Can I See Some ID?

By: Patrice L. Leonard

I may be a day or two late here but that’s how long it has taken me to mull over the latest Flyer loss. To say that I was shocked at the performance of this team would be an extreme understatement. One could actually wonder whether the players on the ice that night were really our Flyers. Did anyone check their ID’s before when they entered the arena?

Okay, all kidding aside, what happened? This was probably the worst game I’ve seen this season, and that includes the huge loss to Pittsburgh. Not one player had a stand out game. No one stepped up. They had the initial momentum by scoring the first goal at 3:48 into the first period. They had every opportunity to put the final nails in Toronto’s coffin that night but didn’t.

Was this a classic case of looking ahead to the next game? I hope not. The next game is the NJ Devils. A desperate team, but not a great one. After that, the NY Islanders. Another desperate team, but again, not a great one. Toronto on the other hand is a desperate team only they are good. They have the tools they need to be a better team than their record shows. They are severely underachieving this year.

Did the Flyers expect this to be an easy test for them? That seems the more likely answer. As professionals they are well aware of the saying, ‘A desperate team is a dangerous team’. They scored quickly, and then they took a nap. In all my years following this team I have never seen them so lazy. That’s right, I said lazy. That was never a word I associated with this team. Even our “superstars” seemed disinterested in the task at hand.

We had the match up between Denis Gauthier and Tie Domi to look forward to. Other than a couple of half-hearted hits there was nothing to write home about. Antero Niittymaki had some good saves but nothing mind-blowing. Even Peter Forsberg was a non-factor. His passes were having a hard time finding their mark. He appeared slow and hapless.

Who were these guys wearing the orange and black? Coach Ken Hitchcock had given them a day off, away from hockey. Maybe they searched for their identity. We just don’t know which team is going to show up anymore. When they’re playing well, they can be spectacular. When they are playing poorly, they can really stink up the place.

Now we have to wait until Saturday to see which teams shows up. Ed Snider might just want to hire a bouncer to check their ID’s at the back door that day.