The Philadelphia Flyers are back in a familiar position as they gear up for the Eastern Conference Finals against the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins.
Philadelphia was the underdog in both the conference quarterfinals against Washington and the semifinals against Montreal. Once again, few pundits are giving the Flyers much of a chance in the series against the Penguins.
Pittsburgh is clearly a talented team. But the 2007-08 Penguins are hardly comparable at this point to the early 1990s Pens Cup teams, much less the mid-1980s Edmonton Oilers. The truth of the matter is that there’s a lot of parity in the NHL, and the gap between the Flyers and Penguins is manageable. The Pens are the favorites, but this is no mismatch.
The playoffs aren’t about which club features more superstars. The postseason is all about depth and the three Gs – goaltending, goal scoring and grit. The Flyers have proven they can hold their own in every area.
I’m not big on making predictions, but I will say that anyone who doesn’t have a healthy respect for the Flyers’ abilities at this point (doesn’t mean you have to love them or root for them) hasn’t been paying attention.
SEASON SERIES
I’m not going to spend too much time dwelling on the regular season series, which the Flyers won, five games to three, other than to say each club dominated on its home ice. The Pens went 0-4 in Philly, the Flyers went 1-3 in Pittsburgh. Each team had a blowout win on its home ice and a blowout loss on the road.
The season series had an especially nasty edge to it, with both a physical and verbal war taking place throughout the eight meetings. I don’t know much many fights there will be in the series, but I certainly expect a lot of hostility. Saying “these clubs don’t like one another” isn’t just hyperbole in this case.
Unlike many writers, I do not believe the Penguins intentionally tanked the last game of the regular season against the Flyers. Certainly, the Pens were not disappointed to draw Ottawa instead of Philadelphia in the first round, but I never thought the Pens were “afraid” of the Flyers.
On the Pens’ side, coach Michel Therrien certainly was concerned about avoiding injury in the final game of the season. That’s why he sat out Sidney Crosby for the finale and did not shorten his bench when the club trailed in the game. At times in the game, some of the Pens players seemed to avoid the high traffic areas, which contributed to the team getting shut out.
But why would Therrien have started Marc-Andre Fleury in goal (and pulled him for an extra attacker with the team trailing 1-0 late in regulation) if the Pens had absolutely no intention of playing to win? Why would Marian Hossa – who had recently returned to the lineup from a knee injury – be playing in the game Pittsburgh didn’t want to try to win? Why would Evgeni Malkin have logged 22:41 of ice time?
Besides, the Flyers played a solid game against the Pens in the finale and were coming off perhaps their best game of the season in shutting out the Devils to clinch a playoff spot two days earlier. To say the Pens tanked is to say the Flyers weren’t capable of cranking out a strong game against a club they’d beaten in every Wachovia Center game this season. I didn’t buy it then, and don’t buy it now.
But as far as how much stock you can put in the regular season meetings when it comes to the playoffs, the Flyers-Canadiens and Penguins-Rangers matchups in the quarterfinals were ample testimony to the fact the playoffs are a whole different animal.
The Flyers were 0-4 against the Habs in the regular season, while the Pens were 3-5 against the Blueshirts. It didn’t stop Philadelphia or Pittsburgh from winning their respective conference semifinals in five games.
GOALTENDING
The play of Marc-Andre Fleury in the second half of the season has been one of the major keys to the Penguins’ continued evolution from pretender to Cup contender.
Last season, Fleury experienced some of the same things in the playoffs that Montreal’s Carey Price just went through in the series with the Flyers. This year, he looks more and more like the franchise goaltender he was touted to be as the first overall pick of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
In his last 22 starts, spanning the Penguins’ surge to the Atlantic Division championship and the first two rounds of the playoffs, Fleury has posted a gaudy 18-4 record. In the playoffs, he held Ottawa and New York to 1.76 goals per game, while stopping nearly 94% of the shots sent his way. There have been times where he hasn’t been tested much, but he’s usually been clutch when he’s needed to be.
One of the biggest areas of improvement in Fleury’s game this year has been his rebound control. He’s leaving fewer rebounds out in the slot – and his defense deserves credit for their role in clearing away most of the rebounds he does allow. But like any goalie, Fleury can’t stop what he can’t see. Get screens and deflections on net and you’ll get some goals. Generate some odd-man rushes and you’ll convert a few.
On the Flyers’ side, Martin Biron has been phenomenal in goal in most of the games he’s played in the playoffs. It’s not about the stats. In the playoffs, his 2.72 GAA and .914 save percentage are behind his regular season numbers (2.59 GAA, .918 save percentage). But anyone who has even casually watched the Flyers in the playoffs knows how many critical saves Biron has had to make, especially in the Montreal series.
With Biron, you can usually tell by his positioning and puck control if he’s at the top of his game. When he’s on, he’s square to the shooter, leaves out few dangerous rebounds and plays the angles to perfection. He also doesn’t get in trouble playing the puck. In the playoffs, he’s made better use of pokecheck opportunities than he did in the regular season.
When Biron is not at the top of his game, the rebounds start going out in the opposite slot, side angle shots become an adventure and he overplays the puck behind his net. Sometimes he rights his ship after a sluggish start, so if you don’t get to him early in such games, he may settle in as the match progresses.
DEFENSE
The Penguins team defense looked suspect early in the season, but gelled over the course of the season. In the early season meetings, the Flyers picked the Pens apart with stretch passes. Those plays were rarely there in the latter season games. The same held true for Pittsburgh during the playoffs.
The Pittsburgh blueline corps isn’t spectacular, but generally gets the job done. The forwards also did a better job of backchecking as the season progressed. But for Pittsburgh, the best defense is often its strong offense. The Pens often hold the territorial edge in play and opposing teams can’t afford to take chances offensively.
Sergei Gonchar logs heavy ice time and has been a Flyer killer offensively throughout his NHL career (58 GP, 14 G, 31 A, 45 PTS, 9 PPG). As much as the Penguins forwards, he is one of the key players the Flyers will need to contain to win the series. Gonchar sees the ice well, gets his shots on the net and is deadly on bang-bang chances right off the faceoff (he’s scored at least five goals in his career against the Flyers that way).
The flip side of the equation is Gonchar’s play in his own end of the ice. At his best, he’s at least adequate defensively, using his mobility and quick stick to his advantage. At his worst, he is turnover prone, blows coverages and makes ill-timed pinches that lead to transitional opportunities. The better the Penguins team defense looks, the more Gonchar’s shortcomings are masked.
Gonchar’s usual partner, Brooks Orpik, has generally complemented him well. Orpik is a punishing hitter and is often called on to cover for Gonchar positionally, while Gonchar can compensate for some of Orpik’s weaknesses with the puck.
The Penguins’ acquisition of Hal Gill at the trading deadline was maligned by many at the time it was made. But it has worked out so far, and he’s been an asset in the playoffs. Gill has used his size down low, blocked shots and cleared rebounds and traffic from in front of Fleury.
Neverthless, in some corners, Gill has a reputation similar to that of retired defenseman Chris Therien. His critics view him as a mistake-prone player with a huge body who often plays small and soft.
Like Bundy (who had more natural ability than Gill, in my opinion), there has been a Jeckyl-and-Hyde nature to Gill’s game over the course of his career. His bad games tend to be horrid. His best games leave you wondering why he doesn’t do it all the time. Both players seemed to save their best for games against Jaromir Jagr and other select top-line players.
Among the Penguins’ other starters, Ryan Whitney is an excellent puck mover and an offensive threat, but is somewhat suspect in his own end of the ice. Rob Scuderi has been very solid in the postseason. Young Kris Letang also loves to hit and has solid long-term potential but is prone to taking himself out of position and to bad penalties.
The Flyers’ team defense has been inconsistent all year. Contrary to popular opinion, the problem hasn’t been lack of quality defensemen. The Flyers have seven legitimate NHL defensemen they can roll out. The problem during the season was partially due to forwards not always helping out enough in containment and partially due to a mixture of players (beyond the top pairing) skewed toward shot blockers and defensive D-men. The Flyers don’t get regular goal scoring from the blueline, but may need a few in this series to prevail.
Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Randy Jones are the Flyers’ most mobile defensemen and best puckhandlers. Derian Hatcher is the most punishing hitter, followed by team captain Jason Smith. Smith and Lasse Kukkonen are the best shot blockers, and Kukkonen is generally a solid coverage defenseman as well.
Timonen pretty much does everything well, and rarely makes mistakes. He’s strong in all game situations. Coburn possesses a rare combination of size and speed, and has come into his own as a young NHL defenseman. As long as Jones isn’t overextended against top talent, he is usually solid. When he gets overexposed, he starts to turn pucks over and gets too many of his own shot attempts blocked.
The top pairing of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen has been very strong in the playoffs and has typically played against the oppositions’ top line. The problem with matching with the Pens, however, is that Pittsburgh has two extremely dangerous “first lines.”
As long as the Flyers forwards contribute defensively, the top pair can keep any line in the league from single-handedly winning games. It’s believed that Timonen and Coburn will draw the Malkin line to start the series.
The thought of Derian Hatcher and Randy Jones drawing the primary assignment of playing against the Sidney Crosby line is a bit worrisome. Hatcher is a tank physically a fine penalty killer. However, his lack of mobility is easily exposed unless the club collectively limits the skating room for the other team. He’s also prone to ill-timed penalties and turnovers. Jones has played very well in the playoffs, but will face his toughest challenge yet.
Jason Smith struggled mightily in the Capitals series but generally played well (with reduced minutes) in the Montreal series. Lasse Kukkonen has usually gotten the job done in the playoffs – he’s been physical, feisty and, along with Smith, blocked a slew of shots – but in some games has had one to three awful shifts amidst the solid ones. This pairing has been the most prone to failed clears, but the coverages have been much better than when Smith played with Jaroslav Modry.
It remains to be seen if Modry gets back into the lineup at some point. He is good at starting line rushes with breakout passes or wheeling the puck up ice himself. But his coverages have often been abysmal and he’s played much softer physically than the smaller Kukkonen. Rookie defenseman Ryan Parent is the Flyers’ eighth option.
Tomorrow I will look at the forwards, special teams, physical play and some keys for each team to win the series.
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Side note: Yesterday, the Flyers
signed former Ottawa Senators prospect Jan Platil to a free agent agent contract. He is likely to be little more than a depth defenseman in the system.
Platil, 25, is a 6-foot-2, 210 pound defenseman who developed in the famous HC Kladno system in the Czech Republic before leaving to play junior hockey in the OHL for Barrie.
He spent three seasons in the AHL, where he compiled as many as 212 penalty minutes. Platil then returned to Europe, where he spent a year in Finland's SM-Liiga and the last two seasons in Russia's Super League.
He played for the Amur Tigers this year in the RSL, compiling seven goals, 20 points, 103 penalty minutes and a plus-four rating in 43 regular season games. His team was chased in the first round of the playoffs and he was a minus-five (with 38 penalty minutes) in four games.
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Special thanks to 610 WIP's Brian Startare for having me as a guest on his program last night. It's always a pleasure to talk hockey with Brian. Tonight, I will be a guest on Team 1200 in Ottawa at about 11:05 PM EDT.
I must admit, however, that I still find it odd that anyone would want to read or hear what I have to say about the goings on in hockey. I'm just a fan who got very, very lucky in life to have an avenue to express myself and make a few bucks doing it. I never forget that.
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For those who didn't catch today's Sweden-Switzerland game at the World Championships, the undefeated Swiss prevailed 4-2 by essentially giving the Swedes a taste of their own medicine.
Switzerland usually plays a solid defensive style, so that was not a surprise. But they are rarely opportunistic offensely. Today, they were, punching in a quick goal in the first minute of the game and looking to press the attack when the chance presented itself.
Sweden, meanwhile, continued to look uncharacteristically sloppy defensively and undisciplined in general. They will need to fix things quickly in the medal-round qualifiers, as this does not look like a medal team right now. The Swedish national team has not played well at the senior level since winning gold at the 2006 Olympics and the 2006 World Championships.
Unless Bengt-Åke Gustafsson gets the ship righted, it may be time for Tre Kronor to start thinking about other options. There has been no cohension these last two years.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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