Special DElivery: Preds, Flyers mentally drained for second round

By Darren Eliot –

The physical part of this post-season has been compelling in a gladiators-sort-of-way. With all of the shot blocking going on, it is safe to say that the flamingo is an extinct species in today’s game. On the mental side of the equation, I found it intriguing – and almost predictable – that the Philadelphia Flyers and Nashville Predators exited in the second round so meekly. Not because Philly’s goalie seemed to sometimes reside on the planet Xanax, or because a couple of the Preds’ key additions played Russian roulette with curfew. Rather, on a more fundamental level, those teams faced a second-round letdown scenario.

Both played highly charged, emotional series in the conference quarterfinals against each team’s most hated/revered rival. The Flyers deposed the Pittsburgh Penguins in a rollicking and raucous series that defied logic. Three-goal leads weren’t safe, penalty-killing was non-existent and goaltending had swings shift-to-shift from miraculous save to horrendous goal. It looked like 1982 all over again. Meanwhile, the Predators dispatched the Detroit Red Wings – the franchise standard they’ve measured themselves to since Music City became Hockey Tonk in 1998 – in workmanlike fashion. They knew the Red Wings’ tendencies better than the Wings themselves did. They were bigger, stronger and more diligent in every facet of the game.

Faced with some internal strife and up against focused, determined – there’s that theme again – foes, though, neither the Flyers nor the Preds had the wherewithal to conjure up the emotion necessary against the N.J. Devils and Phoenix Coyotes, respectively. That’s not surprising, given the mental capital expended in their first-round successes. Philly prides itself on forechecking opponents into oblivion. They did that to a beleaguered and bewildered Pens blue line. Against the Devils, the Flyers were in retreat. Their defensemen looked vexed and perplexed. The stars of the Devils – Ilya Kovalchuk et al – showed gumption and conviction, while Flyers’ star and catalyst Claude Giroux sat by idly in the deciding game, convicted of a hit to the head and a one-game suspension. The Flyers fell flat, befuddled at times by the Devils up-ice pressure.

For the Predators, things went sideways immediately in the WCSF. A team long prideful of its defensive discipline couldn’t defend. Unflappable goaltender Pekka Rinne looked rattled, or at least unsettled, bested by the exploits of counterpart Mike Smith at the other end. The high of realizing their Red Wing stamp of self-approval was quickly replaced by the reality of a 2-0 desert deficit. The Preds never recovered. The bodies were willing as always, but the collective mind of the group couldn’t get back to puck pursuit nirvana. And the Coyotes pounced, opportunistically scoring enough to make their bend-but-don’t break defense hold up.

Everyone enters the playoffs willing to do whatever it takes to win. More than ever, that seems to matter, with teams so close competitively. Sometimes, though, the mind does matter and it isn’t simply mind over matter. Just ask the Flyers and the Predators.