If there was one thing to take away from this morning’s skate, is that the Philadelphia Flyers are nowhere near panic mode.
They looked calm, confident and focused and according to them, they aren’t feeling the pressure.
They are down 2-0 against Chicago, and a loss tonight would put them in the dreaded 3-0 hole. They’ve come back once this year against those odds, but doing it again and in the Cup finals against the Chicago Blackhawks is a completely different animal altogether.
Still, they say, there’s no pressure.
“I’m not sensing a lot of pressure,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “As far as the building and the fans and the energy, I’m a big believer in that. I say harness all of it and ride it as hard as you can. The pressure, I’m not seeing it from our guys. I don’t see it in the interviews. I don’t see it on the ice. I don’t see it in the locker room.
The players themselves stated the same thing and certainly didn’t appear to be all that worried about their deficit in the series. Instead, they’re focused on improving and focused on just winning tonight. They’ll have their home crowd behind them this time, and while I’m sure the energy will give them some extra jump they appeared to be completely comfortable as they settle back onto their home ice.
“We’re a loose group,” Laviolette said. “We’re really comfortable where we’re at right now, and we would like it to be the other way, but we’re not. We’re comfortable here because we’ve been here too many times. We’re looking forward to it tonight.”
Several players stated that while they’re not happy with being down 2-0 to the Blackhawks, this is a position they’ve been in nearly all season long. This is a team that’s had it’s back against the wall, that barely made it into the playoffs and have gone on a historic ride through the postseason. Since Laviolette replaced John Stevens on December 4th, however, he’s done nothing but get them ready for this moment.
“We’ve been in a situation since Christmas where it’s been time to pack it in,” he said. Everybody just go home. Call it a year. And yet we’re still here. It’s the beginning of June. We’re pretty happy to be here. And the guys won’t quit. They just won’t. That’s why I sit up here today confident about our ability to win a hockey game tonight.”