In what has been a scintillating Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series so far, the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves with a 2-0 lead in games over the favored Pittsburgh Penguins. The venue is set to shift from Consol Energy Center to Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center tomorrow afternoon.
Last night's game was even crazier and every bit as dramatic as the first one. This time around, the Flyers didn't fall behind 3-0. They merely waited 15 seconds to start chasing the game and later fell behind by scores of 2-0, 3-1 (late in the first period), 4-3 (moments after tying the game), and 5-4 (early in the third period) before pulling away to win by an 8-5 score. Piece of cake, right?
For the seventh time this season, the Penguins scored first against the Flyers only to see Philly come back. Last night's game marked the fourth time (in less than a month) the Flyers recovered from a deficit of two or more goals and ultimately defeated Pittsburgh. The Flyers and Penguins will both downplay it for different reasons, but it is crystal clear that both Philly's resiliency and Pittsburgh's inability to protect leads is front and center in the Penguins' minds as soon as Philly puts its first puck past Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Flyers needed Claude Giroux to elevate his game last night, and he responded in a huge way with a hat trick and three assists for a franchise playoff record six-point night. Rookie center Sean Couturier continued to do a masterful checking job on Evgeni Malkin and struck for his first NHL hat trick. Max Talbot followed up a Giroux shorthanded scoring chance with a rebound goal and was a plus-five on the night.
Once again, the Flyers' Kladno Connection delivered in the clutch. In Game 1, Jakub Voracek potted the winner in overtime. Last night, Jaromir Jagr, who was otherwise barely noticeable, struck for the game winning goal in the third period.
Offensively speaking, that is what is takes to be successful come playoff time: there needs to be a different array of heroes stepping to the forefront. In Game 1, it was Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn who did most of the heavy lifting offensively. Last night, it was Giroux and Couturier.
Ilya Bryzgalov's statistical lines in the series so far look pretty ugly but he has battled for all he is worth and deserves some credit for the two wins. There have only been a couple goals -- mostly bad rebounds or partial screens -- where it is has looked like he could have played them better. Meanwhile, he has made some "humongous big" saves at critical junctures. Bryzgalov's glove save on Kris Letang last night may have been his best one as a Flyer so far.
The legendary Bernie Parent used to tell protege Pelle Lindbergh that the difference between a good goalie and a great one is more mental than physical. Parent would say, "Pelle, I'm gonna tell you something Jacques Plante told me. A good goalie is hard to beat once. A great goalie is harder to beat on the second one, and even harder on the third."
While that sounds counterintuitive, what it means in practical terms is that a goalie can still make a positive difference if he hangs in there when the road gets bumpy. If he spends too much time dwelling on a play he wishes he had back -- or on defensive breakdowns in front of him -- he's much more likely to fall apart.
Bryzgalov's play in Games 1 and 2 is a perfect example of what Parent spent several years teaching Lindbergh. He wasn't perfect but he was locked in physically and mentally when the club needed him the most.
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Come tomorrow afternoon, there will be an early opportunity for the Flyers to jump on the Penguins. Yes, everyone knows about the Flyers' defensive woes in afternoon games and their habitual issue of slow starts forcing them to play from behind. But if there is ever going to be a time in this series when the Penguins are the ones vulnerable early in a game, the next one will be it.
Over the course of last night's game, you could see the Penguins' confidence drain right out of them. Dan Bylsma was powerless to stop the bleeding with tactical adjustments. The defense fell apart. The forwards ran around frantically. Fleury looked rattled and started to commit himself too early and fight the puck, leaving out some juicy rebounds and putting himself out of position to make second saves.
The single biggest tactical issue the Penguins need to be concerned about is that their current blueline group is not nearly as tough to play against as the units they had when they beat the Flyers in previous series: they don't have Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill to outsize and outmuscle opponents in battles down low while blocking a ton of shots. There isn't the equal of Sergei Gonchar's breakout passing ability and constant threat from the point.
Yes, Kris Letang is an offensive threat who loves to hit. But he is prone to running around and losing his coverages. Yes, Brooks Orpik is good at clearing traffic from in front and doling out some punishment in the corners. But he hasn't been getting the support he needs, and the depth gets thin. The Pens have really missed injured Matt Niskanen so far in the series. He's not a panacea but his return would be a big help.
The Flyers defense corps also looked vulnerable at times last night. The third pairing of Andreas Lilja and Pavel Kubina was hold-your-breath material. Kubina was adequate but Lilja was awful in this game.
In addition, Matt Carle got turnstiled by Sidney Crosby on the first-goal of the game but then settled in later in the game and played OK (after an outstanding performance in game one). Nicklas Grossmann's final stat line looked very nice (+2, 4 hits, 5 blocks) but it was clear whenever play opened up that he is still struggling mobility-wise with the two knee braces on his legs. He was also whistled off for consecutive minor penalties, the first of which was legitimate and the second of which was a bad call.
On the flip side, apart from a few early misadventures, Braydon Coburn was outstanding in racking up 27:10 of ice time, four hits, one block and a plus-four rating. Kimmo Timonen was his usual steady and reliable self.
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Lots of history was made (or revisted) in last night's game. Here is just some of the good stuff to come out of the game:
* Last night's game was the first time in team history that two Flyers have had a hat trick in the same playoff game. League-wide, the feat has been accomplished three times since 1990. The LA Kings' Tony Granato and Tomas Sandström did it against the Calgary Flames in the 1990 playoffs. Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr did it against the Rangers in 1996. The Buffalo Sabres' Jason Pominville and J.P. Dumont accomplished the feat agains the Flyers in 2006.
* Giroux's six-point game beat the five-point franchise record previously shared by Reggie Leach, Bob Dailey and Mark Recchi.
* Giroux and Couturier's hat tricks were the Flyers' first playoff hatties since Keith Primeau did it in Game 5 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Semifinal against Toronto.
* Couturier's four-point night tied a franchise record. Twenty seven years ago to the day, the late Peter Zezel (one goal, three assists) had a four-point game in Game 3 of the Patrick Division Semifinal against the New York Rangers.
* Couturier was also the first Flyers' rookie to record a hat trick since Andy Delmore accomplished the feat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Pittsburgh in 2000.
* Jaromir Jagr, at age 40, became the oldest Flyers player to score a goal in a playoff game. In Game 1, he became the oldest to score a point of any kind when he assisted on Schenn's third-period power play goal (breaking the record shared by 39-year-old Adam Oates in 2003 and Larry Zeidel in 1968).
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