In the first part of my two-part preview of the Flyers-Capitals playoff series, I will look back at the season series and statistical breakdowns of the two clubs. The second part will feature position-by-position scouting reports, and more subjective breakdowns of the matchups heading into what should be an exciting series.

Season series in review

The Flyers won two of the four games in the season series, losing once in regulation and once in overtime. The clubs last met on Feb. 6. The Capitals subsequently caught fire, bolstered by the additions of goaltender Cristobal Huet and forwards Sergei Fedorov and Matt Cooke at the trading deadline.


Nov. 2 (Road) Flyers 3 - Caps 2

The Flyers came out flat early in the game, and were lucky to escape the first period trailing just 1-0. Antero Niittymäki turned back 13 shots in the opening period, and Mike Richards woke his team up by dropping the gloves with Brooks Laich late in the first period.

In the middle period, the Flyers took over the game, and Daniel Briere and Richards goals gave Philly the lead. R.J. Umberger added an insurance goal on the powerplay early in the third period, which proved vital. Alexander Ovechkin trimmed the deficit back to a goal with a powerplay tally with 4:08 left in regulation, but the Caps got no closer.

Key stats and notes:
* Flyers outshot Caps 29-26 after being outshot 14-6 in the opening period. Niittymäki got the win, Olaf Kölzig got the loss.
* The Flyers went 1-7 on the powerplay, Washington went 1-2.
* The teams split 58 faceoffs evenly: Daniel Briere (13 of 17) led the Flyers.
* The Flyers blocked 25 shots to 13 by the Capitals. Jason Smith (4), Lasse Kukkonen (4) and Kimmo Timonen (3) led the way with a combined 11 blocked shots.
* Philadelphia was without the services of Derian Hatcher (arthroscopic knee surgery), Randy Jones (suspension for Patrice Bergeron incident) and Simon Gagne (concussion).


Nov. 23 (Home) Caps 4 - Flyers 3 (OT)

The traditional day after Thanksgiving matinee in Philadelphia marked Bruce Boudreau's first game behind the Capitals bench after taking over for Glen Hanlon. At the time, the Capitals were saddled with the worst record in the NHL and were in the midst of a five-game losing skid.

On this afternoon, the Flyers had to dig out of 3-0 deficit, as Mike Green dialed up a powerplay goal (one of eight he scored on the season) early in the first period. Chris Clark and Donald Brashear (on a deflection) extended the lead in the second period.

The turning point of the game came as Clark went back at Scott Hartnell, who had taken a first period boarding penalty and continued running Caps players. On the ensuing instigator penalty on Clark, Daniel Briere beat Olaf Kölzig to a loose puck around the net.

Jeff Carter got another back with a little over two minutes remaining in the second period. On the Carter goal, Martin Biron spotted the Caps changing lines as the Clark penalty was about to expire. He through the puck up ice to to R.J. Umberger, who made a little touch pass to a wide open Carter.

At the 15:34 mark of the third period, Lasse Kukkonen made a rare up-ice rush with the puck, setting up a mini 2-on-1, as R.J. Umberger fed Mike Richards for the game-tying goal. The Flyers had a powerplay late in regulation, but the best chance belonged to Washington, as Martin Biron had to deny a shorthanded breakaway to force OT.

At 1:55 of overtime, rookie Nicklas Backström, (who also registered two assists on the day) took a pass from Alexander Ovechkin and wristed a shot past Biron to win the game for Washington.

Key stats and notes:
* The Caps outshot the Flyers 35-25. Kölzig got the win, Biron was charged with OT loss.
* Washington won 54% of the faceoffs (34 for 63) in this tilt. Michael Nylander (subsequently lost for the season) led the way with 10 wins on 14 draws.
* Hatcher remained out of the Flyers lineup for this tilt. Rory Fitzpatrick started in his place.


Jan. 13 (Road) Flyers 6 - Caps 4

This Sunday afternoon game was a pretty wild affair. Washington's Alexander Semin got on his team on board before the game was 90 seconds old. Philly went on to score four unanswered goals, chasing Olaf Kölzig from the net in favor of Brent Johnson early in the second period.

Mike Knuble scored a pair in the first period-- one at even strength and one on the powerplay. About five minutes into the middle period, Kimmo Timonen was denied on a shorthanded rush, but Jim Dowd followed it up. Dowd, who had recently been waived by the Flyers but remained with the team (ultimately keeping his roster place for the duration), reacted jubilantly to his goal. One minute later, R.J. Umberger made it a 4-1 game.

The Caps answered immediately, as Mike Green scored on the next shift. Midway through regulation, Alexander Ovechkin ripped a shot past Biron to make it a one-goal game.

In the third period, Mike Richards -- whose line with Scott Hartnell and Steve Downie was on a tear -- restored the two-goal cushion only for Swedish countrymen Bäckström and Nylander to hook up for a goal that made it 5-4. The Flyers had plenty of anxious moments trying to seal the win, but Kimmo Timonen finally scored an empty net goal in the final minute for the 6-4 final.

Key stats and notes:
* Shots in the game were 32-32. Biron got the win. Johnson was charged with the loss, in relief of Kölzig.
* Washington won 56% of the faceoffs (31 for 55) in this game. David Steckel won 8 of 10 for the Caps. Briere, who had won 13 of 17 in the first game of the season series, lost 11 of 13 this time around.
* This game marked Martin Biron's first start in six games, after Antero Niittymäki caught fire and had a run of consecutive starts.
* The Flyers were playing on the back end of back-to-back weekend games. The previous afternoon, Philly lost to Boston in overtime.
* At the time of this victory, the Flyers were nine game into a 10-1-1 stretch that catapulted the club to the top of the Atlantic Division. They had been in last place on Christmas.


Feb. 6 (Home) Caps 4 - Flyers 3

On Ron Hextall Night at the Wachovia Center, the Flyers suffered the first of what turned out to be a 10-game losing streak.

A third period defensive collapse by Philadelphia turned a 1-1 game into a 4-1 deficit, punctuated by Alexander Ovechkin (who had been checked closely for two periods) getting loose, going in alone on Martin Biron and burying the puck for the third Washington goal in a five and a half minute span.

With the score 4-1, referee Dave Jackson blew the call on a would-be Scott Hartnell goal. A needless replay delay ensued, as the official was not about to change his original decision that Hartnell had forced Olaf Kölzig (and the puck) into the net. The call meant little at the time, but ended being significant as late game goals by Sami Kapanen and Randy Jones (powerplay) trimmed the final deficit to 4-3.

Brooks Laich, Matt Bradley and Viktor Kozlov were the other Capitals scorers in addition to Ovechkin. Mike Knuble tallied for the Flyers on the powerplay late in the second period.

Key stats and notes:
* Shots in the game were 34-27 in favor of the Flyers. Kölzig got the win, Biron took the loss.
* The Caps only had one powerplay and failed to convert. The Flyers went 2-for-5.
* The Flyers won 57% of the faceoffs (38 for 67) in this game. Jeff Carter led the way, going 13 of 20.
* The Derian Hatcher-Braydon Coburn pairing had a rough night, going -3 (and it could have been worse, as Hatcher in particular struggled in this game).
* The Capitals filed a complaint with the NHL about the length of the delay (14 extra minutes) during the first intermission, when the Flyers inducted Ron Hextall into the team's Hall of Fame. The ceremony was planned for the first intermission to enable the entire crowd -- much of which arrives with the first period in progress -- to see it.

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Flyers and Capitals by the numbers, 2007-08

Goals for/Goals against: The teams finished with almost identical stats. Both the Flyers and Caps allowed 227 goals this year (tied for 18th in the NHL). The Flyers scored 245 goals (6th in NHL) to 238 (8th in NHL) for the Capitals.

The first period was the Flyers' weakest period this season, allowing 75 goals to 65 scored. The Caps, conversely, had their best goal differential in the opening period, scoring 75 times while allowing 64 goals.

In the middle period, Philadelphia had a 93-85 favorable goal margin, to Washington's unfavorable 78-82 margin. Perhaps most import, Philly scored 18 more goals (84) than they allowed (62) in third periods, while the Caps (78 GF - 77 GA) only got on the positive end of the ledger after their torrid stretch drive.

Even strength vs. special teams At even strength, the Capitals were ranked 13th in the NHL in terms of their goal differential. The Flyers, who allowed more even strength goals than they scored, were a disappointing 25th. However, in the final two weeks of the season, Philly picked up its even-strength performance considerably.

On the powerplay, Philly was a juggernaut for much of the season but scuffled in the last month of the season. Even so, the Flyers still finished with the second-ranked powerplay in the NHL-- second at home (23%) and third on the road (20.5%). The Caps were ninth overall, finishing 6th at home (20.6%) and 18th (16.9%) on the road. Washington yielded eight shorthanded goals to six given up by the Flyers.

On the penalty kill, the Flyers were inconsistent during the first half of the season. In the second half, with the major exception of getting burned five times in one game by New Jersey and four times (this past Wednesday) by the Penguins in another, the PK was one of the Flyers' strengths. Overall, Philly finished 12th, ranking 15th at home (83.7%) and ninth on the road (82.8%).

Over the balance of the season, the Caps had their share of ups and downs on the penalty kill, ranking 25th in the NHL. Washington scuffled on the road in particular (18th in the NHL at just 79%) and were also in the bottom half (82.4%) at home. There were improvements after Matt Cooke and Huet came aboard, however.


Protecting leads/coming from behind: The Flyers went through a stretch in February and March where they had major trouble nailing down wins in games they led or were tied in during the third period. Meltdowns against Toronto and Boston in particular nearly came back to cost the Flyers a playoff spot, while the Flyers needed a shootout to rescue a blown regulation win over the Rangers.

The Flyers' final rankings in protecting leads suffered as a result of this stretch. They finished in the bottom one-third of the NHL (21st overall, 28-7-7 for a .667 winning percentage) when scoring the game's first goal, 15th (17-3-2, .773 winning percentage) when leading after the first period, and 13th (29-1-3, .879) when leading after two periods.

The Caps finished a bit higher than the Flyers in two of the lead-protection categories, but weren't truly a lights-out team until late in the season. Washington was 15th overall (30-11-2, .698 winning percentage) when scoring first, 20th overall (21-6-2, .724 winning percentage) when leading after the first period and 8th (27-1-2, .900) when leading after the second period.

Overall, the two teams were similar when forced to chase the game. Philly ranked 9th in the NHL (14-22-4, .350 winning percentage) when giving up the first goal of the game, while Washington was one spot behind (13-20-6, .333).

Owing to their stronger second and third periods, Philly was 9th in the NHL (9-18-5, .281) when trailing after the first period. The Caps were 14th (6-16-2, .250).

When trailing after two, both clubs ranked in the bottom third of the NHL in their comeback ability -- although both clubs showed their resilience down the stretch. Overall, Philly ranked 22nd (4-22-6, .125 winng percentage) when trailing after 40 minutes. The Caps were tied for 28th with a 1-25-2 (.036) mark.


Faceoffs:The season series between the Flyers and Caps was just about equal in the faceoff department. But as the playoffs approach, the Caps go in with a significant edge, having upgraded in this crucial area as the season moved along.

Caps finished 8th in the NHL in faceoff winning percentage, winning 51.2% of their draws. Not surprisingly, deadline acquisition Fedorov took many of the key draws for the Caps and won a solid 55.6%. Boyd Gordon (55.8% wins of 904 faceoffs) and David Steckel (56.3% of 900 draws) also posted excellent numbers.

The Flyers, conversely, ranked a pedestrian 20th in the NHL (49.3%) on faceoffs. Mike Richards started out the year strong, but finished at an ordinary 50.5% on 1,381 faceoffs. Jeff Carter tended to be hit or miss all year, and finished at 47.7% on 1,378 attempts. Briere (50.5% on 1,250 draws) did a bit better than expected against much bigger faceoff opponents, while Jim Dowd (53.8% on 446 draws) was below 50% at the midpoint of the season but had a strong second half in the faceoff circle.

Blocked shots: Philly was the better shot-blocking squad of the two this season. The Flyers average 15.4 blocked shots per game to 12.5 for the Caps.

Tom Poti led the Caps with 119 blocks, with Milan Jurcina (107) the only other Capitals player to crack triple digits. On the flip side, Jason Smith (204) is one of the NHL's very best in this category, and Jaroslav Modry (134), Kimmo Timonen (129) and especially Lasse Kukkonen (111 in just 53 games) all block plenty as well.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, they've paid a price for their defense corps' shot blocking prowess. Timonen is a bit hobbled right now from several shots he's taken off his foot in the last few weeks. Smith battled a deep bone bruise on his shin and other ailments for much of the season. Derian Hatcher (72 blocks in 44 games) suffered a fractured tibia after getting struck flush with a puck. And Kukkonen was hobbled for six to eight weeks in November and December with a foot/ankle bone bruise.

Physical play:Hits stats are notoriously unreliable in terms of making team-to-team comparisons. Some cities' RTSS crews are very generous in awarding hits, while others are quite stingy. The Wachovia Center scorers tend to award hits conservatively, Washington hands them out pretty readily.

What is fair to say is that both the Caps and Flyers are at their best when they are playing physical hockey. By the raw RTSS tracking figures, the Caps averaged 21.0 hits per game to 17.6 for the Flyers.

Alexander Ovechkin was credit was 220 hits, Cooke with 198 and Milan Jurcina with 151. I have a hard time believing that those three really had so many more legitimate hits than the Flyers' top three of Jason Smith (142), Scott Hartnell (110) and Mike Richards (110). In fact, the Capitals had five players -- including Donald Brashear (133) and Matt Bradley (126) credited with more hits than any Flyer but Smith.

Giveaways/Takeaways: Much like hit stats, giveaways and takeaways are in the eye of the beholder. The RTSS scorers in different buildings vary just as widely in charging unforced turnovers and crediting forced ones as they do in awarding hits.

By the raw numbers, Washington averaged 11 giveaways and 8.3 takeaways per game. The Flyers averaged 9.35 gives and 6.67 takes per game.

Generally speaking, comparisons within a team tell you a bit more than ones between different clubs. But even then, players who handle the puck more often and receive more ice time will typically have the highest turnover counts.

A player's individual give-to-take ratio is often a more telling stat than just looking at one column. For instance, Nicklas Bäckström had a remarkable 72 takeaways credited against 50 giveaways. On the Flyers, Jeff Carter had a decent ratio of 60 gives to 56 takes.

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Look for Part II tomorrow.

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