Philadelphia – For the first half of the season opener Wednesday, the man whose best-selling biography in Sweden is called “Magic Boy” was indeed that in his regular-season debut as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Magical.
Peter Forsberg dominated against the New York Rangers, as he did so often with the Avalanche. He was the most noticeable player on the Wachovia Center ice without scoring a goal. He was strong with the puck, controlled the pace, pounced on turnovers, set up Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble goals, and it looked as if he was worthy of all the fuss his Aug. 3 signing with the Flyers generated in hockey-mad Philly.
Then everything fell apart for the Flyers. The unheralded New York Rangers – expected to be among the NHL’s dregs this season – scored the final four goals, beating the Flyers 5-3 on the league’s re-launch night.
Jaromir Jagr had two goals for the Rangers, again showing that when the Czech winger is all there – mentally as well as physically – he can still join Forsberg among the game’s upper echelon.
“It’s never good to begin with a loss,” a disappointed Forsberg said amid a mob of Swedish, as well as North American, writers. “I have to say that we played decent. We had a couple of chances to go up 4-1, but we didn’t do it.”
How strange did it feel to play an NHL game in something other than a Quebec/Colorado sweater?
“I felt good in the black and orange, I have to say,” Forsberg said with a laugh. “I felt comfortable right off the bat. The fans are unbelievable here, so it’s going to be a lot of fun playing here. This was a big night, playing in front of new fans and with new teammates, and with new everything.
“There’s a lot of pressure.”
Forsberg played in only one exhibition game after undergoing minor surgery on his right ankle, again raising a red flag about whether his physical style and injury-plagued past made him a risky buy for the Flyers, especially in the salary cap era.
He is on a line with Gagne and rookie Jeff Carter, but they didn’t play an exhibition game together because Carter missed the only game Forsberg played.
“I tried out there tonight,” Forsberg said. “But definitely, I’m going to take a few more games to get into top shape.”
Forsberg got a four-year offer from the Avalanche that averaged $3.4 million before getting pitches from at least the Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks. Then he signed with the Flyers for $11.5 million over two years. The Avalanche offer was $1.5 million for the first year, though his cap number would have been the $3.4 million average. Also, he didn’t want anything more than a two-year deal.
“I wasn’t insulted,” he said. “I knew the situation with a new salary cap. I knew it was going to be hard.”
The Flyers face the Avalanche once this season, in Philadelphia, and Forsberg has said many times the imbalanced schedule was one of the reasons he preferred signing with an Eastern Conference team.
“I didn’t want to go back and play Colorado that many times,” he repeated after the game.
But why?
“It wouldn’t feel good to me,” he said. “I just didn’t want to play against Colorado because I feel like I belonged to that team.”
Forsberg didn’t say which cheesesteak joint he likes best – Pat’s, Geno’s or Jim’s. In Philly, that’s a hotly debated question, right up there with: How do you think the Flyers are going to do with this new Swede?
Staff writer Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
