The Flyers haven't been media darlings this season. At least, not when stacked up against saythe Pittsburgh Penguins.
All that star power on Pittsburgh, three years removed from their last Stanley Cup. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury.
Sports networks in both countries adores the Penguins.
In reality, the Flyers have been in the shadows, chasing the New York Rangers all season and never catching them, then losing every game in the season series.
Chasing the Penguins for the 4th seed and not getting it.
From training camp on, the Flyers have been the underdogs. And now those underdogs are one stunning victory away from sweeping the Penguins out of the playoffs.
Im okay with that, Max Talbot said of the tag. Try to be an underdog and overachieve than to have high expectations and fail. Were good with that.
NHL
Very few had the Flyers winning this series (CSNPhilly.com does), which continues on Wednesday with Game 4 at Wells Fargo Center.
Much of the talk throughout the series has been about what the Penguins havent done rather than what the Flyers have done.
Things like outscore them. Shut down Malkin. Embarrass them on special teams.
Its almost a slight for Peter Laviolettes club. Maybe it has something to do with the fact the Flyers have six rookies playing in the series. Or that they were forced to use 12 to get through the season.
Does it bother his players?
Not at all, Jakub Voracek said. Were up 3-0. It really doesnt matter what anybody else talks about. We know weve played very well.
All season long we were on top of the scoring list in the league and weve shown that in the playoffs. The series is not over. Were up 3-0, but we have to get one more.
Laviolette had no choice but to play his rookies this season. The rebuild once Mike Richards and Jeff Carter departed was fairly extensive with the signings of Ilya Bryzgalov, Andreas Lilja, Jaromir Jagr, Matt Read and Talbot, and the trades of Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Voracek and the eighth-overall pick in the 2011 draft: Sean Couturier.
Everybody was talking about how we would struggle last fall, Voracek said, going back to training camp.
I dont think we did. We had a few tough games like everyone else, but we were very solid all year long with a great group of guys. Its working.
The Flyers never lost more than two games in row in regulation play. They had one three-game losing skid to start February, but the third loss was in a shootout.
The Rangers beat them up pretty good, winning all six games, while the Flyers won the season series against the Penguins (4-2) and have pretty much decimated Dan Bylsmas team thus far in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Maybe if the Flyers win this series, they will garner some respect. And maybe not.
We were never too worried about it, Simmonds said. We know what we have in this room. We go out there every night and play for one another. Thats a huge thing. We all really like each other and care. It goes from there.
It doesnt bother us. Were kinda relishing the underdog role right now. Sometimes it is nice to be overlooked because people dont expect as much from you. You can just come in and shock people. But at the same time, we have a long way to go in this series.
Flyer defenseman Matt Carle said flat, Going in, everybody knew who you were going to pick. Theyve been the Stanley Cup favorite since the first day of the season.
That wasnt going to change. Going into this series we knew we would be the underdogs and were fine with that.
Theres a reason for that.
We had a lot of young guys going in and no one was really sure how it would play out, Carle said. But because of the way our rookies have played, its really elevated our team.
Claude Giroux said he enjoys proving people wrong.
Everybody was picking Pittsburgh going to the first round, he said. I dont look at it a lot.
Once in a while, you look at TV and take a look at it and it kind a little more motivation for us to win and prove everybody wrong. Playoffs are all about working hard and wanting to win.
Rookie Zac Rinaldo actually thought the Flyers were the favorite.
I didnt even know anyone had picked Pittsburgh until my dad told me about it, Rinaldo said. He said that everyone picked Pittsburgh to win.
We stay away from the media and controversy of who will win and not win. We play every game as if it is our last. And its worked for us this season.
If you think the Flyers players themselves could care less about whether they should be getting more recognition, well, their coach is even more apathetic about such matters.
My son hates this word, but its irrelevant, Laviolette said. Doesnt matter. Our guys are pretty focused. We understand our opponent and we understand our capabilities.
We will need to be ready to play with positive energy and execution. Perception just does not matter. It is irrelevant.
Callups
Besides goalie Michael Leighton clearing re-entry waivers on Tuesday, the Flyers also recalled nine players from the Phantoms.
They will be added to the playoff roster as their Black Aces.
Those called up: forwards Tyler Brown, Matt Ford, Ben Holmstrom, Tye McGinn and Harry Zolnierczyk; defensemen Erik Gustafsson, Oliver Lauridsen and Brandon Manning; and of course, Leighton.
Why three goalies? Because Ilya Brzygalov doesn't do the morning skates and the Flyers need two.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net