That's pretty much how Ville Leino described the Flyers in their 7-4 loss to the Blackhawks in Game 5.
He said they were so hyped up, their emotions swallowed them up and made them nervous.
I asked Peter Laviolette whether he agreed with that assessment, that their nerves got the best of them because it looked to me in that first period, the Flyers were the one seeking shelter on the ice.
“Clearly something,” Laviolette replied to my query. “I guess if it was nerves, it was nerves. We got outworked pretty good. We got out-battled to loose pucks. They were quicker on the forecheck.”
Yeah, the Flyers settled down. After it was already 3-0.
“We came out slow, came out tentative, didn’t move our feet, we turned pucks over,” said Flyer captain Mike Richards. “Where we had our success this series wasn’t turning pucks over, but getting them deep, hitting their defensemen and we had none of that going on in the first period.”
So, Chicago leads the series 3-2 with a chance to earn the city it's Stanley Cup in 50 years on Wednesday night in South Philly.
You'll hear these words from NBC: "The Cup is in the house tonight."
We're going back to the Windy City for Game 7. I took the Flyers in 7 games and I have to stick with that even though I truly believed they would have earned a split by now. The odds are daunting to win Game 7 on the road ... but Pittsburgh did it last year, so there is reason believe.
All these fans/critics jumping on Chris Pronger for being -5. He is playing ONE-HALF the game. So, it stands to reason, he will be on the ice for one-half of the goals for/against the Flyers. He came into Game 5 a +7. Now he is +2.
Was Pronger that bad? No. Was he at his best? No. But he's not to be faulted entirely for being -5 in that game. He's still my Conn Smythe choice although you could very easily make the case for Danny Briere -- if the Flyers won the series. From speaking to my colleagues in the press box, a lot of people think Pronger will win the Conn Smythe regardless of whether the Flyers win or lose the series.
What's so mystifying to me here is how the Flyers could be so "loose" as my previous blog spoke about and come out looking so terrified.
Laviolette said you either get your emotions in check or they consume you and the Flyers were consumed at the start, regained composure, couldn't hold the Hawks at bay, and succumbed.
Chicago had waaay too much freedom in neutral ice and kept building speed out there. That has to change in Game 6 or the Flyers are done.
This was the best game the Hawks have played and the most physical they've been.
Did Dustin Byfuglein really rock Chris Pronger? Yeah, I checked the replay to see how hard he hit him and he did.
I wanted Chicago in the Final over San Jose because after watching the Hawks in the playoffs, I truly felt they best represented the Western Conference. They were the best team. The Flyers might not have been the best team in the East but they certainly were the hungriest, and more than anything, they were the only team that stared down adversity repeatedly and made fun of it.
Well, it's adverse times again and I expect a great Game 6 in Philly. The two day gap is bad for the Flyers because as Ian Laperriere told me Sunday, when you lose, you think about it the entire time between games.
Maybe the Flyers can use that time to build a good hate for Game 6.
Here's the main sports page for CSNPhilly.com. Bunch of Flyer stories there about Game 5:
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