Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette Says Devils Were In A Different Gear Than The Flyers In Game 2
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Peter Laviolette didn't sleep well after the Flyers game 2 loss to the Devils on Tuesday night. "I don't think sleeping is even good after a win sometimes. It's part of what it is. We've got a lot of work to do. We'll come in here and regroup and get ready for the next game. That sleep thing is overrated anyway," he said.
Laviolette spoke to 94WIP's Angelo Cataldi and The WIP Morning Show to discuss the 4-1 Flyers loss. The Flyers played an uninspired first period of game one, and fixed that problem in game two. "In the first period, they came out hard and we came out ok. We probably gave away too many chances but they were working hard on the puck," Laviolette said. "I think where it went south really was the start of the second period. They went up a gear, and we went down a gear. That was the difference. We were playing in first gear and they were playing in third or fourth gear."
Being down one game to none, the Devils needed this win a little more than the Flyers did. "There's no question, in all the playoff series I've been involved with, is that desperation wins," Laviolette said. "It's hard, you can talk about desperation, you can talk about preparation, but New Jersey to their credit they came out and played a game like they knew it would be. It gets down to those impossible numbers if you get down 2-0 in a series and you have to give them credit. They played a better, faster, quicker game, a more competitive game than we did."
As bad as game 2 got for the Flyers, Laviolette doesn't seem to think it's the end of the world. "The teams that win the Stanley Cup, they don't go through without have a bad game or and a bad game there," he said. "We're playing good hockey teams. The teams in our division were the top teams in the league. New Jersey had an excellent year. We went through Pittsburgh, and we had a real tough game four. You learn from those experiences with a young group I think."
Game 3 is Thursday night, and Laviolette thinks it gives the Flyers a fresh start. "The one thing that's for sure about playoff hockey is that one game has absolutely nothing to do with the next. They're individual sections of a story. Last night was an ugly chapter for us and we need to turn the page on it."
