Who Cares?

Judging by the reaction in the locker room during post-game interviews, it looks like the Flyers were crestfallen after losing 5-4 to the Devils in a shootout last night.

They scored first. They led 4-1. They still lost (Tied, actually, since your humble author refuses to accept shootouts). The script is a familiar one in New Jersey in those rare times the Flyers have wrested control of the game early at the Meadowlands.

All hands and feet inside the bus during the ride home, boys. Don't want anyone taking a header off the Pulaski Skyway or the Delaware River Bridge.

This loss is hardly a time for handwringing. The Blackhawks are 6-0 in the preseason, and does anybody expect them to contend for a playoff spot? Half the teams in the league still don't have their rosters set, who feature a slew of minor leaguers desperately trying to prove their worth or contract players trying to prove they aren't trade bait. Has this rivalry become so one-sided, and the wound so deep over past dominance, that even exhibition losses carry the full weight of disappointment?

The Devils are no different - they have to decide who to keep between Sergei Brylin, Alexander Mogilny, and the unsigned Brian Gionta. The Flyers are an exception. They have maybe one spot in contention (on defense) and one spot open (the eternal goaltender question) with one game to go before the curtain goes up for real.

Maybe that's the precise reason for the gloomy navel-gazing - that a Flyers team damn near to the one which will make the 82-game trek blew a three-goal lead on the road to a team with major issues. Still, baseball, football and hockey are littered with teams who exceeded or confounded expectation, based on lamebrained predictions gleaned from preseason performance and record.

So, my only two words to reference last night's game are: Who Cares? Who cares if the Flyers blew a three-goal lead in September? Who cares if they go out and lose tomorrow night in Washington? The Caps won't finish with a record anywhere close to Philly come next April.

Please, reserve all judgment beginning on the night of October 7th. The opener, which I suspect the Flyers could lose, is a wash. Openers should only set the tone for the NFL with only 16 games on the slate. Start the suicide watch should the Orange and Black lose their home opener to the Rangers.