the HBO treatment and replayed for the nation on pay television. The Rangers did what head coach John Tortorella instructed: They went right at the Flyers that eveningat them and over them. The same thing happened on Monday. When the final episode of 247 airs later this week, the Flyers and their fans will be forced to endure that agony once more.
In the Flyers' locker room after the game, Danny Briere tried to make sense of it all. He had a chance to tie the game late in the third period, but his penalty shot found Henrik Lundqvists pads instead of the back of the net. Briere was asked about the game and the experience and what he thought about the Winter Classic. The first two words out of his mouth said it all.
Disappointing, Briere said softly. Frustrating.
That is the hard truth. The Flyers and the fans wont soon forget what happened on Monday. It was a game, but it was not like the others.
E-mail John Gonzalez at jgonzalez@comcastsportsnet.com