Archives for April 19, 2001

A healthy dose of clichés sits waiting for both teams in their return to Philadelphia. The hometown Flyers have to respond to the timeworn motto of "do or die" — their season hangs in the balance with no recourse but to win to stay alive. For the Sabres, it's a simple matter of “don't put off until tomorrow what you could do today.”

Philadelphia has solved Dominik Hasek. Yes, it is true. He is not in their heads; they do not walk away from the net shaking their heads. The Flyers have been beat by the Sabres' offense.

'There is no doubt they are in firm command of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Philadelphia Flyers, but along the way the Sabres have flirted with disaster.'

'The Philadelphia Flyers met the media Wednesday armed with all the standby cliches that befit a 3-1 series deficit.'

'Kalinin, the Sabres' lone rookie, has been a significant contributor to the success of the Sabres' defensive sextet. He even recorded an assist on the winning goal in his NHL postseason debut.'

'Amerks' president Steve Donner intends to intensify talks with the Sabres and other interested teams, and he wants to sign an affiliation contract by mid May at the latest. He says his ownership group no longer wants to work with a parent team that is unwilling to share more of the costs of the veteran core of players that is vital to winning, franchise marketability and player development.'

'Time and again these last several years, the Flyers have gotten to the postseason and their big guns have gone silent, their veteran leadership wilting under pressure.'

'"Primeau is so strong on the face-offs, and he was coming across with a lot of force, and my sticks were blowing up on me," Brown said. "Dominik looked at me and said, 'You need to get a different stick for face-offs in our end.' So I went and got a one-piece, and that's what I played with in the overtime."'

'"You can use past experience with New Jersey from last year, but I think the first 10 minutes are the most important 10 minutes in the series," Tocchet said, referring to tonight's game. "If we can jump out to a lead and get the fans behind us and show Buffalo there is still a will to win, then they've got to play another game, and you never know what can happen," he said.'

'Curtis Brown has become a strong candidate for series MVP, if such an award were given. His dominance on face-offs, strong defense, and scoring capability have been factors in every game.'