Flyers caught in Tampa Bay's trap

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - As if there was not enough controversy surrounding the sporting landscape in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania this week, the Flyers are adding to it.

At least they are willing to keep it all on the ice.

With 19,206 boos raining down on Chris Pronger at the St. Pete Times Forum on Wednesday night, as he comfortably held the puck on his stick and skated in circles in his own zone to avoid Tampa Bay's neutral-zone turnover gauntlet, he realized then that the game plan might not be a popular one.

But Pronger says the onus is not on him or the rest of Tampa Bay's opponents to make a move.

Twice, the Flyers were whistled for defensive-zone faceoffs and threatened with delay-of-game penalties in their 2-1 overtime loss. Ultimately, the league decided not to penalize the team after conferring with the "War Room" in Toronto.

Pronger took it one step further yesterday, saying the NHL should crack down on teams who play a passive style since it "pushes hockey back into the stone ages."

"I think it's been called an embarrassing moment," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on his radio show yesterday. "The good news is the game has gotten to such a point from an entertainment and skill and excitement standpoint, I'm kind of enjoying the fact that there's some outrage when something that tries to take the game out of its normal flow gets this kind of reaction."

Bettman said he believed league officials reacted appropriately.

"Did I like it? No. Is it the most horrible thing I've ever seen on the ice? No. But I do think it has now added another agenda item to the general managers' [meetings] next week," Bettman said. "If you're playing smart, tactical hockey, that's your prerogative and it's incumbent on the other team to figure out how to deal with it. By the same token, if this became too prevalent and too much of the game and too regular, then I think we'd have to deal with it, and we will."

Danny Briere said the Lightning's neutral-zone trap was more like an "0-4-1" setup instead of a "1-3-1." Point being: There was no lead attacker. Thus, the Flyers sat for minutes on-end in the first period, goading Tampa Bay into an attack that never came.

"I don't think it's good for the game," Briere said. "At the end of the day, we're in the entertainment business. It wasn't a very entertaining game. It's the fans that lose in the end. I'm sure Tampa Bay was happy, they got their two points. But it's the people that pay, the fans that support us."

Peter Laviolette, the man who installed the game plan, said he would be reluctant to change his approach for the next game against Tampa, even though the Flyers mustered just 15 shots. They gained a 1-0 lead, which ultimately forced the Lightning out of their trapping setup.

"I don't know what people want us to do," Pronger said. "If they're not going to forecheck, why should we go after it? If they're going to stand there, why would I want to skate right into that?

"If they want to try to sell that as hockey, then so be it. They've got some exciting players, highly skilled players, for them to not showcase those guys is a disservice to the game of hockey and the league."

With a healthy, 4-day layoff in between Wednesday night's overtime loss in Tampa and their next contest across the state against the Panthers on Sunday in Sunrise, the Flyers stopped off in Naples on the southwest Florida coast to take a break from hockey.

Briere said 11 players decided to golf at nearby Colony Golf & Country Club, others lounged by the pool or at the beach, and the coaching staff went on a chartered fishing expedition in the Gulf of Mexico. Assistant coach Craig Berube caught a 200-pound grouper. A group of Flyers spent the afternoon playing cards poolside.

Briere, usually a scratch golfer, said the golf "didn't go so well" for him, but teammate Matt Carle (@mattcarle25) tweeted that it was a day full of "Caddyshack" and "Happy Gilmore" quotes before they could even hit the driving range.

"This is nice and relaxing," Briere said. "It's a chance to get away from everything at home and spend some time together as a team. On most of the road trips, we don't have a chance to hang out much aside from a dinner here and there."

While the Flyers have the advantage of less strenuous travel in the Eastern Conference, they have a distinct disadvantage - especially early in the season - of not having an extended road trip to further on-ice relationships in-person.

"There are a lot of different activities here," Pronger said. "When you get opportunities like this, to rest and recuperate, you've got to use them to your advantage. It is critical for teams who want to be successful, you've got to take advantage of your time spent together.

"Trips like these give you more of a feel for everyone . . . Looking back at the end of the season, you can see the progress of a team, it makes you want to look out for a buddy, all of those things you need to be successful in the playoffs."

Rookie Erik Gustafsson rejoined the team in Naples, Fla., yesterday after missing the Tampa Bay game with a wrist injury . . . Ilya Bryzgalov, Chris Pronger, Claude Giroux, Kimmo Timonen, Danny Briere and Jaromir Jagr were listed as candidates on the NHL All-Star fan ballot, which was released yesterday. Out of 126 players, the Flyers - who have six representatives on the ballot - are tied with Chicago, Anaheim, Boston and Pittsburgh for most by one team. Voting for the Jan. 29 All-Star Game in Ottawa concludes on Jan. 4 . . . Former Flyers coach John Stevens, who played 834 AHL games and won Calder Cups both as a player and a coach, will be inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame in Atlantic City on Jan. 30.