Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

CHICAGO -- A team can play its best hockey when its life is on the line, while others just seem to hang around and hang around. The Philadelphia Flyers have been both of those teams this spring.

But what this Flyers team is not is ready to be a winner. Not yet.

They may even win the Stanley Cup two games from now, but the lesson they learned Sunday night in Chicago was that it is always easier to be the chase horse coming down the stretch, than the one with all the momentum in its favour.

With a chance to zero in for the kill, the Flyers -- as their former coach Terry Murray so famously said back in 1997 -- found themselves "in a choking situation."

"Came out slow, came out tentative. Turned a lot of pucks over," said captain Mike Richards, who was minus-2 and without a point in a 7-4 Chicago shellacking of the Flyers. "Where we had all of our success this series was not turning pucks over, getting the puck deep and hitting their defencemen. We had none of that going on."

Then, he threw this out there: "Maybe we got a little cocky, and might have thought we just had to throw our sticks on the ice. Obviously not the case."

How a team with as much pluck as this Philly club could be either nervous or cocky is beyond belief. But pretty much everything in this series turned on a dime in Game 5, namely big No. 20 for Philadelphia, who went from dominant to dominated.

It was Chris Pronger's own personal Meltdown on Madison: He was on the ice for six Chicago goals, and in the penalty box for the other one in a 7-4. After going plus-4 in Game 4, he was minus-5 in Game 5.

Bet he can't wait for Game 6.

"Oh, thanks. Real nice of you," he said to the reporter who recited his game stats.

What did he think of his game?

"Well, I think you just stated it. I guess there's really not much else to say."

His nemesis Dustin Byfuglien -- the beefy winger he had limited to one lone assist in the previous four games -- went to town Sunday night, scoring twice and assisting on two more.

"Must have been well-rested," Pronger deadpanned.

Patrick Kane had two points; Jonathan Toews an assist and a strong night. And a complete overhaul of the Blackhawks lines produced a third line of Byfuglien, Dave Bolland and Kris Versteeg that produced four of seven Chicago goals.

"I think he got rid of us and started performing," joked Kane, of he and Toews.

"The line changes obviously looked like a good thing," said Toews who had spoken like a captain at the morning skate when he said: "It's in our control, and if we want it badly enough we'll go get it. There is no more time to waste. It's time to bring everything we've got."

They did exactly that, storming the Flyers in a style reminiscent of the old Chicago Stadium. It was 3-0 Chicago after 20 minutes, and Brian Boucher replaced Mike Leighton in the Flyers net to start the second period. It was 5-2 after 40.

"But the number one thing was the way we played as a team," Toews said after the game. "We all understand in our locker room it doesn't matter who you are playing with. You have to go out there and make a difference."

Philly simply crumpled under Chicago's unrelenting pressure. The Hawks came in waves and the Flyers were like that leftover sand castle at the end of the day, eventually crumbling into granules.

"It was just a matter of time," Pronger said "staving off, staving off. Eventually they were going to get to you and they did."

This series returns now to Philadelphia for Wednesday's Game 6. The Flyers have two days to figure out how they lost their momentum -- and how the heck to get it back.

In what has been the highest scoring Stanley Cup since the New York Islanders beat the Minnesota North Stars in five games in 1981, the tables now turn on Chicago. They are now the ones faced with the daunting task of becoming winners, with Stanley in attendance at the Wachovia Center Wednesday.

It is a task no Chicago club has completed since 1961, and as Philadelphia showed us here in Chicago, winning might not be as easy as we think it should be.

"Seven goals is obviously a lot to give up," said Richards, who has carried himself in the image of former Flyers captain Bobby Clarke all spring. Now, like Clarke once did, he'll have to lead the psyche brigade inside that Flyers locker room.

His message? A simple one:

"Just play -- better than today."