The Flyers Losing The Stadium Series Game Might Have Been A Good Thing
Losing is never fun, especially when it’s in front of the national audience. But the Flyers seem to hate the idea of winning these outdoor games falling to 1-5 all time after Saturday nights loss to the Devils.
But what if losing was actually a good thing? Let me take you back to 2010….
Going into the 2009-10 season like this year the Flyers were not expected to be much of a contender. They had a lot of changes in the off-season were a little on the younger side and didn’t have an elite goaltender. They were the opponent for the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park where they would lose 2-1 in overtime.
After that game the Flyers would be fighting for a playoff spot for the rest of the season and it would come down to the last game to decide if they were going to make the playoffs or not…
Our now GM Danny Briere would score to get things started, Claude Giroux would give them the lead with one shooter to go, and finally Brian Boucher would make the biggest save of the season to send the underdog Flyers to the playoffs.
The shootout win would spark a magical run for the 2010 Flyers that hopefully you were alive to witness. Beating the two seed New Jersey Devils in round one in just five games. Falling behind to the big bad Bruins 3-0 in the series just to come back to tie the series at three games a piece and force a game seven. Going down 3-0 in game 7 and coming back to win the game and the series.
Then taking care of the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals to send them to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1997.
Unfortunately, the Cinderella run would come to an end in the Stanley Cup Final thanks to Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks(Still hurts to type that out).
So what if the Flyers losing this years Stadium Series game leads to them going on another magical run? There are plenty of similarities between the 2010 team and this years team. One thing that isn’t the same is that this years team is already in a much better position when it comes to a playoff position.
Sure winning Saturday night would have created more of a cushion over a division rival but it isn’t the end of the world. The Flyers still sit in third place in the Metro division and are five points up on the Devils, seven points up on the Islanders, nine points up on the Capitals, 10 points up on the Penguins.
Am I reaching here comparing the 2010 run to what the Flyers are doing this season and looking for a sliver lining after an embarrassing loss? Yes, absolutely I am but all I’m saying is there is enough here to give you some hope that maybe this years Flyers team is going to have a run like the 2010 team.
This years team has also shown a great ability to bounce back after a tough loss and Torts will for sure have them ready to go for the last stretch run of the season. The possibility of playoff hockey coming back to Philadelphia is looking very promising and regardless of the outcome we should be enjoying the run this team has been on since we didn’t have high expectations.
With just two weeks until the trade deadline the Flyers have made life for Keith Jones and Danny Briere a little bit harder then they expected. Our GM and President have a lot to take into consideration as to how to go about the trade deadline and it will make for an interesting next couple of weeks.
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-Walsh