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Flyers Playoff Wrapup: Game 3 vs. Caps |
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The Flyers continued to build on the foundation they established in the games in Washington, forcing turnovers, protecting the puck playing strong team defense, and containing the Caps' top line.
At least three of the Flyers goals, including Mike Richards' penalty shot goal, were directly attributable to Washington turnovers. As in Game Two, the turnover stats were lopsided, with 17 Capitals giveaways (and 11 failed clears in the first period alone) plus seven Flyers takeways. Philly also won 51% of the faceoffs against a club that finished in the top one-third of the league on draws.
The top line of Vaclav Prospal, Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell continued to give the Caps' D fits on a night when they tallied another three goals, but every Flyers line checked well and had the better of the puck possession battle.
Richards' penalty shot goal late in the third period was a thing of beauty, easily slipping the puck through the legs of Huet on the backhand. And any night you get a goal from the fourth line, it's a bonus.
Another key to the win: Martin Biron 's rebound control was outstanding, which further contributed to Philly limiting Washington to 19 shots and keeping play under control.
Philly established its hitting game early on and methodically wore the Caps down. There were only three or four shifts tonight where Washington applied extended pressure in the offensive zone, and even then, play was usually kept to the perimeter.
For the second game in a row, Mike Green hurt his team with a lapse in discipline. For him to fight Scottie Upshall (and lose) is an exchange the Flyers will gladly make in its own right. For Green to take an additional slashing penalty to put Philly on the powerplay and wind up being unavailable for a subsquent Caps powerplay made the exchange even better for the Flyers. Even if Green hadn't scored tonight and tallied three times in the series, he adds a crucial dimension to Washington's offense.
The only down notes for the Flyers tonight were the apparent wrist injury to Kimmo Timonen late in the second period and the decision to keep Jaroslav Modry in the lineup over Lasse Kukkonen.
Timonen's injury is officially being called an upper body injury, but he appeared to jam his wrist into the camera stationed inside the Washington net as he got pushed in while rushing the puck on the powerplay. X-rays were negative, but he will be re-evaluated tomorrow. John Stevens said after the game that he didn't think it would be a "long-term injury". Paul Holmgren simply said the team will know more tomorrow.
Modry directly contributed to two of the Caps' three goals (and was on the ice for all three). On the first, he covered no one and failed to deny Donald Brashear's centering pass to Eric Fehr. On the second, he screened Biron -- as did the Caps' Brooks Laich -- on Mike Green's blast from the point after Green outwaited a shot blocking attempt up high.
To be fair, Modry stepped up his play in the latter stages of the game and saved a goal. But, in my view, it doesn't make up for him having been out now for all eight goals the Caps have scored in the series. Of course, unless Timonen returns quickly, that's a non-issue.
I did not hear the explanation of why Laich's third-period goal was allowed to stand after he appeared to high-stick the puck into the net.
Three games into the series, the teams are starting to develop a healthy dislike of one another. There was a lot of trash-talking and face-washing tonight. The officiating was typical Don Koharski: I'll leave it at that.
Last but not least, Ovechkin's tendency to routinely overstay his shifts has left him vulnerable defensively. He's played a ton of hockey already this season, and his lack of pacing in this series could be something that gets second-guessed if the Caps go on to lose.
QUOTEBOOK
John Stevens: "We were really happy with the first period. One line was picking up for another. We had short shifts with a great tempo."
Stevens on Briere: "Danny had a twinkle in his eye tonight. ...He's a competitive guy between the dots down low. He wins a lot of puck battles for a guy his size. His confidence has grown since Vinny Prospal got here."
Stevens on the physical tone: "We want to make it physical between the whistles. It's our best defense, to be honest. We need to move our feet and finish our checks to be successful against this club."
Stevens on the forechecking game: "We wanted to put the pedal to the metal, get pucks in deep and get some turnovers."
Stevens on the team defense, with or without Timonen: "We're checking with five guys. The forwards did a great job helping out."
Daniel Briere: "Early on, we had great jump. We could have scored a couple goals sooner than we did, but we just stuck with it."
Briere on his four goals in the series: "I would trade all the goals for wins in the playoffs. This time of year, it's not about statistics or who's doing what."
Briere on his line's chemistry: "Vinny will find you no matter where you are on the ice, so you can look for the seams and he'll get it to you on the tape. But let's not forget about what Scott Hartnell does for our line. He makes a lot of little plays that get us control of the puck and give us time and room."
Briere on his run-ins with Huet: "He's playing that role now where he's getting on top of his crease and going down to look for penalties. It's an area where you need to be a little bit careful, because in some games he'll get those calls. But we also can't change our style with what's worked for us."
Briere on Mike Richards' demonstrative celebration after the penalty shot goal: "I was doing my own celebration on the bench. I didn't see his."
Assistant coach Terry Murray on why Modry was in the lineup: "With the style we've been playing, we wanted to get his size out there, plus Mo is an experienced guy who can move the puck up ice for us."
Derian Hatcher on his first game back in the lineup: "I felt good out there tonight. Fatigue wasn't an issue."
Mike Richards on his penalty shot: "I wasn't really expecting to be given a penalty shot, to be honest. I was kind of expecting a penalty call, so I was a little surprised."
******
After Sunday's 2-0 Flyers win in Washington, several Capitals players made comments along the lines of "we didn't play our game today." In reality, the final 40 minutes of Game Two were much like the first 40 minutes of Game One.
In the wake of the Caps surge/Flyers collapse in the third period of Game One, it was easy to forget that Philadelphia smothered Washington defensively for about 15 minutes of the first period and the vast majority of the second period. In particular, the line of Ovechkin, Bäckström and Kozlov and defenseman Mike Green had very little operating room and were often forced to play in their own end of the ice.
That's pretty much what happened in the second game as well. The Flyers scored a couple of opportunistic goals in the first period, but spent much of the first period killing penalties and calling upon Martin Biron to make some big saves. But the second and third period were firmly under the Flyers' control, and the Flyers asserted good forechecking pressure.
In other words, it wasn't so much that the Caps weren't playing their game as the Flyers didn't enable them to to play it, and dictated a tempo that favored Philly's superior depth up front. The Flyers also won the line matchup game-within-the-game.
Tonight, as the series shifts back to Philadelphia, the Flyers need to play the same no frills road-style hockey that made them successful on Sunday. All the same keys to the game apply: not letting Washington jump out early, focusing on puck possession, getting players to the net (much as Jeff Carter did in collecting a rebound goal on Sunday) and, of course, getting another strong game in net from Biron.
Derian Hatcher may be back in the lineup tonight. If he is, by merit, the defenseman who should sit is Jaroslav Modry, who by far has been the Flyers' shakiest defenseman in the two games so far (even in Game Two, he caused some anxious moments). However, I suspect that Lasse Kukkonen is the one to sit if Hatch plays. Kukkonen had a monumental error -- with a big assist by Modry and perfect execution by Alexander Ovechkin -- in Game One but has otherwise been very good.
Flyers lines and scratches (subject to change)
Prospal - Briere - Hartnell
Umberger - Richards - Lupul
Upshall - Carter - Knuble
Cote - Dowd - Kapanen
Coburn - Timonen
Smith - Modry
Hatcher/Kukkonen - Jones
Biron
[Niittymäki]
Scratches
One of Hatcher (leg) or Kukkonen (healthy)
Downie (healthy)
Tolpeko (healthy)
Parent (healthy)
Guenin (healthy)
Thoresen (groin)
Gagne (concussion)
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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