Philadelphia
Daily News - May 5, 1997
Philadelphia
Daily News - May 5, 1997
t's
only been six games so far,'' Rod Brind'Amour said. And he's right.
And he's also been a little too busy lately to spend either the time
or the energy needed to pursue the last laugh. Still . . .
Six games. Five goals. Everybody's favorite trade bait through the summer and into the fall is the Flyers' leading playoff goal scorer so far. As the Flyers continue to play their favorite party game, Share the Burden, which is kind of like Spin the Bottle, except that you spin a stick and whoever it points at doesn't get kissed. He gets the tying goal, or the winning goal, or the momentum-turning goal.
And as this postseason begins to take on a life of its own, and as the game is played and the stick is spun, well, Brind'Amour continues to rewrite both the rules and the expectations.
To which he shrugs and says, ``I'm playing more. It's easier when you're playing more.''
First against the Penguins, now in the first game against the Sabres -- a 5-3 victory Saturday night in which Brind'Amour scored two goals, the second into an empty net -- a Flyers team that once was so top-heavy is continuing to be defined by its balance. And its size, but that's a different matter.
Down 3-1 to the Sabres, first you get Mikael Renberg scoring a blink before the lights ending the second period flashed green. Then you had Brind'Amour, converting an exquisite pass from Dale Hawerchuk. Then you had Trent Klatt keeping the play alive behind the net seemingly forever and Shjon Podein eventually stuffing in the game-winner in the final minute of the third period.
It's quite a list of names. It's a list that doesn't include the names of Eric Lindros or John LeClair. To come back twice from two-goal deficits -- and to do it mostly from the second and third lines -- is a monumental sign for this Flyers team.
That's not to say the Sabres are dead, because they clearly are not. That's not to say, either, that the best players aren't ultimately going to have to do the most damage if the Flyers are going to get themselves a Stanley Cup. Because they are.
But here and now, balance is the Flyers' business. And Brind'Amour -- who played in so many different places with so many different linemates this season -- is the prime example.
``It's really good when everybody's contributing like this,'' he said. ``For me, though, it's really been about playing time. I'm just getting more even-strength shifts now. When it's like that, you're just into the game more. For me, that's really been the key.
``When you're not playing as much, you almost don't remember what this feels like. It's just great. When it's happening, it's like, `Oh, yeah, this is the way it's supposed to feel.' You're into it. You're not a step behind. It's not like everybody else is passing you by.''
Terry Murray pretty much rolled his lines out there on Saturday night. Brind'Amour figures that his line (which he centered, between Hawerchuk and Pat Falloon) had as much time as the Legion of Doom. And he knows there is an unspoken contract here, unstated but binding nonetheless.
It is a contract that everyone in the game understands. It states that the more you play, the more that's expected of you. If the minutes go up, then the production had better follow. And if it doesn't follow, the minutes will go back down, just as surely as night follows day, just as surely as the Sabres' Matthew Barnaby will never star in a remake of ``The Quiet Man.''
Murray says it's less a period-to-period kind of evaluation than it is a game-to-game thing. And he says that more than just goals and assists go into the equation. ``It's not always going to be on the score sheet,'' the coach said.
Still, at some point, it has to be on the score sheet if you're a second-line center, or forward, or whatnot. Brind'Amour centered Saturday night at the suggestion of Hawerchuk, a Hall of Fame center coming off a groin pull. Centers not only take faceoffs -- they also have more defensive responsibilites, more work behind their net if there is trouble breaking out of the zone, just more skating. If you think about it, centering Brind'Amour made more sense.
And Brind'Amour has always eaten the minutes and asked for more. He's always been in great shape. He's always killed penalties. His regular season clearly was not his best (27 goals, 59 points), but neither were the circumstances. And for everybody who wanted Brendan Shanahan here in a trade, I've said it before and I'll say it again: You still would have needed to acquire a Brind'Amour-like player to balance this roster properly.
Scoring is not the issue with this Flyers team and has not been all season. The issue has always been team defensive play and balance. The issue will continue to be team defensive play and balance.
That's why Brind'Amour is here. And that's one of the reasons this Flyers team looks so much more confident than last year's edition -- so much more confident, with so much more of an opportunity.
``You'd like to say that but you really don't know,'' Brind'Amour said. ``I mean, we could lose. You just don't know. Last year, I thought we had as good a chance as anybody, but everybody knows we fell short. So it's hard to say.
``But this is what I'm thinking: If you look at all the rest of the teams that are left, what will people say if we do end up winning it? Will they be surprised? I don't think so. If we win it, I don't think people will be surprised . . .
``Personnelwise, we're pretty close to what we were last year, pretty close to the same team. We've had a few additions. But being there before is the difference. Being there before, it definitely helps. It helps in every situation. It's just experience, I guess. And it has helped.
``There's going to be a time coming ahead where we're probably going to need a lucky break to survive. When you look back, just about every Stanley Cup champion can say that. If we're going to get there, we're probably going to need that lucky break somehwere along the way, too.
``But if we win it, I don't think people will be surprised,'' Rod Brind'Amour said. ``And these days, that's really all you can ask for.''