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Meltzer's Musings: 10/21/11 |
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Teams make their own luck, both good and bad. The Washington Capitals may have benefited from four deflection goals -- three off of Philadelphia players -- in their 5-2 win, but the Capitals were simply the better team over much of the game. The Caps got traffic to the net and created those opportunities, while the Flyers were largely inefficient despite generating 42 shots to Washington's 28.
The game was up for grabs for two-plus periods, but these are the key areas where it turned in Washington's favor. You will note that these are team issues and not a case of one or two players costing the team the game (although Scott Hartnell seems to be the scapegoat of choice):
* The Flyers closed out the first period horribly. Rather than going off leading 1-0, they had a horrendous giveaway by Hartnell and then a coverage breakdown that led to Alexander Ovechkin's first of two goals in the game.
* Talk all you want about how the Flyers were only one goal back until the third period but there's good reason why the Capitals are now a gaudy 82-10-13 since 2008-09 (and 24-1-5 since the start of last season) when leading after the 1st period. The Caps have such a good transition game that playing from behind against them is a tough order. They know how to build on a lead once they get it. Washington has also committed much more to defense since last year, so playing from behind is a tall order, even if it's one goal.
* In the middle period, the Flyers generated plenty of good chances to tie the game but really didn't get many second-chance opportunities around the net. When they did, the Caps recovered quickly. For instance, there were at least three plays where James van Riemsdyk either get boxed out or got off a weak shot that Tomas Vokoun smothered.
* The Flyers generated two outstanding shifts in a row in the middle period but were stalled by a television timeout. The Caps regained their equilibrium, still holding the lead.
* Philly caught a break when a would-be second period goal for the Caps was disallowed because of incidental contact in the crease between Ovechkin and Ilya Bryzgalov. But the Flyers really didn't come all that close to another goal until the game had gone from 2-1 to 5-1 in the third period.
* Just as in the first period, the Flyers responded poorly on the shift after the Caps scored. In the first period, the game went from a 1-0 Flyers lead to a 2-1 deficit with frightening rapidity. In the third, it quickly went from 3-1 (where Philly still had a glimmer of hope) to 4-1 (at which point the outcome was sealed). The Caps drove home another one after that for good measure.
* Bad penalties continue to plague the Flyers -- careless high-sticking penalties (a double-minor to Braydon Coburn, a Danny Briere high stick in the offensive zone), a Chris Pronger tripping penalty at the blueline. The Caps came into the game clicking at nearly 30 percent on the young season. Even though Philly killed off 5 of the 6 penalties they took tonight, they had to expend too much energy on the PK. It also messed up the line rotation. I like Matt Read quite a bit, but when he's playing 21:32 and Claude Giroux is playing 16:12 that's telling you the game play is not allowing the matchups that head coach Peter Laviolette wanted to see.
* The Flyers only had two power plays of their own in this game, one of which came in the third period when the game was already 5-1. That's a pretty clear indication of one team playing a smarter, more disciplined game than the other.
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Hartnell was one of many Flyers who had tough nights. I did not think that the reshuffled Danny Briere line -- which featured three righthanded shots -- looked good at all, nor was Jakub Voracek even noticeable.
Meanwhile, Kimmo Timonen went off hurting after blocking a shot. He was evasive after the game when asked if his hand had been x-rayed, if he'd practice tomorrow and if he would be ready for Saturday's game.
On the bright side, Giroux scored a dazzling goal on a breakaway, and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that he'd score by the time he hit the blueline. Sean Couturier got a late goal and has now tallied in consecutive games.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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