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Laviolette on Bryzgalov gaffe: “That goal was tough. It stung. It hurt.”

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James

Peter Laviolette didn’t really throw Ilya Bryzgalov under the bus when speaking of the stunning goal that ended up booting the Philadelphia Flyers from the playoffs. He didn’t sugarcoat its impact to NBC’s Tom Layberger, either, though.

“I thought that second goal was a tough bounce,” Laviolette said. “We were in possession and the puck ends up in the back of our net. That goal was tough. It stung. It hurt. I thought our guys were playing hard and skating early in the game. That was more of an unfortunate bounce than anything else.”

In other words, he basically seconded Ilya Bryzgalov assessment of it being “unlucky.” Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that he stood by his goalie after allowing him to fight through some tough times throughout the 2012 playoffs.

When asked if the Penguins series took something out of the Flyers, Laviolette’s response was simple: “No.” Instead, he gave the Devils a lot of credit.

“I think you have to give New Jersey credit for the way they played defense and the way they forechecked,” Laviolette said. “They kept it from being the game that we wanted and we could never seem to get down that road.”

One other thing the Flyers (and their opponents) couldn’t do was take advantage of a 1-0 lead. In their 11 playoff games, the team who scored the first goal went a stunning 1-10, which is just another confounding thing for Laviolette and the rest of the franchise to chew on.

It sounds like they’ll do their best to let that memorable goal go, though.