Flyers open defense of conference title vs. Sabres

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The only Stanley Cup photos at the Flyers practice rink were from the 1970s. The locker room walls in their home arena were spotless. The mood was a bit reserved.

This training camp scene, some eight months ago, was all the proof coach Peter Laviolette needed to know his team had the oomph to win the Stanley Cup they fell two wins shy of bringing back to Philadelphia in June.

“There was no champagne on the walls,” Laviolette said Wednesday.

Translation: No title, no party, no complacency.

Laviolette should know. A year after leading Carolina to its only Stanley Cup championship in 2006, he opened a training camp that had celebratory reminders in every nook of the organization. Parade pictures. Postgame celebration photos. The locker room felt stale, a booze-soaked reminder that everything the Hurricanes wanted to accomplish, well, they did.

They never made the playoffs again under Laviolette, and he was fired 2 1/2 years later.

Things might be different in Philadelphia. After all, Laviolette might be a Stanley Cup title away from a lifetime contract _ and their decor will surely need a makeover.

He not only pushed the Flyers into the playoffs a year after their Game 6 loss to Chicago in the Stanley Cup finals, he has them positioned as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference when they open Game 1 against Buffalo on Thursday.

A late-season slump has been rolled up like game-used tape and tossed in the trash. The orange-and-black believe the Cup can come back to Philadelphia. After all, the Flyers led the East for most of the season.

“I just think we have a lot of guys that are big-time players and show up for big games,” forward Danny Briere said.

Winning a championship means tossing obstacles under the Zamboni on the way to the next round. And the Flyers have a few heading into their series with the seventh-seeded Sabres. Rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has new pressures in the postseason and defenseman Chris Pronger may not play early in the series with a broken hand.

Even team captain Mike Richards skipped practice Wednesday to recover from whatever minor ailments are bugging him.

Oh, and that slump of 14 losses since Feb. 26 was a No. 1 seed dealbreaker.

“It’s not a big deal to us,” Briere said. “Yes, we had that tough stretch at the end. But it was the same thing last year. You have to show up when things matter most. I really believe, just like I believed last year, in my team and teammates.”

Briere gave the Flyers every reason to believe they’d swig from the Cup down Broad Street. He finished as the leading scorer in the postseason with 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists). He also set the Flyers’ franchise record for postseason scoring, eclipsing Brian Propp’s 12 goals and 28 points in 1987.

Story Continues →

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.