Lindros Speaks Out About Team Choking

The fallout from the untidy disintegration of the Flyers in this series continued Saturday.

Eric Lindros, who made himself unavailable Friday after coach Terry Murray said the Flyers were “in a choking situation,” finally commented on his coach’s summation of what happened to put Philadelphia down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup finals.

“It’s tough to swallow when it’s coming from your coach,” Lindros said. “But I guess that’s the way things are, and we just have to stick together as a team, and go out and win as a team.”

Asked if he thought Murray was making a desperate attempt to motivate his team, Lindros said, “I don’t know. I think there’s enough motivation with the situation the way it is.”

Lindros, with a goal in the first three games, had his own problems after being accused of avoiding the media following the team’s optional practice Friday.

At first, he tried to explain it away by saying that while Murray was at the press conference where the choking comment came up, Lindros and the other players were conducting a closed-door meeting.

“I guess Terry was having a press conference and you guys were all over there,” he said. “After that, I went back to the hotel.”

Lindros didn’t explain why he wasn’t available subsequently. Team officials said Friday afternoon they were unable to locate him.

“I was there talking to my team, and I think that’s a whole lot more important than talking to you guys,” Lindros said.

Lindros said he didn’t know whether Murray’s comment “helps the situation, but we’re going to stick together as a team and give it our best.”

The Flyers collapse is underscoring the uneasy relationship between Lindros and Murray.

Murray isn’t chummy with his players, some of whom complain privately about his lack of communication. Lindros, given ample opportunity to praise his coach heading into this series, stayed mostly silent.

Although Lindros, like almost all of the Flyers, has played poorly in this series, he remains the cornerstone of the franchise. Negotiations on a new contract to replace the one that ends after next season will get under way shortly, if they haven’t already.

And judging by what Murray and general manager Bob Clarke said at the beginning of the series, Murray isn’t going anywhere either.

Clarke wouldn’t commit to extending Murray’s contract, which ends this season, until the Flyers won the Eastern Conference title. He then said Murray would stay as coach if he wanted to, and Murray quickly said he did.

That could change, given what’s happened against Detroit, which has strained an already shaky alliance between the coach and the superstar.

Arson alert

Although Murray said his Friday comments weren’t premeditated, he did acknowledge that “basically, there’s a challenge being thrown out.”

At least one player, Trent Klatt, agreed.

“I think he’s trying to light a fire, and there’s a lot of truth to it also,” Klatt said. “It’s time for 20 of us to show up and play the game we’re capable of playing, instead of trying to stand here and make excuses.”

Sweep fever

It must have been very difficult to buy one of those old-fashioned straw brooms in the Detroit area Friday night.

By Saturday morning, brooms were everywhere as fans urged the Red Wings to sweep the Flyers out of Stanley Cup finals in four games.

They were stuck out car windows, usually next to a small Red Wings flag clamped onto the window. They lined the loading dock of a building the Flyers bus drove under next to Joe Louis Arena. Inside the arena, there were more brooms, many with red handles.

The Red Wings, befitting a team that has stayed focused throughout the series, refused to be sucked into the giddiness.

“This has nothing to do with a sweep,” Darren McCarty said. “It has to do with winning a hockey game.”

Missing man

The Flyers were to play without forward Dale Hawerchuk, who suffered a concussion when he was hit by Vladimir Konstantinov.