Resilient Flyers insist pressure is on the Hawks
PHILADELPHIA - For most of the players on both teams, Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals will be the most important hockey game they've ever played.
For the Blackhawks, it's a chance to go up 3-1 and bring them within a breath of the Stanley Cup, while essentially ending the Flyers' season.
For the Flyers, it's an opportunity to tie the series at 2-2 and put a serious dent in the Hawks' confidence.
But for the players involved, they can't think of the enormity, lest they lose track of the simple tasks the game demands from shift to shift, and period to period.
"Whatever happens, it's not going to bother us and we'll be ready to play the next game,'' said the Flyers' Ville Leino. "That's been our approach for many months now and it's worked very good for us, so we don't feel pressure in any game. That feeling allows you to relax.
"When we're on the ice, we don't feel pressure. We're just doing what we're supposed to do and enjoying the game.
"The hard part is when you're on the bench. It's not fun to watch. It's hard to watch. It's much easier to be on the ice.''
Hawks fans can relate, knowing it's very difficult to watch games when there's so much on the line.
"I'd rather be on the ice, for sure,'' said Matt Carle, who's logging very heavy minutes for the Flyers' defense. "Going out there every other shift gives you a chance to be more comfortable, to find your rhythm.
"The longer you sit the colder you get and the more antsy you get. I think this time of year it's great to be on the ice a lot.''
But there has to be a method for containing nerves when the game carries this kind of significance.
"Yeah, you have to approach it like it's just another hockey game,'' said Danny Briere. "You have a routine and you stick to your routine, and if you're prepared mentally and physically then you have nothing to worry about, nothing to be nervous about.
"A lot of guys in this room have played in big games before. Besides, every game we've played since after the Olympics was like an elimination game for us. Nothing new here.
"It's just another game like that in that sense. We're used to it. It's a great advantage for us and it's why we never feel out of series down 3-0 or out of a game down 3-0. We know the approach is one shift at a time, one game at a time.''
One does get a feeling while being around the Flyers that they're toying with the opposition, that they know something no one else does about how this is going to turn out.
"We're in a position where it's almost like we're on borrowed time,'' said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette. "Like I said before, at Christmas we were 29th in the league. It comes down to the last game of the season (to make the playoffs in a shootout).
"We are just a resilient group. We keep pushing. The pressure, I think, is more for teams that are expected to win, as the Blackhawks are, and everybody picked them before the series.
"We don't concede anything. We feel like we've got a confident group that's capable of winning hockey games.
"There's obviously pressure, but I don't know if we feel the pressure as much. We're keeping it light and trying to have a whole bunch of fun.''