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PHILADELPHIA - Mention the top coaches in the NHL this season and you’re probably not going to hear the name of Peter Laviolette.
But here he is with his Philadelphia Flyers one game away from going to the Stanley Cup final, which, for Laviolette, would be his second since the lockout. Laviolette won the Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and would join Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings as the only coaches to make it to two Stanley Cup finals since the lockout if the Flyers can convert their 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference final over the Montreal Canadiens.
Laviolette came in and replaced John Stevens behind the Flyers bench in early December, taking over a team that was rife with rumours of unrest in the dressing room and underachieving on the ice. The Flyers were 14th at one point in the Eastern Conference, but got into the playoffs with a shootout win in the last game of the season.
In the first round, Laviolette convinced a Hall of Famer like Jacques Lemaire that maybe it was time to move along, eliminating Lemaire’s New Jersey Devils in five games.
Laviolette will walk in history forever with his team, as former Flyers coach Freddie Shero used to like to say, after keeping his players moving forward and overcoming that 3-0 series deficit against the Boston Bruins in the second round of the playoffs.
Put it all together and Laviolette is developing a reputation for being a pretty good big-game coach. The Hurricanes, you will remember, won their Stanley Cup in a seven-game final against the Edmonton Oilers, then there was winning against the Rangers on the final afternoon to get into the playoffs and four big games in a row against the Bruins.
Along the way, he’s surpassed John Tortorella in career coaching wins by an American-born coach with 272 in the regular season and another 31 - and counting - in the playoffs.
He’s certainly won over the guy who signs the paycheques in Philadelphia.
“He didn’t win a Stanley Cup in Carolina by accident. I’ve just grown to respect him so much. He’s a tremendous coach,” said Flyers chairman Ed Snider outside the Flyers dressing room after their Game 4 victory at the Bell Centre in a game in which the Habs had one shot in the second period.
“He’s done a phenomenal job. He took them in between periods - did you see that second period today? Total domination. That’s coaching.”
That’s not good news for the Canadiens heading into Game 5 Monday night and facing elimination for the sixth time this spring.
“We’re still one win away,” said Snider. “We haven’t gotten there yet. These guys were down 3-1 to Washington, the best team in the league, and beat them. I’m not counting my chickens before they’re hatched.”
But it’s not trending well for Les Glorieux, who, with a chance to tie the series Saturday, were completely muzzled by a team Laviolette once again motivated to reverse the momentum in a series.
The Canadiens have scored in just three of the 12 periods that have been played in this series and fact in itself makes it remarkable they are actually still playing. Certainly the Habs’ cause would be aided by some offence from the likes of Tomas Plekanec (no goals in 12 games), Andrei Kostitsyn (no goals in 16 games) or Scott Gomez (no goals in 17 games). That’s no goals in what amounts to forever in the playoffs from half of your top six forwards.
Again, amazing the Habs are still playing.
“We’ve been down before,” said Plekanc. “We still believe we can win the next game.”
They’ve done it before this spring, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.