Frustrated Richards slams news coverage

WASHINGTON - Captain Mike Richards took verbal shots at the local media in the latest edition of the Hockey News, then went on the offensive after the Flyers' 5-3 loss to Washington yesterday.

Richards is quoted by the Hockey News as saying that "when you start losing, rumors start flying and people seem to just make things up to take a negative spin on things."

After yesterday's defeat, Richards was asked to specifically name a story that was "made up."

"The articles in the beginning of the year," he said, surrounded by a media horde in the visitors' locker room. "The drinking articles and things like that. All the articles - [it's] why I didn't talk to you for a month."

Asked to elaborate, Richards said, "You didn't write an article at the beginning of the year that we're out too much? You asked [former Flyer Joffrey Lupul] all the questions. Weren't there articles . . . that said the players were drinking too much and said Richards and [Jeff] Carter were out all the time?"

On Oct. 10, when Lupul made his first visit to Philadelphia since being dealt to Anaheim, he was asked whether he thought he and Scottie Upshall were traded because the Flyers were trying to break up the players who enjoyed the nightlife. Lupul shook his head.

"Upshall was moved last year at the deadline for cap reasons, and I was moved to get Chris Pronger, so I don't think that had anything to do with it," he said. "We were out a lot . . . but those young guys" - he mentioned Richards, Carter, and Scott Hartnell - "are definitely professionals and know how to handle themselves."

General manager Paul Holmgren addressed the nightlife issue in an article in the Bucks County Courier Times in June.

Holmgren said, "Am I concerned about it? Let me say this: The issue has been raised by John [Stevens, then the coach] and myself with all the players."

In the latest Hockey News story, Richards said: "It's Philadelphia - when you're winning, there are no problems in the world and you can pretty much do whatever you want. When you start losing, rumors start flying and people seem to just make things up to take a negative spin on things. . . .

"All of a sudden, when we're losing, the media starts throwing us under the bus and bringing up things from the past that aren't true. We have a great start and nobody's saying these things, but we go on a little bit of a skid and everybody's all over us."

The Flyers will try to take advantage of their season's longest homestand - a six-game stretch that starts tomorrow against struggling Columbus - and gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

In addition to Ken Hitchcock-coached Columbus, the homestand includes games against the New York Rangers, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and the New York Islanders.

The Flyers have an 8-4-1 record against those teams this season.

At one point in yesterday's first period, the teams had combined for 15 shots and four goals. . . . Struggling Flyers defensemen Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and Oskars Bartulis were paired together. . . . The Flyers have scored first in 11 of their last 12 games; they have an 8-4 record in that span. . . . Flyers fans traveling to the game on Amtrak were delayed nearly two hours. About 15 minutes into the trip from 30th Street Station, a malfunction led to riders being transferred to another train.   - Sam Carchidi