MEET TWO FACES OF CUP FRUSTRATION: Chris Pronger & The Flyers

There is two extreme sides of the Chris Pronger coin that we saw flipped yesterday. With it, in that metallic shimmer, we got to peer beneath to see the true Flyer psyche in these Stanley Cup playoffs.

First it was the post-game 1 loss that had him dropping jokes, remaining light, if not full to the brim with bravado and confidence. By the end of game 2, we saw what it really was…a facade. A sham to mask the fear that the Flyers are outclassed, time is running out, and they do not have what it takes to hold on in this most desperate hour.

Pronger acting as if he's in an Old Spice commercial (image - PhillyFanForums)

You’d think, losing the two games in Chicago, would be livable, heading back to the city of brotherly love. Several factors argue that this is not the case, including Chris Pronger’s unraveling and his Cybil-like turn on the press after game 2. That mask of fase bravado was sheared away by reality…

They faced a beatable and flawed Hawks team who has not settled in, and failed to grab even one game. There was anger in Pronger, the kind of anger that bespoke of missed opportunity, that he…for all his leadership skills, is not in control, and the Flyers head home with a heap of pressure on their shoulders.

If the Flyers drop either of their home games later this week, it is over for them. They will not recover.

The problem here, despite Neimi’s stalwart turn in game 2, the Flyers have faced a Chicago team who is not firing on all cylinders. Kane, Toews and Byfuglien have been MIA.

Both third periods saw the Hawks settle in enough to take over and seal deals. In Philly, they come two games up and a thrown towel to indicate Pronger is melting into a pile of elbows and attitude. Flyer fans can spin this all they want, but Pronger has a history of playing off his emotional reactions. Last night was raw as it gets, and no amount of fan-propelled spin is going to make it all part of Pronger’s nefarious plan. He simply can’t play all positions on the ice.

Instead, much like Jack Nicholson at the end of A Few Good Men, he snarled at the CSN reporters … some of which hold Pultizer Prizes for investigative journalism. Pronger has a well-established history of blowing his cool, a far cry from his oily uber cool persona from earlier that day. He has a good recovery and sly wink after-the-fact, but in the heat of the moment, he is volatile, raw and can blow his top. Last night, he cracked more than the Liberty Bell.

Byplay with Tim Pannacio (hat tip to the always excellent new daddy, Puck Daddy)

What happened?

“I couldn’t hear him, I don’t speak gibberish,” said Pronger, who picked up a misconduct penalty at the very end and got into it with Eager.

Where’s the puck, Pronger was asked.

“It’s in the garbage,” Pronger replied. “Where it belongs.”

You shot a towel at Eager when he complained?

“So what,” Pronger replied.

You’re collecting pucks now?

“Why not? What’s wrong? It’s sitting there. What else is gonna happen to it? It’s sitting there. Sure, why not. You got a problem with that?”

Are you gonna sell it on eBay?

“I don’t know. Apparently, it got him upset. So I guess it worked, didn’t it? It’s too bad. I guess little things amuse little minds.”

Pronger is a small basket of emotional eggs, and last night they cracked for all to see…in game and outside the game.

Now, can he and the Flyers can be glued together again?

Emotion is always part of the playoffs, naked and palpable, it is plastered beneath playoff beards with the blood and sweat. It rides beneath the careful words and canned answers that come wrapped in team ribbons back to the press.

Last night, there was nothing but naked truth snarling and dismissing questions in Chicago. Naked truth that rides heavy upon the shoulders of a team headed home to open up their last stand as the Hawks, of course ever-the-predator, smell the blood besides the cheese steak.