Philadelphia Flyers: Best and Worst on Display in Game 3

What started out as a beautiful and exciting night for the Philadelphia Flyers turned into nightmare

The Philadelphia Flyers dropped games 1 and 2 to the heavily favored Washington Capitals last week. That wasn’t entirely surprising, even if it was a little disappointing. The Caps suffocated the Flyers in many way in game 1, but the Flyers made many improvement against the Caps in Game 2. This gave them something to work with going into game 3.

Overshadowing the nitty gritty of hockey matchups was that game 3 would basically be Ed Snider night. Snider, of course, was the founder of the Flyers who recently passed away from cancer at the age of 83. Snider founded the Flyers as a young man, but grew into one of the titans of the NHL. No owner in professional sports loved his team more than Snider, or was willing to do more to win games and take care of his players. Simply put, as Claude Giroux said, “Ed Snider IS the Flyers.”

This was the Flyers first home game since his passing, and a special tribute was planned. Fans were given commemorative orange t-shirts. A banner was placed outside the stadium. The Flyers players wore a patch on the uniforms. Snider’s initials were painted onto the ice behind the nets. And it all culminated in a pre-game tribute video.

"A tribute to our founder and chairman, Ed Snider. #ThankYouMrSniderhttps://t.co/6u7p2eCaU1— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 18, 2016"

On additional feature of the game was that every fan was given an LED bracelet to wear. These bracelets were programmed for specific spots in the arena, creating some pretty cool effects before the game, and during breaks in the game.

At this point, everything was gravy. The place was buzzing with real emotion. The Flyers players did their part as well, scoring a goal only a minute into the game.

The arena erupted, and the Flyers celebrated clumsily and earnestly. It felt like the Philadelphia Flyers at their very best. It was a fitting capstone to Ed Snider’s real achievement: taking an NHL team to an unlikely market that many famously predicted would fail, but creating a fervent fanbase and one of the most successful teams in the NHL over the last 45 years.

The moment was not to last. The NHL-best Capitals slowly but surely turned the tide on the ice. After some shoddy goaltending and downright bad penalty killing, the Flyers were behind again and the game was slipping away. The Flyers were now desperate and frustrated, and the powder keg exploded.

The generally mild-mannered Pierre-Edouard Bellemare made a bad hit on the Caps’ Dmitri Orlov. I don’t believe Bellemare had any intent to injure, or that he hit Orlov with an excessive amount of force, but it was an irresponsible and dangerous play that players know they must avoid. The teams got into a scrum with some fighting, but the end result was a devastating 5-minute major penalty on the Flyers who were already trailing by 3 goals.

With all reasonable hope of a comeback dashed, the Flyers were losing their composure on the ice. Apparently the fans took this as a cue to give up as well, and throw a tantrum. The game had to be stopped as fans starting throwing the bracelets onto the ice, or even at Caps players. PA announcer Lou Nolan pleaded with the fans to show some class and stop chucking them on the ice, but the behavior persisted and the Flyers were assessed another penalty.

It was bad enough that the Flyers were now getting beaten up on the scoreboard, but their hapless penalty kill faced even more indignities because of the fan behavior. There was nothing the players could do about except be frustrated and embarrassed.

Cue the obvious storyline. Philadelphia fans acting badly is basically a dog-whistle for national condescension. It’s not like Philadelphians are the only ones that behave badly: other city’s fans have cheered when their own players get hurt. Others have cheered for injuries to the opposition while showering them with debris. But it’s just too easy to play the “classless Philly fans” card when this stuff happens, and the poor behavior of others isn’t really an excuse.

I have seen some friends and Flyers fans place some blame on the Flyers organization for the behavior. The argument basically goes that you give a bunch of drunk fans a throw-able object, you can’t be surprised when they behave badly. I am not sympathetic to this perspective.

It makes me think of a Simpsons episode where Bart was sent to the special education class. At one point, the “challenged” students are instructed to take out their “safety scissors” and their “circles of paper.” It’s pretty damning if Flyers fans describe themselves as having to be treated the same way.

The Broad Street Bullies of the 1970s and their fighting ways are long gone. Philly fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus almost 50 years ago. Because of the events last night however, we prolong that legacy. It’s especially a shame that on a night that could’ve been remembered as a tribute to the man who was the embodiment of the Philadelphia Flyers, the national sports consciousness will remember “idiot Flyers fans” giving their own team a penalty and being poor losers.

And what can I say in response? Not much. Losses to superior opposition I can swallow. Drunken tantrums are harder to take. At times like this a brief tweet and a picture is worth a thousand words.