Yeah, but they're OUR idiots

By Steven Lienert

Here's hoping somebody at the Flyers' public relations office was listening to last night's post-game press conference following the 8-2 loss to Buffalo.

There's a gold mine in them there quotations.

The team has given out orange T-shirts to fans during the 2003 playoffs and on Opening Night this season, each emblazoned with a different slogan. Well, there's a new slogan to put on this year's shirts: We root for Idiots.

The Flyers were about as embarrassed as a team can be on Monday night, and it was compounded by the fact that the Sabres just smiled at them, blew them kisses and retaliated by scoring goal after goal.

There was nothing the Flyers could do about it.

In their 3-2 double-overtime loss in Game 1, the Flyers were sacrificing the body by blocking several shots at the point of impact. In Game 2, the Flyers were trying to be just as valiant; only Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff made some adjustments, told his players to fake some shots, hold on to the puck longer and look to pass first.

So, in Game 2, when the Fly-boys dropped to the ice, nothing hit them. The Sabres skated circles around the Flyers the entire game. With Donald Brashear as a healthy scratch, only Ben Eager could play the role as goon.

But he wasn't fast enough to catch any of the Sabres to talk one of them into a fight. None of the Flyers were. Derian Hatcher, Denis Gauthier, Eric Desjardins, Mike Rathje and Freddie Meyer, which accounts for five of the Flyers' six defensemen on the roster, took nine penalties between them on Monday. That's mostly because they couldn't catch the faster Sabres and had to hook them to prevent further damage.

Robert Esche had to skate out to the blue line to go after a Sabre that took an uncalled cheap shot on Peter Forsberg. The final numbers say it all: The Sabres were awarded 12 power plays to the Flyers' three.

There was less carnage in the Passion of the Christ.

After the game, Ruff called the Flyers "idiots" for the way they played. In essence, he gave an excuse for his squad to run up the score.

Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock, when told of Ruff's comments, replied, "Tell Lindy to fuck off. To mind his own fucking business."

Thems fightin' words.

So now the series switches to the Wachovia Center for Games 3 and 4. Granted, the Sabres have a 2-0 lead, but hockey coaches (and some fans) are quick to point out that a series doesn't start until one of the teams loses a game at home.

If the Sabres take Game 3 Wednesday night, this series is, indeed, over.

The Sabres are faster. So now it's up to Hitch to come up with some adjustments to help Ruff mind his own business, like switching Sami Kapanen to defense like he did against the a faster Toronto team in the 2003 playoffs. Or switching up the penalty kill, especially since the Sabres seem to have found the key to scoring at will on the power play.

But if the Flyers can feed off the crowd and put out their best effort of the season, this series should be 2-1 heading into Friday night's tilt. That's at the Wachovia Center, too, so maybe, just maybe, the Flyers can dig themselves out of this hole.

Perhaps being idiots can work in the Flyers favor. Perhaps they're too ignorant to know they can't come back and beat Buffalo.

Steve Lienert can be reached at stevelienert@hotmail.com