Is Chris Pronger’s move a save-and-clip for the Blackhawks?

Reporting from Philadelphia -- In essence, Chris Pronger took his puck and went home, and that made the other kids on the playground mad.

But their anger is understandable, because the playground in question is the Stanley Cup finals and by snatching that puck Pronger denied the Chicago Blackhawks a chance to save the rubber disc as a souvenir of their 2-1 victory in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Pronger’s irritating move — which he also made after the Blackhawks’ 6-5 victory in Game 1 — led to a confrontation between him and Ben Eager at the end of the game at the United Center. Pronger used his stick to fling a giveaway rally towel at Eager and each was assessed a 10-minute misconduct.

On the face of it, this seems like much ado about very little in a series that will reach a pivotal point Wednesday at the Wachovia Center, with the Blackhawks holding a 2-0 series lead and the Flyers acknowledging their frustration and irritation after two close-but-oh-so-far losses.

But many teams save pucks from significant goals or victories. For Pronger to snatch it away from the winning team and later say he had thrown it in the garbage “where it belongs,” is either evil genius or just evil.

His teammates and coach weren’t about to tell him to stop.

“I don’t have a problem with it. If he wants to grab the puck, let him have the puck. You can tell him not to take it, if you want,” Flyers captain Mike Richards said Tuesday after the team held meetings at the Wachovia Center.

“I think it’s comical,” Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette said. “If Chris Pronger wants the puck, he can have it as far as I’m concerned.”

Asked if taking the puck might give the Blackhawks incentive Wednesday, Laviolette looked incredulous.

“What added incentive do they have now? They’re mad? They’re angry?” he said. “It’s the playoffs. We are going to show up and compete like hell tomorrow night. I promise you that. I don’t know what else they are going to do because we stole their puck.”

Can history repeat itself?

The Flyers became only the third NHL team to rebound from an 0-3 series deficit when they rallied to beat the Bruins in the second round of the playoffs.

They don’t want to be in that position again, but they said Tuesday they’ve overcome enough adversity this season to believe they can conquer any obstacle. They have a 7-1 home playoff record to bolster that belief, though the Blackhawks have a 7-1 road record this spring.

“We’ve been there before. We’ve been down, 2-0. Even 3-0. So it’s not like it’s a new situation for us. We went through it,” Simon Gagne said. “The good thing now is we have a chance to come back here in Philly and play the next two games.

“We have to focus on the game” Wednesday. “It’s going to be the biggest game of the season for us.”

Until the next game, anyway.

“We’re still feeling good about it,” Danny Briere said. “Obviously we would rather be up, 2-0, or even 1-1. But we’ve been in the same situation before and we believe we can come back. We believe in our team.

“So that’s a big part of the battle. Sometimes, when you get blown out of the water it’s tough mentally to come back. But looking at the chances for and against in both games we feel we’re ahead of them.”

The Blackhawks are aware of what the Flyers did. They also made sure they wouldn’t be a comeback victim in the Western Conference final by sweeping San Jose.

“I think, if anything, we’ll be more aware of what’s going on,” Blackhawks center John Madden said. “In the San Jose series, coming back up, 2-0, we thought we were a little more in control because we were going to be playing in our building.

“Those games were tight and could have gone either way. But in this particular case, this Game 3 is huge. We’re not concerned about where we’re playing hockey. We’re concerned about winning games. So having said that, we’re looking at Game 3 as a pivotal game. If we can get that, obviously, we like our chances more.”

Awards time

Marc de Foy, who has covered hockey in Montreal for nearly 30 years, was voted this year’s winner of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for hockey journalism and Ron Weber, the original play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals, was voted the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. Each will get a plaque with his name at the Hockey Hall of Fame and will be honored on Nov. 8 as part of Induction Weekend.

This year’s Hall of Fame honorees will be announced June 22.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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