Philadelphia Flyers: Vengeance Now?

They finished dead last in the East last season.

Now, they're playing for the Eastern title this season.

Quite an about-face for a team stacked with prolific high-scoring players mixed in with some grinders and grittier types.

But the Philadelphia Flyer's act of vengeance on a league that left them for dead last season is in jeopardy to say the least.  Outplayed, outscored, and outhustled in Games 1 and 2 by their cross-state rivals from Pittsburgh, the Flyers have a large task ahead of them, being down 2-0 in a series for the first time this postseason.

Coming back to home cooking this time, hard work is all that can be expected from Daniel Briere and Co. if the Flyers are going to have a chance in this series.

The team used the slogan "Vengeance Now" against the Washington Captials in the first round when they won a hard fought seven-game series. They used it again against the Montreal Canadiens in an easy five-game series. 

But the Flyers do not need vengeance to beat the Penguins in their home barn. 

They just need to focus on scoring goals, so says GM Paul Holmgren.

Remember Evgeni Malkin's little shot to Briere in Game 2?  That's something the Capitals or Canadiens didn't try to do in the first two rounds: give the Flyers a taste of their own medicine.

How does a raucous Flyers team respond to this?

Maybe with higher intensity hockey with more checks, more physical play...maybe a fight or two?

As it goes, what goes around comes around.  After two rounds of throwing around their opposition and intimidating them with physical play and hard hits, the Penguins have finally exploited the Flyers weaknesses on defense sans Kimmo Timonen.

Has karma come back to bite the Flyers in the bud?

For the Flyers sake, let's hope not.