The Flyers had a rare morning game yesterday at the Spectrum, so many of the players set their clocks an hour or two ahead Friday night. They wanted to make sure they made it to the rink on time.
The players got there without any problems, but their offense got lost somewhere along the way. The Hartford Whalers took 11 more shots through the first two periods, scored twice in the first minute and a half of the second period and went on to beat the Flyers, 2-0.
The win gave the Whalers, now 23-25-5 overall, a 3-0 record against the Flyers this season. The loss was the second defeat in the last three games for the Flyers, and it left them 27-23-6 overall.
The Flyers had a built-in excuse for their lack of offense, but most of them refused to use it. Right winger Rick Tocchet, out since Jan. 26 with a groin-muscle tear, was joined on the injury list by left winger Murray Craven and center-winger Pelle Eklund. Craven did not play because his left eye was still too bruised from an injury he suffered Thursday night, and Eklund was out with a sore muscle in his right hip.
With that trio sidelined, the Flyers were missing their top three scorers. And it showed. They brought up two promising youngsters - center Craig Fisher and winger Pat Murray - from Hershey of the American Hockey League to fill in, but the remaining forwards failed to generate any sustained pressure on Whalers goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz.
The game was held at 11 a.m. so the Spectrum could be prepared for today's Flyers' Wives Fight for Lives Carnival. For some reason, the Flyers have not played particularly well in morning games, although they beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-6, last season and the New York Islanders, 7-4, in 1989.
"The three times we've played this game, we've been in bizarre games, to say the least," Holmgren said. "This is the first time it's been low- scoring. It didn't look like a good game from where I was standing."
Holmgren said much of the Flyers' trouble came from the forwards trying to do too much.
"You take Eklund and Craven, two of our playmakers, out of our lineup, and other guys are trying to make fancy plays at the blue line," he said. "You shouldn't do that. I think we should be more of a dump-and-chase team without those guys. At times today we tried to be a little too fancy."
