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E-mailFlyers failing chemistry lesson
As the word implies, chemistry is volatile science. One little change, one added or subtracted element, can make for spectacular results or catastrophic ones. No matter how minor or benign they seem.
When Paul Holmgren traded Scottie Upshall for Daniel Carcillo on March 4, it didn't seem like that big of a deal. When he earlier waived veteran contributors Glen Metropolit and Ossi Vaananen to make cap room for the return of Daniel Briere, it created even smaller waves. As Holmgren said after practice yesterday, "You can argue that those guys wouldn't be playing now anyway.''
But here's the thing, and there's no getting around it. Since those moves, the Flyers have played 11 games against teams involved in the postseason. Including Wednesday's 4-1 thrashing by the Penguins in Game 1 of their first-round series, the Flyers have lost eight of those games.
Overall, they are 10-10-1 since the trade deadline, a record that includes three losses in the last four games. The one win was a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over the awful Islanders last Saturday. In their two previous games, the Islanders were beaten by a combined score of 15-1, and followed that loss to the Flyers with a season-ending, 6-2 pounding from the top-seeded Bruins.
In early January, the Flyers seemed to be a team so cohesive, so determined, that other teams envied them. Now they seem lost, uninspired or worst of all, uncaring.
-- By Sam Donnellon, Philadelphia Daily News
