Though the Flyers had an "OFF" today it was anything but.
Peter Laviolette held class at the team's hotel in Raleigh in one of the ball rooms. They watched film.
Mostly, Lavy told me, they watched clips of the mistakes they made against Ottawa. When I walked out of Scotiabank Place last night with Bruce Garrioch, I said to another writer, 'we'll see you in the playoffs.'
I got this lump in my stomach that tells me the Flyers will be coming back here this spring against a team that is far better than I gave them credit for. Then again, I had not seen the Sens since October and that says a lot right there.
In my talk with Lavy today on the phone I said that the fans were saying how alarmed they are with the team's defense in front of Bryzgalov. I actually think the Flyers play better in front of Sergei Bobrovsky.
Laviolette said that worst thing about last night's game - 6-4 loss _ was that it overshadowed any good over the previous several days.
What troubles me is the Flyers seem very timid in front of their own net among the defense corps. Chris Pronger's edge that he brought to this team is a ghost of distant past now.
Going back over some of the goals, it's clear Bryz was hung out to dry there, although I still think there is no way Erik Karlsson should have been able to get that puck through off the wing from his angle and where his shot went.
Lavy agreed with me that the defense was pretty last night but he said he felt the decision making by his team throughout the third period was worse. The Flyers didn't protect that lead. They seemed to invite disaster by trying to get more, I felt.
“We were in shape to win that game but we got careless in what we were doing," he told me. "And careless the whole night.
"There were too many things I didn’t like about the game, things that have not popped up a lot this year. And they popped up in the last couple games.”
A fan asked why Bryz had 15 shutouts over the past two years and has just one here and the way things are going, he won't get another.
It's something I want to hear Bryz talk about because Jaromir Jagr openly ripped the defense last night saying that with a two-goal lead in the third period, if he get stripped of the puck in neutral ice, there should not be a 3-on-1 the other way given where the game is at and what the score is.
I honestly believe if Chris Pronger were here, things would be a lot different. At the same time, I hold no hope whatsoever that Pronger is coming back this season because everything I've heard from the players is that he is not making any progress with post-concussion syndrome.
This much I can say. I expect a major deal at the trade deadline for a "d-man" as the Flyers have to proceed as if Pronger might be done for good.
Here's more Flyers news and a look at some mid-season numbers from CSNPhilly.com:
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