No Cup, But Heart by the Gallon

Sometimes it takes a moment of utter fatigue for your inner feelings to spill out. And, so it was for Flyers forward Ville Leino after last night's season-ending Stanley Cup game at the Wachovia Center.



In the home team's sullen locker room, NBC10's John Clark asked Leino if his team had simply run out of gas.

"We fought hard," admitted Leino. "We were tired these last two games."
 
It showed. In games one through four, the orange and black stayed with Chicago nearly shot for shot and hit for hit. Then came ame five, and the Flyers went from skaters to mudders. It wasn't even close. Most of Chicago coach Joel Quenneville's troops looked like a team of Apolo Anton Ohnos, gliding effortlessly wearing grins and smirks. By contrast, coach Peter Laviolette's charges looked winded and barely able to lift their sticks. No smiles, either. The fun was gone as the Hawks suddenly obtained the copyright on crisp neutral zone passing and nifty offensive zone rotation.
 
An extra day off between games five and six made no difference. In front of an orange crush crowd last night, Chicago again took the play to the Flyers from the opening faceoff. Philadelphia had a few surges, but really didn't look fresh until late in the game.

Chalk that up to desperation (and a sudden penchant for conservative defense by the Blackhawks). Whatever energy the Flyers had left was spent early in overtime, with a couple of chances going by the boards (pardon the pun). Chicago clinched its first Stanley Cup since Mr. Ed was in primetime by scoring its second soft goal of the evening off Flyers netminder Michael Leighton . Patrick Kane did the honors, and after a few seconds of uncertainty, the flyers were toast.
 
The gas was gone. The tank was empty. But, the desire was still filled to the brim. The "Let's go Flyers" chant echoed from the hometown faithful while that large, shiny tankard was being hoisted by the invaders. To a man, the Philadelphia Flyers gave their fans and hockey watchers everywhere a postseason run to remember. And, if you think Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga and umpire Jim Joyce are the only good sports in sports, think again.
 
"They (the Blackhawks) were a better team... I guess that's it," said Leino.
 
The Flyers may get younger and faster by training camp, but they won't improve on their collective heart.

And that beat will go on.

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