After going down by a goal in the second period, Marc-Andre Bergeron continued his fantastic start to the season by putting a power play slap shot into the back of the Flyers net to tie the game at one. The game would head into overtime, when rookie Brett Connolly sent home a rebound for his third career goal, the game-winner. Dwayne Roloson stopped 14 of 15 shots in the winning effort.
However, perhaps even more interesting than the Bolts' W was the mini-controversy that stemmed from Philadelphia's refusal to attack the Lightning's 1-3-1 neutral zone defensive set-up. Several times throughout the game, the Flyers would keep the puck in their defensive zone without advancing it, sometimes for 20 or 30 seconds at a time. Their goal was to force the Lightning to break their scheme and move up to forecheck to force the Flyers to move the puck, but for the most part, they remained staunch in their alignment.
Now, time for a rant.
I have absolutely no problem with the Flyers doing what they did strategic-wise. Trying to lure the Bolts into breaking their hard-to-beat "Tampa T" trap was probably a smart move by Philadelphia. Although some considered the results to be several boring wastes of half-minute increments, which they were, but I also saw it as an intense, coaching chess-match of who would be the first to break their gameplan.
The problem I have regarding the situation has nothing to do with the stall strategy itself, but rather the reaction to it, namely by the pathetic excuse for broadcasters employed by the equally-pathetic excuse for a television network known as Versus. I have never liked Versus, mostly due to their incredibly biased commentary that portrays northeastern large markets such as the Flyers, Pittsburg Penguins, the Washington Capitals, and the Boston Bruins as the only teams that matter in hockey, while casting a negative shadow upon southern teams such as the Lightning.
That sentiment was in full force Wednesday, as the Versus announcers deemed that the Flyers were heros for the NHL by standing up to the evil Guy Boucher and the bad-for-the-sport 1-3-1, which has been around for decades. They blamed the Lightning for delaying the game; they suggested that Tampa Bay should get a penalty for their defensive alignment or even fined for it. My reaction to all this talk was a resounding: "HUH??" The last time I checked, the team that has the puck is responsible for attacking the other team's zone in an attempt to score goals. If they face opposition to this attack, it's a little thing that's called "defense". The opposing team is supposed to try to stop the team with the puck from scoring. It's just like how the defenses in football try to tackle the ballcarrier, how the defenses in basketball try to block shots, and how the defenses in baseball try to catch the ball for outs. Defenses are not supposed to back off and let the offense score at will (well, maybe in the NBA they are). Heck, if the 1-3-1 is so evil, then just have every game be a shootout. Of course, Versus would probably want to outlaw goalies, too.
I'll be sure the next time that a Lightning game is on what is probably the worst sports channel in the world that I mute the TV and hope that Dave Mishkin's fantastic call of the game is in time with the picture.
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