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Meltzer's Musings: 4/19/11 |
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The Flyers often seem allergic to make life easier on themselves, so it should not be surprising that the club took a 4-2 victory and a 2-1 series lead the hard way in last night's contest against Buffalo. Any playoff victory is sweet, however, and the fact that different players stepped up to score or create goals -- Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Nikolay Zherdev -- along with the likes of Danny Briere is an encouraging sign.
Of course, the big hero for the Flyers last night was Brian Boucher. The veteran netminder was once again physically sharp and mentally calm and alert in turning back 35 of 37 shots to nail down the victory. He was locked in, handling the puck well and making key saves at key times. The sequence were he pushed his mask to the ice after it was jarred loose and got a stoppage of play during the team's 5-on-3 kill showed the savvy he's gained through his experience. It was a legit action on his part -- it was unsafe to play with the loose mask -- and also helpful to his team.
Offensively, it was a boon to get goals from three different lines and an ENG from Kimmo Timonen to seal the game. It was not surprising that Zherdev got on the scoresheet -- with what proved to be the game-winning goal -- in his first playoff game. All season long, he seemed to score goals and play well overall in his first 1-3 games back from the scratch sheet. In the playoffs, he can't afford to revert to the usual pattern of slacking off after that initial burst.
Over the balance of last night's game, the Sabres were the more aggressive club (of course, they were also the ones chasing the game). Buffalo outhit the Flyers by a credited 26-14 margin, outshot the Flyers by 12 shots on goal and won 58 percent of the draws. As the Fyers did in the first two games, they did a good job defensively at keeping the majority of Buffalo's shots to the outside but Boucher was the biggest difference in this game. He outplayed Ryan Miller last night.
Last night's effort was definitely one of those bend-but-don't-break nights for the Flyers. Losing half of a two-goal lead late in the second period, putting yourself down two men in the third period and going into a defensive shell for much of the latter portion of regulation isn't exactly a textbook way to protect a two-goal lead. But the Sabres never got the equalizer, and the Flyers actually generated several strong shifts in the final 3:30 of the game -- most notably an outstanding forechecking effort by James van Riemsdyk.
Boucher's lone mistake of the game came on the Sabres second goal. He boxed a rebound of a chest high shot directly into the slot and then Nathan Gerbe beat him upstairs to cut the Sabres' deficit to one goal.
The sequence that led to the Flyers going down two men started with a failed clearing attempt by Braydon Coburn. That led directly to a heap of trouble, as the Sabres pressed the attack. Finally, Darroll Powe picked an awful spot to drill his man -- there's good physical and bad physical, and this was the kind of play that accomplishes nothing other than potentially hurting your own team. Thankfully, Boucher the PK crew stepped up in a big way for the club.
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By his own admission, Sergei Bobrovsky has not felt mentally up to par since losing game one. Despite playing will in the team's 1-0 loss, he took the defeat hard (and had to be coaxed to speak afterwards) and then pressed in game two.
Speaking to Philadelphia-based Sovetsky Sport writer Natalia Bragilevskaya (who sometimes serves as his translator), Bobrovsky said after Game 2, "Physically, I feel normal. Mentally, not so much. But I will be OK soon."
Bobrovsky's pledge to bounce right back may have said one thing but his body language said something different. I suspect that Jeff Reese and Peter Laviolette picked up on it, and that figured in why Michael Leighton was chosen to back up Boucher.
I feel for Bobrovsky. He's a 22-year-old kid who still speaks limited English -- making it impossible for him to have a heart-to-heart with Reese or Boucher about the mental aspects of playoff hockey. The NHL season is longer than European seasons (which are now over, including the playoffs) and the Stanley Cup playoff atmosphere is different than the regular season. Bobrovsky entered the series knowing he was looking over his shoulder and would be yanked at the first sign of trouble. Those are pretty tough conditions under which to excel, but Bobrovsky played quite well in the first game.
Over the long haul, Bobrovsky should be fine. In the short term, it cannot help his psyche to have been demoted to third goalie. But the first concern of Laviolette and the team has to be to win. Yes, the rookie goaltender showed resiliency and mental toughness throughout the regular season whenever he had tough games. But if the coaching staff got the sense that Bobrovsky has been mentally "off" the last few days, they really had no choice but to scratch him.
It is only natural for young players, even the most confident and mentally strong ones, to go through times of self-doubt. It's normal to press and try to do a little too much. In Bobrovsky's case, the player has had too much time to be in his own head and dwell on things. Eventually, he should figure out that a bad game -- even in the playoffs -- can be put aside. Will that happen right away? We'll see, but if I were Peter Laviolette, I'd have reservations about turning back to Bobrovsky in this series.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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