Are We Watching the End of the Flyers Organization as We Know It?

(Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

If the Philadelphia Flyers get swept away by the Penguins in their first round series, are the Flyers as we know them finished?

Go back to the days of the Broad street bullies and you will find the humble beginnings of a long cultivated identity that goes along with Philadelphia hockey.  Tough as nails and full of grit, opponents learned that in order to play the Flyers you had to pay a physical price. 

Players like Bobby Clarke, and Ron Hextall embodied this image more than any, and when Bob Clarke took over as the head of Personnel decisions, he made sure the roster was always stocked with players that fit the image.  After all this is the team that took Steve Downie in the first round, not because he was a first round calibre player but because he was a Flyer type of guy. 

This broad street bully mentality has suited the Flyers well for the last 30 years but back to back seasons of playing their cross state rivals in the playoffs may prove once and for all that the Broad Street Bullies are no longer relevant in the new NHL. 

It was with relative ease that the Penguins swept the Flyers aside last season on their own improbably march to the Stanley cup.  They played the game at a pace that the Flyers simply couldn't match and dealt with them rather easily in five games.

Hardly the end of the world, Flyers fans and members of the organization probably felt that they could have beaten the Penguins if a few breaks had of gone their way.  That may well have been true but I can bet you the Flyers had absolutely no desire to test that theory again this year in the Playoffs.  Yet, here in the first round they have drawn a Penguins that team that although the roster has changed, still emphasis speed and skill over brute force.

Game one was what I would call the epitome of a Flyer game.  The Penguins carried the play, beat the Flyers to just about every loose puck and waited for their opportunities to capitalize on Flyer mistakes, which the Flyers gave them ample chances to do so.

I wasn't shocked when Lupol used a nudge from Letang to slam into Fleury, that is exactly how the Flyers won game seven last year against the Capitals.  On the winning goal they crashed the goalie and claimed the player was pushed into the net....That is Flyer hockey.

I wasn't shocked when the Flyers tried to send a message at the end of Game one.  Although I think the league needs to review the matter at the end of the season.  Perhaps penalties in the final two minutes of a game need to carry over into the next game in a series.  Jordan Staal could have had his career ended in Game one and for what, a 15 second penalty to the offending player. 

Think for minute about if the Cleveland Cavaliers had to sit Lebron James for the final 2 minutes of a Basketball game because they were nervous that some role player on the other team might go out on the court with the intention of harming him to send a message. I mean really, think about that for a second. 

The announcer on CBC couldn't even get the words out of his mouth before the Flyers starting to chop down Penguin players.  But of course, everyone knows that is Flyer hockey.

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