It took the Flyers until the sixth period of hockey in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to catch up to the work ethic and pace of play that the Boston Bruins had set in the series. As a result, the Flyers have dug themselves a deep hole in the series, trailing 0-2 with the series heading back to Boston for the next two games.
Yes, the direct cause of last night's 3-2 loss was the otherwordly play of Bruins goalie Tim Thomas in the third period and overtime leading up to David Krejci's game-winning goal off a miscue between Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen. But, to me, the game was really lost before that.
Philly was fortunate to build an early 2-0 lead despite their continued inability to handle Boston's forechecking and cycling game. They were even more fortunate to get out of the first and (especially) the second period with the game tied, 2-2. Over that span, only James van Riemsdyk and, to a lesser extent, Claude Giroux truly elevated their games to the level it needed to be in order to successfully attack the Bruins.
Last night, JVR played the single best playoff game I have seen a Flyers player turn in since Peter Forsberg singlehandedly took over Games 3 and 4 of the ECQF against Buffalo in 2006. JVR may have been even better than Foppa on a shift-in and shift-out basis, and that's saying something because Forsberg did extraordinary things (on a bad foot and playing through a series of groin pulls) in those games. Perhaps you have to harken all the way back to Eric Lindros running roughshod over the Rangers shift after shift in 1995 and 1997 to find an adequate comparison.
Defensively, the Flyers were a nightmare in the first and second period last night. It was not all the defensemen. The gap between the forwards and defense was way too big, and both clubs were content to play racehorse hockey, which is simply not how the Flyers need to play given the goaltending disparity in this series.
As usual, Brian Boucher battled gamely (as did Sergei Bobrovsky, after Boucher left the game for much of the second period after hurting his hand). The Brad Marchand goal was probably stoppable but if Boosh doesn't stop Paille on that breakaway after Timonen was unable to finish a golden scoring opportunity at the other end, the rest of the game probably would have taken on a whole different complexion. Boucher isn't the type of goalie who can steal games very often. Tim Thomas is, and he showed it in the third period and overtime.
Did the Flyers miss Chris Pronger last night? They missed a healthy Pronger. The guy with the sore back/pulled hamstring and still-tender right hand who played in Game 1 was not a positive factor in the game. The player himself knows his own body better than anyone. If he could play, he would have.
Moving forward in the series, if the Flyers can reach a level of skating and checking intensity comparable to what they showed in the third period last night, they can climb back into this series over the next two games. If not, Boston will grab a stranglehold (no pun intended) and probably not relinquish it this time around.
*****
Throughout the IIHF World Championship tournament in Slovakia, I will be writing feature articles for NHL.com on notable NHL players participating in the tournament. So far this week, I have done pieces on Team Finland captain
Mikko Koivu and veteran Czech standout
Patrik Elias. Next up on Friday will be profiles of the two Dallas Stars on Team Sweden: Loui Eriksson and Nicklas Grossman.
In tomorrow's installment of Across the Pond, I will look at how Germany has thus far been showing their 4th place finish at last year's tournament was no fluke. They are off to a 2-0 start in the preliminary round, including a shutout victory over Russia in the opener.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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