VOORHEES, N.J. – Payback is a . . .well, you’ve probably heard the expression, so no need to repeat it here, especially for the Flyers.
You see, the team was cruising along to a playoff spot last season when, after 124 days in the top eight of the Eastern Conference, the bottom fell out.
A 2-8-3 stretch sent the Flyers spiraling out of the postseason picture.
Included in that disaster were a pair of losses to the Montreal Canadiens (by the humbling scores of 9-3 and 4-1), plus another to the New York Rangers (6-5).
So guess who the Flyers next play as this season draws to a close?
Why the Habs and Blueshirts, of course.
This time around the Flyers aren’t in the Stanley Cup competition picture but Montreal and New York are.
The Flyers would love nothing better than to thwart the plans of either of those two teams – or both.
“We were in a reverse situation last year, playing teams that were out of it and trying to get into it,” Travis Sanheim said after Friday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center.
“So it will be similar teams that were playing well against us last year. You want to do the same this year against them and kind of get a little bit of payback.”
Garnet Hathaway will take motivation wherever he can get it.
Besides, the Bell Centre crowd will be rockin’ the joint on Saturday night, so what more do you need to get the juices going?
“The goal to start every season is to win the Stanley Cup,” he said. “And it’s disappointing when you don’t give yourself a chance in the playoffs. It sucks, honestly.
“But it helps the (locker) room build, us going through the adversity that we’ve had. Guys are working to make the most of what we have.”
The Flyers are off to a quick 3-0 start under interim head coach Brad Shaw but the last two victories came against not-so-tough Buffalo and Nashville.
Expect much more resistance from the Canadiens and Rangers.
“If we can go in and spoil somebody’s party – there are few things in hockey that feel really good and that’s one of them,” Shaw said. “It’s fun to go in and be the spoiler.”
On top of that, the Flyers coaches, management and talent evaluators will be keeping an eye out to see how players perform without a great deal of incentive.
“It’s fun to go in and take the life out of a building,” Shaw said. “That’s a hard thing to do this time of year, it’s hard to do it for 60 minutes, long enough to take a team that really believes in themselves like Montreal.
“You don’t do it for five or 10 minutes and win the game.”
Sanheim said the Flyers want to avoid going into the offseason with bad feelings.
“Personally, I think everyone wants to go into the offseason feeling good about themselves,” Sanheim said. “Collectively as a group I think it kind of continues to build this forward, take the right steps and I think if we can finish strong, hopefully it will be a good way to lead into next season.”
>Protection for Dorwart
The Flyers aren’t taking any chances with newly signed Michigan State free agent Karsen Dorwart against the Canadiens. They have the center working on a fourth line with enforcers Nick Deslauriers and Hathaway.
“They’re obviously the type of players that can protect a young guy,” Shaw said. “I just like their experience. I think he (Dorwart) is going to have questions at times. I expect that building (Bell Centre) to be rockin’ with that team in the playoff hunt right now.”
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