Hockey. My Apologies.

Philadelphia Flyers. I've never really thought to much into destiny. At least not in sports. But days like today make you wonder. My case and point in the first two words of this post. Three games to none. Not up, down. Improbable. Ineffable. Unlikely. How could they come back? Especially since they were seventh seed out of a possible eight. Fifteenth of sixteen league wide. They probably didn't win four in a row many times in the regular season. And there they are standing on the brink of elimination. Overtime. All they need is one goal, and they found it. A couple more jibs and jabs and boom series tied. Three games in a row. Good thing they never thought of how unlikely the task at hand was. They had no chance. Not four in a row. Not in the playoffs. But somehow it happened. They had a clean slate. One game takes all. One game advances. But here's the tough part. On the road. The fans do not like you. And they are loud. The only solution? A quick start. Get the crowd out of it. But 'woops.' Penalty call. Goal. Down early. Not good. Another penalty. Two nothing. Maybe it was not meant to be. Breakaway. Three down, games gotta be over. They put up a fight tied the series but it was not enough. Wrong. They roared back. A late goal in the first. Two in the second (Three some may argue). A bad decision by the other team leads to a late powerplay. A chance to cap the comeback. Both in the series and the game. The opportunity was not wasted. The Flyers posted the greatest series comeback in NHL history. Sure it had been done twice before. But not being down three to nothing in the final game. Not with such a plethora of injuries. Absolutely incredible when you think of the adversity they faced? Their starting goalie was injured during the season, for any other team thats a season write-off. After another injury or two they bring in this guy who started for them ten years ago. He gets them to the playoffs and; moreover, the second round. Only to get hurt. So they bring in their original backup. They were also missing 2 of their top scorers entering the series.Back to the destiny part. The funny way that fate has been working in the Flyers is downright unfathomable. This team was in a last game, winner makes the playoffs, loser goes home on the very last day of the regular season. Ironically enough that game needed a shootout. And the Flyers miraculously pulled it off with a mediocre, washed up goaltender. What if Boucher played like he was washed up? What if Mike Richards didn't devastate David Krejci, thus putting him out for the series? What if Simon Gagne thought of returning for game five instead of four? What if .. There's so many little things that have happened to help the Flyers along the way. One point got them in the playoffs. Barely ahead of the Montreal Canadiens. Whom they are playing in the Conference Finals. They made the playoffs by one point... how do they have home ice advantage? Beyond explanation. Destiny? Maybe. Destiny has sure got them to this place. But will it get them any further? Maybe destiny was that they'd be an easy opponent for the Canadiens. Maybe it was the opposite. Maybe the Canadiens improbable run was so that Philadelphia wouldn't have had to play Washington or Pittsburgh. The likely event has the West winning the cup. Because the lowest seed to win the Stanley Cup was an overall ninth. The Flyers are fifteen. Destiny brought them here. But only time will tell if Stanley is the fateful end,