Rick Tocchet's Flyers were booed off the ice tonight after a 7-0 loss to the Penguins in their home opener.
Held scoreless at home on night one. It doesn't get much uglier than that for a fan base that showed up ready to roar.
Pittsburgh turned the first Battle of Pennsylvania of the season into a statement, and the building made sure the home team heard about it.
This was also the game where Nick Robertson's hard hit on Simon Benoit sent players piling into an aggressive scrum, with Sidney Crosby right in the middle.
The emotion was there. The scoreboard wasn't even close, and that's what the crowd reacted to.
In the clip, the Flyers head off the ice toward the tunnel as the boos rain down from every corner of the building.
-
A back-to-back in New Jersey gives Philadelphia no time to sulk
The Flyers visit the Devils tomorrow night on the second half of a back-to-back. Carolina comes to Philadelphia on Saturday.
That's a brutal stretch to answer a loss like this. Daniel Briere's group needs a response before October gets away from it.
The Penguins head home in a far better mood. Dan Muse's group hosts Montreal on Saturday after the kind of opener coaches dream about.
Kyle Dubas built this roster to start fast, and the opener looked exactly like that plan working.
The boos were earned. Fans pay for pushback on opening night, and a shutout loss to the biggest rival on the schedule offered none.
A loss like this at home is like hosting Thanksgiving and burning the turkey with the in-laws watching. Nobody forgets it by Christmas.
One loss doesn't define a season. But how the Flyers respond in New Jersey tomorrow will tell their fans whether the boos were a warning or the start of something longer.
Were Flyers fans right to boo their team off the ice on opening night?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Detroit Red Wings are in deep trouble after this latest report, with repercussions that could last for years
