In the working world, there's a buzzword called "presenteeism": It's when an employee shows up at the office but is completely non-productive and mentally inattentive. Perhaps the employee also takes an extra-long lunch break or spends the day on personal calls, or simply sits idly at the desk and never gets focused. This phenomenon is especially common right before a vacation or holiday. Employees know they have a chance to work ahead and make things a little easier for themselves in the hectic days after they get back, but just can't motivate themselves to do it. It's just human nature.
We saw the hockey equivalent of that last night at the Wells Fargo Center. Sitting pretty atop the NHL standings and coming off a series of emotional victories against many of their top rivals in the Eastern Conference, the Flyers mentally started their lengthy (eight day) Christmas hiatus a little too early. Playing against a modestly talented but hard-working Florida Panthers club that makes opponents earn their keep, the Flyers got severely outworked and were tagged with a much-deserved 5-0 shutout loss.
You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of good shifts the Flyers turned in last night. They left Sergei Bobrovsky to fend for himself, and the rookie allowed four goals on 22 shots before being pulled in favor of Brian Boucher midway through regulation. The Flyers drew only one power play on the night, and allowed five even-strength goals against. If there was a single bright spot, it was the fact that they killed off all four of their own penalties (no real feat, however, as Florida's power play is atrocious).
The Panthers earn full marks for their 60-minute effort last night. Tomas Vokoun really didn't have to work too hard, but made the stops he needed to make. The players in front of him kept their feet moving, dug pucks free on the walls and beat the Flyers to loose pucks. The Panthers have had some goal-scoring success of late, and carried that over last night as well.
Rather than taking an extra two points into the break before embarking on a hellish road trip (the hockey equivalent of returning from vacation with a slew of meetings, deadlines and paperwork due almost immediately), the Flyers are going to face a trial by fire that will make their gauntlet of games prior to the Florida tilt seem almost easy by comparison.
Here what lies ahead for the club:
When the Flyers return from their break, they face a three-game-in-four-night Pacific trip that will take them into Vancouver to play the Northwest Division leading Canucks, followed by back-to-back California games against the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks (on New Year's Eve).
After a day off on New Year's, the club pays a visit to Detroit (where they haven't won a game since 1988) to play the Central Division leading Red Wings en route back to the East Coast. The Flyers subsequently catch a breather with three days off before their next game.
Next, the Flyers face a home-and-home set with the New Jersey Devils. The back end is played in Philadelphia -- the Flyers' lone home game between now and Jan. 18.
After two days off, the Flyers embark on a stretch of three road games in four nights and four matches in six nights that will take them to Buffalo, Boston, Atlanta (the night after the Bruins game) and Madison Square Garden. Two nights later, the Washington Capitals await the Flyers in their return to the Wells Fargo Center.
Side note: Even in a best-case rehab scenario, Chris Pronger will not be available for any of these games.
Enjoy your early Christmas holiday, boys, because you are going to have a lot of tough work to do to retain your top spot upon your return. Taking last night's game more seriously could have helped to provide a little more cushion for the most difficult stretch of the regular season. I hope the Flyers are better prepared for that challenge than they were for last night, because they burned up one of their "it was just one of those nights" excuses against Florida in the last game before the break.
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Today's
Daily Drop looks at why the Panthers are an especially dangerous opponent for contending teams, regardless of their (barely) sub-.500 record. I predict that Florida is going to officially knock at least one playoff bubble team out of the postseason come the stretch drive this year.
Here at HockeyBuzz, I will be running Meltzer's Musings blogs through Friday of this week. I will take off Saturday and Sunday and resume as normal next Monday morning.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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