VOORHEES, N.J. -- Down 3-1 in their series against the New Jersey Devils, the Flyers havent exactly given their fans reason to be optimistic.
Take Sunday nights Game 4 loss, for example. The Flyers were simply dominated in every aspect of their 4-2 defeat: They were outshot, 43-22. They were responsible for 20 turnovers, compared to New Jerseys five. They struggled to even break out of their own zone.
And those problemsas well as plenty of othershave been the story of each of the four games of this Eastern Conference semifinal series. That can even be said for Game 1, in which they came out on top in overtime.
But the Flyers, who met at Skate Zone Monday morning but stayed off the ice in favor of team meetings, still believe. Their backs may be against that figurative wall, but they remain steadfast in their ability to fight back yet again.
Theres so much more we can give, Kimmo Timonen said. For whatever reason we havent been able to do that. Were still alive. Obviously, were in a bad spot, behind the 8-ball. But I believe in our team. Weve done it all year long, why not now? The situation is not perfect, but if we do the little things, correct a few things, were going to be fine.
Theres plenty the Flyers must correct. Though they briefly held a 2-0 lead in the first period of Game 4, at no point did they play like they deserved it. Both goals were scored via special teams (the first on the power play, the second shorthanded), and the team looked lost through practically all of its even-strength play.
Fixing all of that, though, begins with belief. It begins with the guys in the locker room having faith that they can remember how they played for much of the regular season, and trusting that they can execute come Tuesday night.
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Believe first of all in your teammates, Danny Briere said. Weve shown all year we can come back. We faced adversity all year and have shown we can come back from it. This is the biggest challenge of the year, obviously, but weve shown all year that were not quitters. Thats what makes me believe that the guys just wont quit at this point.
Somewhere along the way this postseason, a number of the Flyers began to refer to themselves as the comeback kids. They were deserving of the nickname for fighting back repeatedly from two- and even three-goal deficitsduring both the final weeks of the regular season and through their first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
But not since last year, also in the Eastern semifinals, have they actually been facing elimination.
We cant be looking at the big picture, Claude Giroux said. Weve got to go one game at a time, and its going to start Game 5 tomorrow in front of our fans. The guys are pretty pumped about that. Wells Fargos probably going to be bumping again. After we win that game, were just going to have to go from there.
Unfortunately for the Flyers, they will be without Giroux for Tuesdays win-or-die Game 5. Giroux was suspended a game for his second-period hit Sunday on Devils forward Dainius Zubrus (see story).
They will, however, have the knowledge that theyve clawed their way out of steeper disadvantages in the past. The roster might be quite different now from how it looked in 2010, but seven Flyers were a part of the teams historic 3-0 series deficit-turned-comeback against the Boston Bruins that year.
And like it must if the Flyers hope to stay alive in their series against the Devils, that journey began with believing.
That time, I remember, it was belief. We believed we can beat these guys that time, Timonen said. We just focus game by game. Dont think about what happens if we lose this game or win this game. Just focus on tomorrow and believe we can win.
We can be a better team than weve been the last three games.Everybody has a role. Everybody can do their role much better than we have been the last three games. Thats why Im really confident and I believe in our team. We can do a lot better job.
E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com