In Antwort auf:

---

Why do people hate Flyers?
Posted: Wednesday April 30, 2008 07:44AM ET

Why do so many people in hockey - outside of the officials - hate the Flyers? "To be honest, sometimes I feel that," Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen said yesterday. "I'm sure there's a reason. We've been suspended a lot of times. Now we're playing the Canadiens, and they make a big deal about anything. A guy hits me in the face and it's still a story in Canada." The image problem goes back to the days of the Broad Street Bullies. The newer problem goes back to the five Flyers suspensions early in the season. Yet the underlying problem is that a lot of people simply don't like the Flyers' style.

---

In Antwort auf:

---

These days, there are more than a few Philly residents who are feeling decidedly unloved by their hockey brethren.

I'm talking about the Philadelphia Flyers, who despite being the owners of a 2-1 lead in their playoff series with the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens, are feeling more or less like the whole world is against them.

Here's Derian Hatcher: "I don't think you realize until you've been here and played here, but it does seem like people hate the Flyers," said Hatcher in an interview with the Cherry Hill (N.J.) Courier-Post. "I'm not sure why, [but] there's definitely some truth behind it. I don't mind it and I don't think the players in here mind it. It goes back to the good old days."

Hatcher later admitted that having five teammates rung up with suspensions over the course of the season hasn't help things, but he's not the only one feeling the hate.

How about Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who has been the team's top performer so far these playoffs, and the singular hero of its first-round win over the Washington Capitals? "I don't mind [being hated], unless it goes against us," Timonen said. "I'm talking about referees. I don't expect the Canadiens to like us. It's playoff hockey, and I hate them, too. As long as it doesn't affect the referees, I don't care."

It's hard to blame Timonen for feeling the way he does after getting sucker punched by Canadiens forward Tom Kotsopoulos in Game 2, only to have the refs not call anything. Then, Tuesday, a survey came out declaring that Montreal is now Canada's favorite team, finishing about 16 percentage points ahead of the woeful Maple Leafs. It's more than enough to fuel the old conspiracy theory that says Canada is prepared to take care of its own, and that the NHL will somehow find a way to throw the Flyers under the bus.

To which I say, baloney. Yes, the Flyers are a physical team, and yes, thanks to that franchise's history they are hated more or less in every hockey market on the East Coast of North America. But what all this garbage is obscuring is just how good a job head coach John Stevens has done with this team and how good they really are despite finishing in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

And another thing it's covering up, as my friend J.P. at Japers' Rink told me a few days ago, is a hockey story that looks a lot like the one we saw take place in Anaheim last season. So now let's deal with some facts.

• The Flyers play a physical brand of hockey. Over the course of the 2007-08 NHL season, the Flyers piled up 1,471 PIMs, good enough for tops in the Eastern Conference and only 10 behind the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks for tops in the league.

• Despite this, the Flyers score plenty of goals -- 245 this season, good enough for fifth place in the East and sixth place overall. They also had eight players score in double digits. But more important, perhaps, is how the Flyers have scored those goals. First off, they have the second-best power play in the NHL at 21.8 percent, behind Montreal. But what you can't tell from the numbers alone is just how devastating that power play can be over the course of a series.

For the most part, NHL fans understand the back and forth of the generic power play very well: Team dumps in puck, team sets up, team passes puck around perimeter and develops a scoring chance, defending team clears zone, pressure releases.

But the Philly power play is something else altogether, and I got to see it operate up close for four games in Washington during the first round. As I've already written over at FanHouse, the Flyers run the power play as if they've installed some sort of vacuum seal at the enemy blue line. Time and time again, a Flyer always seems to either be in exactly the right position or always manages to win an individual battle for the puck. And when you can hold the zone that consistently over the course of a power play, you can't help but wear down an enemy penalty kill that can't get off the ice for a change.

Over two minutes, it's physically exhausting and mentally aggravating. Over the course of an entire series it can feel like the fates are against you.

Here's something else the numbers can't tell you:

• Philadelphia's transition game is incredibly potent, sparked by a willingness to sacrifice the body and block shots. The only teams that may be as good in the transition right now are Detroit and Dallas. Credit this threat in part to Timonen, but also expect to give some props to young defenseman Braydon Coburn. On more than a few occasions against Washington, Coburn sprung Flyer forwards for breakaways with incredible home run passes from deep inside his own zone.

• And finally, we do need to pay some attention to Flyers goalie Martin Biron. No, he hasn't been spectacular. He's simply been spectacular when the Flyers have needed him to be, never more so than in Game 7 against Washington when the Caps challenged his supposedly weak glove hand repeatedly, only to see Biron come up big every time.

In other words, Biron has simply outplayed his opposition in goal (Cristobal Huet and Carey Price). Can you really ask any more from your netminder?

So hate away at the Flyers if you must. Just don't underestimate them. You do so at your peril.

---