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PHILADELPHIA — Are there any happy endings left for the Philadelphia Flyers?
Just to get to this point — to Game 6 of this topsy turvy Stanley Cup final — all the Flyers have done is face elimination five different times, each time thriving, somehow surviving.
That has all been part of their crazy journey. Playing through personal demons: Some Flyer families that began the season together, didn’t end it that way. The team, previously divided, came from way back to make the playoffs.
They changed goalies with all the regularity that some change socks. They won a shootout in Game 82, another Claude Giroux moment. Then the impossible, somehow coming from three games down, three goals down to beat the Boston Bruins.
“It’s enough to make a movie about,” said Vince Papale, who had a movie made about his own unlikely football career, as he sat and watched the Flyers practice Tuesday.
And now it’s all about tonight. Either they will watch the Stanley Cup presented to the Chicago Blackhawks or they will play them for it two nights later.
“We’re here,” said Ian Laperriere, the Philadelphia veteran who has never won the Cup. “If we’re here, we might as well win the thing.
“If we’re going to win, it’s not going to be easy, that’s not how we do things. It wouldn’t be right for us to go 4-0. This is normal for us. We’ve had our backs against the wall all year. This is one more chapter.”
How do they know they still have life?
“We know,” Braydon Coburn, the defenceman said. “We never give up. Doesn’t matter the circumstance. That’s been the makeup of this team. We’re not about to change that now.
“You think of all the things we’ve had to go through to get here. We should have lots of confidence playing here. We’ve faced all kinds of challenges and we’re still standing.”
Michael Leighton remains the starting goaltender for the moment, although not necessarily announced that way by coach Peter Laviolette. Laviolette could never manage in the big leagues. He couldn’t stand announcing his starting pitchers three days at a time. When asked when he will tell his goaltenders who is starting, he answered with: “Do you know who is starting in the net for Chicago? Did they announced that yet.”
When the questioner responded with: “We assume Antti Niemi (who has started every playoff game for the Blackhawks),” Laviolette answered: “Oh. But nobody has asked?”
Laviolette then went on to say that “our goaltender has the best numbers in the playoffs. I didn’t think I had to announce it.”
The Flyers probably played their worst game of the playoffs in Game 5 in Chicago. Leighton played his. The 7-4 scored flattered Philadelphia. That could mean the team is now playing on fumes, or it could mean it’s just another interruption on their way to making this story all the more unlikely. Until somebody lifts the Cup, and that somebody isn’t them, they continue to believe.
“It starts with trust,” said Daniel Briere, the Flyers best forward in the Final. “Every time we’re in a bad situation, we’ve come back from it because we’re there for each other. We believe in ourselves and we just know how our guys are going to respond. We’ve played well in our building all playoff run, very well. Our motivation comes from wanting to push this to a Game 7, to keep this going.”
Laviolette, when not playing the part of wise guy, understands. He has thought long and hard about how he will address his team tonight. There is this rare and absolute trust here between players and coach.
“The championship we’re pursuing is special,” said Laviolette. “Maybe more so than others, if you look at how we had to get here and what we had to do to get our hands on that thing.”
The music at Wachovia will loudly play: “Don’t stop believing,” and the Flyers will play along, for as long as they can, as long as this incredible, impossible dance continues.