I've written about the end of the NFL Playoffs, the NBA season and the World Series, but nothing is like writing about the end of the Stanley Cup Finals when your team is involved. Tonight, the Flyers tried as hard as they could to stay alive and force a Game 7, but that just wasn't in the cards, at least not this time. Chicago seemed to outpace them at key moments, and Patrick Kane finished off the season, and the series with a goal to give the Blackhawks their first Stanley Cup in 49 years.
For the Flyers, it's a tough pill to swallow, especially after everything that they've been through this season. After John Stevens was fired in November, the Flyers were expected to pull right through, but instead suffered a 2-8 stretch that made people think if they had made the right choice. Peter Laviolette brought this team together and made them think that they were something else. Despite Ray Emery being lost for the season, the Flyers worked around that, instead forming around Michael Leighton and former starter Brian Boucher. When Leighton got hurt in March, Boucher stepped in, and while he didn't do much, he did enough when it mattered, including a season extending save against the Rangers in a shootout to put the Flyers into the playoffs. That's where the fun really began.
The one team that the Flyers wanted to play in the first round was the New Jersey Devils. They had dominated them during the regular season, but the playoffs were supposed to be different. It didn't matter, as Philadelphia took care of New Jersey in five games. Then came the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and the Flyers wasted little time in getting knocked down in three straight games against the Boston Bruins. Somehow, against all odds, the Flyers came back. An overtime win in Game 4 allowed Game 5 to happen, and when Brian Boucher got hurt, Michael Leighton stepped back in and kept Boston from winning that night. After a Game 6 win, the Flyers came back from a 3-0 hole in Game 7 to win the series and become the first team since 1975 to come back from a 3-0 hole in the NHL playoffs.
Right then, you knew something was happening, you just weren't sure what it was. The Flyers took on the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals, and despite having home ice, Philadelphia was the underdog. Montreal had come back from 3-1 and 3-2 holes against the top team in the Eastern Conference and the defending Stanley Cup Champions, so something had to give against the Flyers. What gave was Montreal's defense, which couldn't take the Philadelphia attack. The Flyers won in five games, and somehow, this team, which had 88 points for the entire season, was headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.
That's where this dream ends. After winning two games in a row to force a Game 5, the Flyers ran into a desperate Chicago team. The Blackhawks looked like the better team in each of the last two games, winning 7-4 in Game 5 and then 4-3 in overtime in Game 6. To be honest, the Blackhawks looked like they had fresher legs in the last two games, which may be a testament to how many games the Flyers had to play just to get to the Finals. I'm not taking anything away from the Blackhawks. I wouldn't do that. I'm just saying that the Flyers played a lot of games to get to where they did this year.
Now, the season is over. The Flyers are out of games to play, and the Blackhawks are raising the Stanley Cup. That's not to say that this season was a waste. How many people thought that the Flyers would even make it to the Stanley Cup Finals? While the site Whatifsports.com picked the winner of the Stanley Cup once it got that far, they had the Flyers with a .15% chance to make it to the Conference Finals. That's a 15 in 1,000 chance to get as far as they did, and they didn't even have a percentage to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. That tells you how unlikely this run was, and I'll love this team forever because of it.
With everything in mind, this Flyers team is the most memorable that I've ever seen. This group is better that the 1997 team, the 2000 team or the 2004 team. This team had something that none of those groups did, and that was the willingness to continue through anything. Chris Pronger brought that to this group, as did Ian Laperriere, who was willing to take a puck to the face for the sake of the team. That is what the Flyers have been missing over the past few years. They've been missing the heart in the key moments. Tonight, they didn't quite have it, but if they can get a goalie that can start every night, then this team is going to compete for a Stanley Cup next year.
Michael Leighton, as good as he was during the regular and post-season, wasn't good enough when he had to be. He let in soft goals and couldn't keep Chicago from scoring in the clutch. Leighton makes a great backup, but nothing else. With Emery possibly out for his career, the Flyers need someone that can mind the net for a full season without giving in. They don't have that goalie yet, and Leighton's play during the Finals let's me know that the Flyers are missing that one piece. Everything else seems like it's there, but the goalie is missing. They have to do something about that. The fact of the matter is that the Flyers made it to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals without a number one goalie, and, if they can work on that during the offseason, then they should be fine for next year.
Until then, at least this beats losing to the Penguins.
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