Remember that hullabaloo from last week where the Philadelphia Flyers were supposedly trying to "make a statement" about the Tampa Bay Lightnings' zone defense? You know, it was that game on national TV where the Versus announcers went nuts bashing the Bolts for playing a "boring" style of hockey and attempting to ruin the game. If you were watching the game and didn't know any better, you'd have thought the apocalypse was coming.
↵It turns out that Lightning GM Steve Yzerman didn't enjoy the criticism any more than the rest of us:
↵↵↵"Versus is owned by Comcast, Comcast owns the Flyers, Keith Jones is a broadcaster with the Flyers and is hardly impartial,'' Yzerman said. "I think that anybody that looks at that objectively should be saying, 'Did Tampa do the right thing or Did Philadelphia do the right thing' and you can make an argument both ways.''
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That's a rationale, logical take on the events from last week, although it does make me wonder why Versus had a Flyers announcer covering a national game. Did they want their broadcast to be biased toward the Flyers? Did they just not care? Maybe I'm reading too much into the decision, but it just seems like a poor choice.
↵Yzerman also went on the defend the Bolts' use of the 1-3-1, and stated that while it was discussed at the GM's meeting this week, they decided to take no action at the moment and monitor the situation. If more teams use the same strategy as the Flyers against the Bolts, the league may have to look into the matter. But for now, it's best not to overreact to one game.
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