Tocchet: ‘We’ve been dead before and we climbed out of the grave’

RALEIGH, N.C. – It’s not like it’s never been done before by the Flyers, so there is still a bit of hope.
On at least three occasions in their history, the Flyers have bounced back from an 0-2 deficit to achieve victory.
The list is headed by the historically great rally from a 0-3 disadvantage the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Only three other teams have been able to overcome that big a deficit: The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs (over Detroit), the 1975 New York Islanders (over Pittsburgh) and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings (over the San Jose Sharks.
In addition to the Boston mini-miracle, the Flyers came back from an 0-2 hole against Pittsburgh in 2000. The rally started with the famous five-overtime triumph in the Steel City.
The Flyers also overcame an 0-2 deficit against the Maple Leafs in 1977.
Even after the Flyers dropped a 3-2 overtime decision in Game 2 on Monday night in Carolina, they still believe they can pull off another unlikely comeback.
“Well, I think there’s belief in the room,” coach Rick Tocchet said after the game at Levano Center. “That really helps. There’s belief in the room of just staying with it.
“We’ve been dead before and we climbed out of the grave. We keep hearing that we’re dead. But the guys won’t give up, so I’m proud of them.”
Just the way the Flyers got things going in Game 2 after a ho-hum effort in Game 1 is cause for optimism.
Goaltender Dan Vladar once again showed why he should be considered one of the top five goaltenders in the NHL at the moment.
“Yeah, ‘Vlady’ was great tonight,” Tocchet said. “I thought their goalie (Frederik Andersen) was great tonight. A lot of power plays and penalty kills. Both teams kind of hung in there.
“There was a lot of effort from both teams.”
Special teams seemed to take a lot out of both teams.
“You’ve got to make a play,” Tocchet said. “I think they went one for seven, we were one for six. We just can’t make that play. A couple times we passed up a shot. We’ll figure that out.”
The Flyers announced after the game that they will not practice on Tuesday. Makes sense, because Game 3 isn’t scheduled until Thursday.
Maybe the Flyers can regroup by then.
“We have belief we can compete with this team,” Tocchet said. “I thought we had better energy tonight.”
The power play showed some signs of coming out of its lethargic play, even if it did score only once.
“The first few, I thought we had a handful of good looks,” Jamie Drysdale said. “Maybe we got away from that a bit and they adjusted as well. You just have to keep adjusting and reacting. We can definitely be better.”