Sunday, April 15, 2012
Associated Press
VOORHEES, N.J.
There is no shortage of suggestions, from serious to silly, for how the Philadelphia Flyers can stop falling behind so early in games.
Start the backup goalie for a period.
Spot teams a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard and knock 10 minutes off the clock before the opening faceoff.
Skate harder, come out more focused.
No matter the ideas batted around the locker room, the song remains the same. The Flyers have allowed the first goal in 12 of the last 14 games, and have trailed by multiple goals in nine of those games.
Normally a recipe for disaster and the draft lottery, the Flyers have turned the deficits into thrilling victories that have stamped them as the undisputed comeback kings of the NHL. Just ask the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins blew a 3-0 lead in Game 1 of their opening-round series, and leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in Game 2 to find themselves in a deep hole. The Flyers hold a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series as the series shifts today to Philadelphia.
The Penguins, picked by Las Vegas as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup, hope the losses have not damaged their psyche.
“If you’re asking does it affect the mindset, I think it does,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. “You can say that losing 4-3 is a 4-3 loss no matter how it goes down, and an overtime game is painful for anybody who’s losing 4-3. But I think we understand we had leads, 3-0 leads and two-goals leads, and they were able to come back.
“I think it’s difficult to deal with those loses, and at the same time, we have to put it behind us.”
There is hope they can reverse the troubling trend. The Penguins have outscored the Flyers 6-1 in the first period, Sidney Crosby has two goals and four points, and the team showed serious resolve this season en route to a 108-point season in the face of a variety of injuries.
NHL scoring champion Evgeni Malkin has yet to net a goal.
“I don’t think we need to change a whole lot,” Crosby said. “We’ve made a few mistakes. If you look at [Game 2], we gave up two goals on our power play. You can’t do that and expect to win a hockey game.”