By John McMullen
Philadelphia (The Phanatic Magazine) - Your average puck head doesn't frequent the local wine bar but every April they sure do like a little "whine" with their cheese.
At least for a little while it seemed like the Flyers and Sabres had forgotten about what happens on the ice and focused in on the guys in the striped shirts thanks to Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff.
Long a proponent of Phil Jackson-like mind games, Ruff is always trying to work his opponents and the referees through the media, looking for the slightest edge. In fact, it's become a tired act that's run for 14 years in western New York.
The Flyers should be well aware of Ruff's antics. Back in 2006 when Ken Hitchcock was running the show in the City of Brotherly Love, the Sabres mentor got so far under his skin that Hitchcock once told the media to "tell Lindy to f$#% off."
Ruff was back at it this week after Buffalo evened its Eastern Conference quarterfinals set with the Flyers after a 1-0 shutout win in Game 4, using Flyers captain Mike Richards as the catalyst.
"They're allowed to get away with murder out there," Richards said after the Sabres win.
"They're really doing a lot of whining," Ruff said in response. "I didn't hear any whining when they had 10 power plays in Philly."
You don't have to be practiced in the art of subtlety to figure out what Ruff was trying to accomplish. He was attempting to unnerve the Flyers and send a message to referee Dan O"Halloran and Company before the pivotal Game 5 back in South Philly.
If the callers to WIP were any indication, it certainly worked. All anyone cared about was how the Flyers got jobbed, not how Philadelphia was going to improve the power play and solve Ryan Miller.
Unlike Hitchcock back in the day, however, Peter Laviolette didn't take the bait.
"We thought it was funny," the Flyers mentor said of Ruff's remarks. "Both teams are gonna have to go out there and execute what it is they're trying to do. The priority, job No. 1 is that we win.".
You can't win on off days but a coach can generate an edge. By tempering his own ego, Laviolette, who like Richards was obviously incensed by the officiating in Game 4, took the teeth out of Ruff's attempt to get in his
team's head.
Unfortunately, nothing can mask bad goaltending.
Brian Boucher, who entered the Game 5 with a 1.45 goal against average and a .954 save percentage in the set since replacing Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 2, allowed two of the softest goals you will ever see in the first four minutes of the contest, immediately putting the Flyers behind the eight-ball.
A third goal on a 4-on-3 advantage later in the first sent Boucher to the showers and Laviolette looking like he was the ringmaster at the Ringling Brothers Circus or at least Jon Gruden handling Tampa Bay quarterbacks when he called on Michael Leighton, his third netminder in five games.
“It was just a tough start," Laviolette said when asked about pulling Boucher. "It was some funny goals that just went in. Brian Boucher has been a terrific player for us the entire year and even in this series he came in, settled things down, and gave us opportunities to win some games. It was just an odd start.”
Leighton, of course, played all of one regular season game in the NHL this season after undergoing back surgery back in October. Whether it was dumb luck or mad genius, Laviolette's quick hook worked again just like in Game 2 when he lifted Bobrovsky for Boucher.
“I think at that point, when it’s 3-0 we need to make a change," Laviolette said. "I thought Michael came in and he did a good job for us. There weren’t a lot of chances in the game. I thought Michael came in and did a good job.”
The Flyers dominated the second period, trimming the lead to 3-2 thanks to a pair of goals from James van Riemsdyk and Andrej Meszaros. In fact, Philadelphia probably should have taken the lead since it was on the power play for nearly eight minutes in the frame, much to the chagrin of Ruff.
The Flyers then finally climbed out of the massive hole they created 3:36 into the third when Danny Briere deposited his third of the series against his ex-team. That continued impotency on the power play by Philadelphia (2-for-26 in the series) and the brilliant play of Miller kept things deadlocked at the end of regulation.
"As soon as I went in they kind of kept the puck away from me for a while and I didn’t get much action," Leighton said. "So, I think that was important for me to obviously get back in the rhythm a little bit. Besides that, I think we dominated the rest of the second and third period.”
A stunned crowd was left searching for answers when Mike Weber unleashed a slap shot from the left point that Leighton kicked aside right to the streaking Tyler Ennis, who lit the lamp at 5:31 of overtime, giving the Sabres another win in a contest they were outplayed in, along with a 3-2 edge in the set.
“You know, it’s a tough situation," Leighton said of the game-inner. "The defenseman has to go out and block the puck, and it kind of puts a little bit of a screen on me, and I just caught it through. You know, it’s just a play that has to happen, the defense has to do that and it was just kind of a lucky bounce right on the guy’s tape.
“It’s disappointing. Obviously we rallied back and played really good in the second and third period. In overtime we had a couple chances right in front of their net but it just didn’t go in for us. They got a good bounce in overtime."
At the other end of the ice celebrating was the Sabres' rock, Miller, the same guy who will be in the net when the Flyers attempt to stave off elimination on Sunday in Buffalo. Who will be in between the pipes for Philadelphia is anyone's guess.
And I'm not sure Laviolette has a button to push for that.
“I’m going to sleep on that one and probably give you nothing," Laviolette said when queried about his Game 6 goalie. "I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the group in that room. At no point did I think we were going to lose the game tonight. Yet, we did. We are going back to Buffalo and we needed to win this next game anyway so nothing changes for us. We have to go Buffalo and win, period.”
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