Flyers fans, bless their orange and black hearts, hope that day has not arrived. The Stanley Cup will be in the house tonight for the second time since the Wachovia Center opened in 1996. And for the second time, it will not be awarded to the Flyers' captain.
In 1997, Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings swept out of Philadelphia carrying hockey's greatest prize. Jeff Carter was in elementary school in 1997, but doesn't want the Flyers faithful to witness such an indignity again.
"You never want to see a team come into your building and beat you, let alone win the Stanley Cup on your home ice," said Carter. "So [there's] a lot of motivation there. Obviously, the fans have been behind us since we began this 5 years ago, really. It would be nice to come out and get a big win for them in the last home game."
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette has always told his players that it is OK to strive for the Stanley Cup. He looks at it like a carrot at the end of a stick. A tangible goal, such as winning a championship, might help a player do one more set of weightlifting or one more round of skate sprints.
With his team one win away, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville is the complete opposite.
"I think we look at the short-term picture and try to present our challenges to win one hockey game," said Quenneville, who claimed a Stanley Cup ring as an assistant in Colorado in 1996. "We want to even fine-tune it from shift to shift. I think that's our mind-set. At the end of it, hopefully we accomplish that goal."
Toews, 22, would be in some heady company if Chicago wins tonight. The No. 3 overall pick in 2006, he would become the second-youngest to captain his team to a championship. Toews would sit between Wayne Gretzky (23 in 1984) and Sidney Crosby (21 in 2009).
