February 26, 2011, HockeyPrimeTime.com examination of the 2010-11 Philadelphia Flyers success

Brotherly love, high hopes flow freely in Philly

Atlantic

Written by Denis Gorman

Saturday, February 26, 2011 14:20

Having matured from last year's Stanley Cup Finals loss, the Flyers are playing like a team on a mission – and having fun doing it. Ian Laperriere and his young sons stood in the Madison Square Garden hallway bisecting the visiting dressing rooms, minutes after his former team, the Flyers, completed a 4-2 win over a long-ago employer, the Rangers. The man they called ‘Lappy’ absorbed good-natured mocking, then heartfelt hugs, handshakes and laughs from his ex-teammates before they greeted his children with wide smiles. AROUND THE ATLANTIC "Did you cheer for us?" Danny Briere asked one of Laperriere's sons before slapping hands with the child. This was not a collection of individuals. It was not even a team. Rather, the reality is that the scene that played out in a short walkway in Midtown Manhattan on a Sunday mid-afternoon was that of a very happy family. And why wouldn’t they be anything but in high spirits? Philadelphia leads the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference with a 40-15-6 record. Only Vancouver at 39-14-9 has a better record. Even then, the Flyers trail the injury-depleted Canucks by a mere point for the best record in the NHL. What the team has been able to during the 2010-11 season is nothing short of staggering. Philadelphia’s 202 goals are third-most in the league. For an organization that has historically had issues with quality goaltending, the Flyers have yielded the sixth-fewest goals against. Nine Flyers players have scored 10 or more goals. Fifteen have recorded at least 10 assists, and 17 players have more than 10 points (none of those figures include recently-acquired forward Kris Versteeg). Only Daniel Carcillo, Darrell Powe and Oskars Bartulis fall on the red side of the plus-minus ledger. In short: They’re good. Real good. Undoubtedly a contender. Perhaps a Cup Champion in waiting. “We’re happy with where we’re sitting: on top of the conference. Over the last maybe half-dozen, dozen, games, we’re winning our fair share of games. A lot of them haven’t been pretty (and) I don’t think really satisfied with how we’re playing but at the same time, we’re playing well enough to win games,” Blair Betts told HPT.com. Betts was scratched from the game against the Rangers – like Laperriere, he was once in the employ of the Blueshirts – due to a cut on a finger thanks to a blocked shot in Philly’s 3-2 loss in Carolina two nights prior. “Last year’s team was built for the playoffs. Once we got that pressure, that kind of thing, we played a lot better and it turned into a lot of confidence this year. We set the bar pretty high last year and expectations are high this year.” The 2009-10 Flyers were a paradoxical study. A team loaded with skill and snarl had to replace John Stevens with Peter Laviolette behind the bench after 25 games. A group that needed a shootout victory in the last day of the regular season to clinch a playoff berth, then commenced a run to the Finals only to lose at home, in Game 6, on Patrick Kane’s eight-ball-in-the-corner-pocket Cup-winning goal in overtime. Even in defeat, an odd event occurred. All that the Flyers encountered last year, positive and negative, matured them. In sports, like life, character is defined by what you do; how you react and if you learn from episodes. Philadelphia clearly has. “You have that experience, you gain a lot of experience making a run like that,” said Chris Pronger, who compared the Flyers’ playoff odyssey to the one he and the 2006 Edmonton Oilers experienced. That team lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to Carolina. “I think as you go through those tough times and different adversity you face through the course of the year, it’s gut-check time and you’re able to see what everyone’s made of. “We’re finding an identity for this team.” Notes CBC hockey analyst Don Cherry pointedly criticized Mario Lemieux on Hockey Night in Canada’s Coach’s Corner segment for the comments the Hall of Famer made in response to the punishments handed down by the NHL in the aftermath of the Feb. 11 Penguins-Islanders brawl. … The slumping Rangers absorbed another blow Sunday as it was revealed that Marian Gaborik is experiencing concussion symptoms. Per John Tortorella, “there is no timetable” for his return to the lineup. …The league’s hottest team, the New Jersey Devils, are 10-1-1 in February to climb 11 points behind the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, entering play Saturday. Players told The Record of Hackensack that they wish GM Lou Lamoriello would not deal players away in advance of Monday's trade deadline. … It was Family Night in Uniondale last Saturday, as Matt Moulson twice scored on brother-in-law Jonathan Quick in the Islanders’ 3-0 win. Moulson told the Associated Press, “I was lucky to get a couple on him.” You can follow us on Twitter @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman

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