Embarrassment On Broad Street: Everything Sucks And I Want To Die
Flyers 1, Capitals 6 | (WAS Leads 3-0)
I don’t even know where to begin after that one. Everything about that game past the opening 57 seconds was garbage from the players on the ice to the fans in the crowd. It sucks. What was meant to be a night of celebration turned into one of the more embarrassing moments in franchise history. The video tribute for Mr. Snider was awesome. And then when Raffl scored that goal just 57 seconds into the game, it felt like one of those games that the Hockey Gods were going to be on our side. But holy shit were those good vibes short lived. At this point, I’m actually mad at the NHL for making the 1st round a best of 7 game series. Because I think it would just be better for everyone at this point if we don’t even watch Wednesday’s game. I know that the Flyers have come back from 3-0 before but that was a different team and this Washington team is just lightyears better than them at this moment. The series is over and I’d rather just get a clean break than have to watch another performance like that. And listen, it’s okay for the Flyers to lose to the Caps this series. It’s a President’s Trophy winning team going up against a team who squeaked their way in on the last weekend of the regular season. But for game 3 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to end up being a stat game for the Capitals? Well gag me with a mother fucking knife because that’s disgusting. So we’re only going to talk about a few moments from last night here because if I think about the game for any longer than that, I’ll puke (which will be good for the summer bod but I really don’t want to throw up today).
Ryan White On Brooks Orpik
That’s just a good, clean, hockey hit. Shoulder to shoulder, trying to separate the man from the puck. It’s a shitty situation for Orpik and one that you never want to see happen regardless of what sweater the player is wearing. However, people get hurt playing hockey. It’s just something that happens and you hope Brooks Orpik is okay, but there’s nothing else you can do about that hit. That’s hockey. Now moving on to a different hit…
This was not a good, clean, hockey hit and we’re lucky that Orlov was able to skate off the ice on his own two feet. If he goes into the boards with his head tilted down just a little more, we have an extremely scary situation on our hands. Luckily just the top of his head drilled the boards and nothing snapped on him but yeah, this is a hit that is deserving of a multi game suspension. Here’s the only thing that I’ll say. You can tell that theere was no malicious intent heading into this collision. You can see it in Bellemare’s immediate reaction. I know that he needs to be aware of the sitation when you’re fighting for a 50/50 puck in the corner, but Orlov needs to be aware of the situation as well and not put himself in that vulnerable position. If he doesn’t duck down like that, the two of them go into the boards standing up. Again, there’s no excusing this hit and Bellemare should be done for the rest of the series. Was it a dirty hit? Absolutely. But did Bellemare go out there with the intention of “we’re losing this game so now it’s time to take out some of their guys?” Absolutely not. He’s French.
Fans Throwing Bracelets On The Ice
I know that “this will feed into the national media’s narrative for years” and everything like that but fuck the national media’s narrative. That’s not what disgusted me about the way the fans acted last night. I couldn’t give less of a shit about what some cock sucker from USA Today has to say about the people of Philadelphia. What made this so embarrassing last night is that the fans (only the ones who threw their bracelets, not all fans) actively gave up on this team and that’s bullshit. Because there’s not a lot to be happy about in the world of Philly sports these days. But this Flyers team scratched and clawed their way into the playoffs for a month and a half and never gave up. They gave this city at least something to be hopeful about. Now have they shit the bed since the playoffs started? Yes, to a degree. I thought aside from a few bounces in games 1 and 2, this series was relatively close. But at least they did their job and allowed Mr. Snider to see one last push for the playoffs before he left us. And this is how some fans reacted on the night that we were celebrating his life? It’s fucking bullshit. Again, I don’t care about what anybody else outside of Philly says about Philly. That’s not the issue here. The narrative is what it is. But it’s the fact that this team fought for you, the fans, and this is how you repay them? By putting them in this position and causing delay of game penalties? Well fuck that.
I will say this, however. How come when people started throwing tea off of ships in Boston, they were considered “American heroes” but when you throw bracelets in Philly you’re labeled a “classless scumbag”? Seems like a pretty disgusting double standard, in my opinion. Just something to think about for all you people out there bashing on Philly today.
The Other Guys
– I’m thankful for everything that Steve Mason did to will this team into the playoffs. But right now, his confidence is at a 0. I understand that Ovi shot is tricky because you aren’t expecting him to shoot there and he disguises his release so well. But those are the easy goals that just take any semblance of momentum away and deflates the entire arena.
– Pretty obvious how much this team needs Sean Couturier, especially on the penalty kill. He’s one good, full season away from being a legitimate Selke guy. He’ll only be making $4.33 next season and I think we’ll look back on that and realize Hexy got himself a steal with that contract.
– This team is obviously out of gas. There have been 9 periods of playoff hockey so far and I’d say the Flyers have matched up pretty well 5v5 against the Caps for 6 of them. They’re killing themselves with penalties and they’re killing themselves with bad turnovers. But they just don’t have enough left in the tank to turn the corner and grab a win. This team is still 2 years away from being actual contenders and you can’t fault them for being out-matched in this series. Would be nice to see a little more fight in them at the end last night but you can just tell that they are gassed.
– Drake Caggiula was in attendance last night. I’m sure he’s just chomping at the bit to sign in Philly after that performance by the players and the fans.
– First year with a rookie NHL coach and only 2nd year with Hexy at GM. The regular season was a huge success, the post season not so much. There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic heading forward as Flyers fans. This team is going to be a power soon enough. It’s just not right now. So yeah, if you have any better plans tomorrow than watching game 4, I suggest you just go with that.