No Cakes Being Baked this Year

The Flyers are currently on the last day of their last extended break of the season. Entering this break the team was not playing its best hockey, playing .500 hockey over their last six games. The poor play prompted Paul Holmgren to publicly criticize the team, saying the they "need to play with more oomph." He went on to say, “I thought they (the New York Islanders) won the majority of races to loose pucks. I thought they won the majority of battles for 50-50 pucks. That’s gotta change if we want to get where we want to be. I think our guys recognize that. We need a little bit of an attitude adjustment right now more than anything.” The team promptly came out and laid an egg against the Senators, the worst team in the East. The four day break couldn't have come at a better time. 

Under the previous coach, John Stevens, the team could have expected maintenance days for key players, a day off of practice, and a few light practices to help them rest up for the final 20 games. Coach Laviolette appears to be on the same page as Holmgren has had a completely different response than his predecessor. “Yesterday we had a hard workout and a hard skate. Today we had the same thing and worked on our power play,” said Scott Hartnell after yesterdays practice. The players seem to be having a positive response to his philosophies, “This is our chance," said Hartnell "this month and the beginning of April, to make sure we’re in the best possible shape we can be hitting the playoffs in a winning way.”

I gotta say, I prefer Laviolette's response to a visible lack of urgency. While I understand that the team currently does not have anyone pressuring them in the standings , and it can be hard to get up to play some of the worst teams in the league, but I still don't think they should be rewarded for sloppy and uninspired play.

Hopefully the Flyers will be ready to play a Toronto team that is starting to believe they belong in the playoffs. The Leafs deadline acquisitions have been playing well and pushing the team to victories, earning 11 out of a possible 14 points over their last seven games. If the Flyers continue their uninspired play they could easily lose this game.Lets hope that the team comes out refocused and shows some of the dominance that we saw earlier in the year.