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I don’t really know what to say. That was as close to a total team collapse as you will ever see.

The goaltending? Terrible.

The defense? Lazy.

The offense? Uninspired.

The play of Kris Versteeg sums up the night pretty well. Towards the end of the first period, Versteeg, instead of advancing the puck to the neutral zone, tried to dance his way around the Flyers' blue line and got laid out by Daniel Paille. Like the kind of hit you see in squirt hockey, where the moms cower in horror and the coach suggests the player moves down to the “B” squad. It was at the same spot, in the second period, where Versteeg attempted to gain the Bruins’ blue line. Attempted is the key word here. He was surrounded by two Bruins and lazily pushed (that’s a kind word) the puck to them. No dump, no chase, no effort. That’s how the team looked last night. They played mid-November hockey. That doesn’t cut it in the playoffs.

The goaltending, as per the usual, was terrible. At this point, I’m not even sure if you can blame Boucher or Bob (or even Leighton). They are what they are. For 20 years now the Flyers have failed to acquire a top goaltender. Instead, they rely on mediocrity. Their goalies don’t lose games (most of the time), but they don’t win them, either. It’s like they have two Joe Blantons in net. They’ll get adequate, sometimes about average efforts that will allow them to win more games than they lose, but every once in a while a team needs a Roy Halladay game- literally, a 1-0 win. In case you’re keeping score at home, that hasn’t happened all year.

Hop it for Ed Snider’s comments – you know it’s bad when the Chairman chimes in – and Lavs’ presser.

via the Flyers

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS OWNER ED SNIDER

On if the Flyers can come back from an 0-3 deficient if they regain confidence…

It’s a really difficult thing to do and they would be the first team in history to do it two years in a row.

 

On the Philadelphia goaltender being pulled so many times in the playoffs…

I don’t have an opinion. The coach is making a decision and I think I have no qualms with the decisions that he’s made. He’s doing everything in his power to win.

 

On if there is enough goaltending within the Flyers organization to win a championship…

You know, the season’s not over and we’ll evaluate everything when the season is over.

 

On if this is the craziest situation he has ever seen in regards to changing goaltenders…

It’s unusual. That’s all I can say. It’s unusual but I don’t think it’s wrong. I think it’s something that had to be done and I think the coach has done a good job deciding what he’s going to do and when he’s going to do it.

 

On if it is too much to expect the team to rally from 0-3 deficits in two straight years…

It’s an awful lot to expect and Boston is playing very well and we’re going to have to step up our game in order to compete with them.

 

On if he is seeing a lack of urgency in the way his team is playing…

No, I don’t think there’s a lack of urgency, I just think that Boston is playing very well and maybe we weren’t quite as prepared as we should have been for what they did at the beginning of the game.

 

On the Bruins playing a style of hockey similar to the Flyers to start the game…

Well we did the same thing to them in the last game, scored two quick goals. Not that quick, but pretty quick and they came back and scored two in the second period. We’ve had trouble scoring against their goalie, who’s played extremely well. We’ve had a lot of chances and, I don’t know, I think this guy [Tim Thomas] has maybe stopped 80 shots in a row or something like that. I don’t know, but he’s playing extremely well.

 

On if he thought the team was deflated after going down 2-0 in the start of the game…

I don’t think the team got deflated. I think we out shot them for the rest of the game. We had great opportunities. We played well. I don’t think they were deflated at all. They kept trying and just couldn’t put the puck in the next enough times.

 

On how closely he will be watching the team to see if there is any fight in them in Game Four…

Well I thought there was a fight tonight. I don’t think they quit. They kept playing. They played hard, but unfortunately we didn’t score enough goals to make a difference. But, I never would think this team doesn’t fight. It fights always. It’s shown that throughout. It came back from a 3-2 deficit going into Buffalo, won two in a row, won that series. Last year we showed fight throughout the playoffs. Very much the same squad so I have a lot of faith in these guys, they’re not going to ever quit.