As I sat on my couch last night enjoying (okay, maybe not completely enjoying) Game 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I found myself digging up some old forgotten feelings about Flyers head coach, Peter Laviolette.
First of all, I was a little disappointed that the game wasn’t as high scoring as game one. As frustrating as it was to watch the teams battle for the lead over and over again on Saturday night, it made it very exciting. Monday’s tilt was more controlled for both teams -- and me too. I nodded off for about three minutes of the first. There was nothing to jump off the couch and scream for.
When the Blackhawks finally broke through the Orange wall of Leighton, it was a relief. Hossa scored at 17:09 of the second and Ben Eager gave the Hawks a little insurance 29 seconds later. Then I was awake.
Now, Peter Laviolette is an outstanding couch. Everyone knows that. He brought the Islanders to their first playoff round in years both his first and second year coaching in the NHL (2001 & 2001). Peter has also been dismissed from coaching jobs as well. That is the way of the NHL. When you can’t fire 21 players, you fire one coach. It’s usually a good man that gets the walking papers.
But while he was coaching the NY Islanders so very many years ago, he had one tendency that used to make me crazy: pulling the goalie. Of course, I know there are times you NEED to pull your goalie in order to get a better chance of evening the score. But I always felt Peter pulled the trigger a little too early. I remember standing in my den yelling at the TV every time he tried it.
I found it funny when I heard my husband complain when Peter kept Leighton out of the net even with the face off in the Flyers zone. It was Déjà Vu all over again. We watched one of the linesmen tell the Flyer’s defense to get out of the paint for the face-off. If you don’t have a goalie in net, you can’t put another skater there to play the position. That’s a no-no.
It was a dangerous move on Peter’s part that actually didn’t bite him in the butt. But it didn’t get them the tying goal either. I wonder what the stats are for this “Peter Principle”? Pull your goalie, tie the game, take your chances in Overtime.
That was the other thing we were all worried about -- Overtime. The game was so slow to start that it was feared it would go into triple overtime. I’m pretty certain NBC had the same fear. That would have caused havoc with affiliates 11 pm newscasts.
But everyone lucked out. The game that started at 8:22 pm EDT ended at 10:58 pm -- just in time for the 11 o’clock news and reporters deadlines.
Hawks lead the series 2 - 0 as they head into Philadelphia where it’s pretty certain the Flyers will take at least one game. But we are looking at the end of the season and the presentation of the Stanley Cup. Then what the heck are we going to do?
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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