I tweeted on Monday that the Flyers had yet to find the step-on-your-throat-and-break-their-neck mentality and let too many teams crawl back in the third period after the Flyers blew a 3-1 lead against the Islanders. They are content with being good enough and it's preventing them from being great. Based on the response I got, I thought it best to expand on my thoughts in a blog.
I was always told that good was the enemy of great and that if I wanted to be my best I had to constantly push beyond my limits and challenge myself to reach for more. If I was content with where I was, my chances of improving and getting to the next level were slim. So while I celebrated my accomplishments, I also set new goals for myself and never settled for being good enough…I wanted to be great.
I carried that mindset with me from my creative movement dance classes as a 4-year-old all the way to the Miss America stage and will continue to challenge myself and strive to be better in all facets of my life because it's the only way to find sustained success.
Transferring that belief to the realm of professional hockey, each of these players has pushed through their own individual barriers to get to this level so they know how to challenge themselves enough to get to the next level. Their challenge now is to do it as a team.
I actually used to call this particular affliction Michigan-itis because it seemed to happen a lot to them especially in big time games, but their problem had to do with swagger. They were the Wolverines and they were going to come in a steamroll the competition and then they'd end up taking a period off - usually the first - and would have to work their butts off in the third to overcome it. More often than not, they'd pull it off because they were skilled enough to do it, but as you know….hard work beats skill when skill isn't willing to work hard enough.
While the Flyers have skilled players, I wouldn't classify them as a skilled team. They are a crash-bang-grind-it-out kind of team. They can't afford to let up on the gas pedal for even a shift, but they do it all the time and they've got the losses to prove it. They've lost more than 25% of their games in which they've lead after the first period and it's even worse when leading after two. They simply lack the killer instinct that teams like Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Anaheim thrive on.
They can't be happy with the lead until the final buzzer. They have to keep pushing for more and at the very least control puck possession and make it harder for the other team to come back…but they don't. They're happy with good enough and it's preventing them from being great.
They've battled back from the hole they dug for themselves at the start of the season, reached .500, struggled with mediocrity, busted out of that slump to reach second in the Metropolitan Division, and now they're struggling with above average. As they face the Blue Jackets tonight, a win helps create separation in the standings, but a loss means they switch spots putting Columbus in the top three and themselves on the playoff bubble.
They need a win tonight. They need to come out strong and never let up. The Blue Jackets are another crash-bang-grind-it-out kind of team and they've been able to scratch and claw their way out of the NHL basement by playing that way. Tonight will be a tough battle and I'm expecting a good game, but if the Flyers want to win, they have to want it more. They can't be good enough. They need to be great.
Julie
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