D'oh! We've seen this slow motion before

There's much discussion going on today about the tactics of the Philadelphia Flyers in their game of last night against the Tamp Bay Lightning, which saw the pace of play slow to less than a crawl.

The Flyers, seemingly speaking for many (except perhaps those at the Tampa rink on Wednesday) who are weary of the Tampa Bay trap, or 1 -3 - 1 as it's strategically named, decided to take the puck into their own hands and not share it with anyone over their own blue line.

To that end fans across the US on Versus and in Canada on TSN watched a riveting session of  hold the puck between defence man Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, a clinic that lacked a certain amount of urgency.

Interrupted only by the referee's who ended up with little recourse but to whistle play dead and hope the kids would decide to play some shinny for a change.
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With that visual now burned into our mind, we can't help but think back to another visual aid on the same theme, courtesy of the Simpson's, who clearly came up with the idea first, long before it was cooked up in Peter Laviolette's office and debuted in Tampa Bay.
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Needless to say, if the NHL is trying to add some excitement to its games this won't be the way to do it, though it was an effective way of highlighting the rather boring nature of the Tampa Bay approach.

Much was made in the aftermath of the slow motion puck handling, with more than a few NHLers weighing in with a thought that it wasn't exactly making the game look very good.

NHL General Managers will have an opportunity next week to discuss the issue  when the General Managers meet in Toronto.

When they gather they'll bounce around any number of ideas on the the subject offering up hopefully a solution to methods that bring the game to standstill

Regardless of their findings  we're pretty sure they'll be destined come up with a plan to make sure the Philadelphia solution isn't one to be put in play again.

Globe and Mail-- Hockey's death trap
Philly.com-- Flyer's Pronger rips Tampa Bay's stall tactic
Phillynews.com-- Flyer's delay tactics backfire against Lightning
Tampa Bay online-- Bolts wait out Flyer's for 2-1 overtime win
Canoe-- Bettman not a fan of stalling tactics
Montreal Gazette-- Tampa's trap becomes NHL lightning rod
Toronto Star-- Flyers-Lightning standoff 'food for thought' says Wilson
Toronto Star-- Thumbs down from around league on Flyers-Lightning tactics
Toronto Star-- Kudos to Philly coach for exposing game's flaw
Toronto Sun-- Flyers' tactics has league talking
National Post-- The night hockey stood still in the NHL
NBC-- Milbury and Jones discuss Flyers/Lightning weirdness
TSN-- Reviews vary for Lightning-Flyers trap showdown