Blogs > In The Room with Anthony SanFilippo

Daily Times beat writer Anthony J. SanFilippo takes you inside the locker rooms of the Philadelphia Flyers and the rest of the NHL.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

15 REASONS WHY THE FLYERS ARE DOWN 3-0 AND WHY THEY WON'T COME CLOSE TO COMING BACK THIS TIME

People like lists, so here's one - though I expect that most of the people reading it, won't like this one:

1. Brian Boucher - One of the best locker room guys I've ever encountered. He's a guy that is easy to root for. And yet, he has imploded against Boston.

2. Sergei Bobrovsky - just isn't ready for playoff hockey in the NHL.

3. Michael Leighton - Seriously? Move on to the next one.

4. Kris Versteeg - had some sporadically nice moments in the Buffalo series, but no goals in 10 playoff games and just three in the last 18 games of the regular season is hardly the production Paul Holmgren was expecting when he traded a first and third round draft pick for the guy.

5. Blair Betts - can't win faceoffs against the Bruins. Period. 12-for-37.

6. Mike Richards - Aside from a strong effort in Game 2, seems like his tank is empty. The question is, who to blame for that?

7. Scott Hartnell - Not been horrible, but certainly doesn't have the playoff mojo from last season.

8. Chris Pronger - Boy do they miss him. The thing is, when you have as many injuries as he's had this season at age 36 (knee, foot, hand, back), is he breaking down?

9. Ville Leino - See Scott Hartnell.

10. Matt Carle - minus-8 in the playoffs. Think he misses Pronger more than anyone?

11. Danny Syvret - really don't want to blame him, but is this the best the Flyers could come up with when Pronger's hurt? See Paul Holmgren below.

12. Andrej Meszaros - The guy that was the Flyers' best defenseman in the regular season has plummeted back to normal against Boston.

13. Kimmo Timonen - He can't seem to figure out the Red line any more, He can't get shots on goal with any regularity, and he's not the shutdown defenseman he was as recently as last season.

14. Peter Laviolette - One of the game's best coaches, he likely made a very costly mistake in March, pushing his players to physical limits to see if they were "conditioned enough for the playoffs." Guess what? They're gassed, and it's only the first week of May. That one's on the coach.

15. Paul Holmgren - For all the good decisions he's made with personnel, to continue the tradition of having a blind spot when it comes to goalies is inexcusable. And to not have a good option for a seventh defenseman also is bad (Matt Walker = broken down, Nick Boynton = bad research).