Flyers Beginning to Implode Under Pressure

There’s a term used for explaining why teams that make it to the Stanley Cup Finals aren’t expected to make it back the following year- “Cup Hangover.” Playing for 82 games and another 23 or so games in the postseason after getting to the promised land is both mentally and physically exhausting. That’s not to say it can’t be done- both the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins were hungry enough for a rematch in 2009.

After witnessing last night’s third period implosion against the Atlanta Thrashers, it appears as though this club is taxed right now after being “hot” for most of the season. Even a hat trick for Ville Leino (the first of his career) wasn’t enough to maintain momentum against the “Blackhawks South.”

“We can’t keep doing the same mistakes game after game after game… It’s just going to bite us in the ass,” said defenseman Kimmo Timonen. Timonen, who is usually reluctant for giving interviews, asked to go first yesterday. He had a lot to get off his chest.

“[The mistakes] are an individual couple of errors. Its 60 minutes and it seems like we’re not focused on 60 minutes. You get up 3-0, you come [to the locker room], you think the game’s over, but it’s not. These teams are fighting for their lives, their playoff hopes are on the line, so they’re going to be putting hard 60 minutes and that was the case tonight. We gave up 5 goals in the third period. How do you expect to win games when you let in 5 goals?”

At the expense of sounding like a broken record, O’Donnell needs to take a game off. He is not competing at the level that the team needs from him. He was responsible for missed coverage that led to two goals last night, and went to the box for hooking after being completely burned by his man. I don’t want to throw him under the bus, but he’s one of the few Flyers who has been regularly taking his foot of the gas pedal in the third period.

Versteeg was the second Flyer who stood out for a bad performance. His interference penalty in the third period led to a powerplay goal for the Thrashers and his nonchalant blind passing of the puck to the side of the net in the last minute of play is what led to former teammate Andrew Ladd tying the game. There’s no excuse for thinking that the Thrashers couldn’t stage a comeback- even icing the puck would have been preferable to a turnover.

Finally, I think we’ve reached a point now where it’s clear Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t going to steal you a game. He didn’t look bad last night, but as Timonen said, how do you expect to win when you let up 5 goals? If Bobrovsky is the starting goaltender during the playoffs, the defense can’t afford to be letting their opponents outshoot them 41-24, as was the case yesterday.

Danny Briere spoke at length about the issue, and revealed that the team’s inability to close out tight games (which itself is likely due to a lack of confidence) has been a concern for most of the season.

“I don’t really have an answer for it. It’s scary. We have 15 games left. We blew a 3-0 lead, even a 4-2 lead… It’s not just today. The frustrating part, it’s been going on for most of the year. It seems we can’t lock up games. A lot of times, we’re able to overcome it because we can score a lot of goals and we can somehow find a way to get another one. But those tight games…

“It’s something we have to fix before the playoffs come, because we all understand that the games in the playoffs are all closely played, for the most part, and we’re not going to blow teams 6-1, 7-1, like we have been in the regular season.”

There’s no easy fix here. Coach Peter Laviolette tried bag skating them, and now is trying to give them rest and maintenance days. Neither seems to be working. There’s not much a coach can do to try and instill “swagger,” so much as it is a state of mind that the players need to bring to the rink.

Whatever they’re playing for, they need to figure it out quickly. If they continue to implode like this in the playoffs, a one-and-done outcome in the first round won’t be all that surprising.

For the latest Flyers news and post-game videos, you can follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).