Blowout Schmlout

Yes, we got beat.

From top to bottom. In our zone, in their zone even in the in-between zone.

Even in the parking lot. We got beat.

And who are we, again, suddenly? We’re the underdogs.

The Flyers went from ugly step-sister to Cinderella to Wicked Witch. We’ve gone from Cinderalla-at-the-ball to Cinderella-scrubbing-the-floors. Flyers fans think they’ve won the Cup. But you know what?

We’ve lost one game.

So what? We’ve lost games before. Heck, we went down 3-1 to the mighty Washington Capitals. And you know what else? I’m glad we lost 6-0 and not something close like 2-1 or 3-2 in OT.

Sunday, only one team showed up to play hockey and it wasn’t the guys in bleu-blanc-rouge. The Flyers were good but not great. We just sucked. And we got embarrassed. And sometimes – that can be a good thing. And it’s an especially good thing for this team.

Why?

Because this team has pride. And character. And compete. They want to win and will do whatever it takes to make sure that happens. We’ve seen it for 14 games so far this post-season.

For some reason they just weren’t ready on Sunday. They will be on Tuesday. Jaroslav Halak will bounce back. Like usual after being pulled, he’ll be phenomenal. He wins games after being pulled. He doesn’t let in goals. He doesn’t give up.

The D will settle down, be more active in front of our net and steadier when trying to maintain possession in the Flyers’ zone. Hopefully, Ryan O’Byrne gets an opportunity to use his size and keep the lines of sight open for our netminder.

Our small, speedy forwards must use that speed. Draw penalties, don’t take them. Don’t get frustrated. Don’t retaliate or talk trash to the refs. We did that against the Caps and dug ourselves into a hole. But Jacques Martin made adjustments and the players did their jobs. We played our game – not theirs. And when we put that together, we won games.

Let’s not play crash-bang against a crash-bang team. Let’s do what we do best. Short passes. Quick neutral zone transitions. Keep the slots clear and let shots come from the perimeter. Convert on the powerplay and deny on the PK.

Look, we beat the league’s Number One team. We then beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions. We can beat the Number 7 seed.

We’re coming back for Game 3 in Montreal with the series all tied up.