Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Meltzer's Musings: Putaway Pitches

April 21, 2012, 7:36 AM ET [497 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
During the regular season, the only team in the NHL with a better winning percentage than the Flyers when trailing first in a game was the Pittsburgh Penguins. Anyone who thought Pittsburgh would fade away quietly when the Flyers took a three games to none lead in the series has learned that the Penguins have plenty of resiliency in their own right.

The series has now come down to a much higher-pressure version of a regular season home-and-home. Thankfully, all the Flyers need is a split to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinal. But like a baseball closer who keeps putting men on base, the Flyers had better not only get ahead in the count on the would-be final out, they need to throw their best putaway pitch.

Philly did a lot of things well in Game 5. They scored first. They tallied a pair of power play goals to take a 2-1 lead to the first intermission. The club held Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin off the scoresheet entirely and were the better team for about 35 of the game's 60 minutes.

Ilya Bryzgalov continued to struggle in some of his movements and had difficulty getting back up quickly whenever he went down to the ice. But he also made a few difficult stops. Overall, his performance would have been adequate to win (even against Pittsburgh) on some nights.

The only problem was that Marc-Andre Fleury played a spectacular game, not just an OK one. The Penguins held the Flyers without a shot or scoring chance for a lengthy stretch of time between when Fleury made an excellent second period save on Jaromir Jagr and when Philly finally started to get their legs moving again about five minutes into the third period. But when the chances started coming again, they came in bushels. Fleury had all of the answers on this night.

The Flyers won the special teams battle in the game, 2-1. But they lost the even-strength battle by a 2-0 margin and have now gone six periods since their last goal at 5-on-5 or 4-on-4. Meanwhile, the club suffered a couple major defensive breakdowns in the second period, and Bryzgalov was not able to come up with clutch saves on a couple of scorching medium-range shots.

Philly's first period power play tallies came off the sticks of Matt Carle (a point shot that found its way through traffic) and Scott Hartnell (nice tic-tac-toe passing from Claude Giroux to Danny Briere to Hartnell on a 5-on-3 advantage). But as game moved along, Pittsburgh began to block a lot of shots and the Flyers had difficulty getting second-chance opportunities. Fleury, as usual, left out plenty of rebounds on initial shots but he or the defense got to most of them before the Flyers did.

Kris Letang played by far his best game of the series. He made two outstanding passes that led directly to Pittsburgh goals. On the Pens first tally, Bryzgalov went down early to stop a center point shot by Letang but, instead, the defenseman fired a dart of a slap pass over to veteran Steve Sullivan. Later, Letang made a tremendous stretch pass from his own end of the ice that created the Penguins second goal.

The series resumes tomorrow in Philly at noon.

********

With Nicklas Grossmann likely sidelined indefinitely with a concussion, the Flyers are stuck with a patchwork blueline. Last night, Peter Laviolette put a massive load on the shoulders of the team's remaining top three defensemen.

Braydon Coburn played 29:11 over 33 shifts. Matt Carle logged 29:40 in 36 shifts. Kimmo Timonen skated 30 shifts and was on the ice for 25:01.

As for the remainder of the defense, an extremely ineffective (still injured?) Pavel Kubina played a mere 6:52 over 9 shifts. Andreas Lilja played 7:09 in 15 shifts. Rookie Erik Gustafsson, who played the best game of the three, skated 19 shifts and played 11:51.

This problem is not going to disappear, and that is a big reason why last night's loss really stings. Coupled with Bryzgalov's obvious physical problems, holding Pittsburgh to 3 goals may be just about the best the Flyers can do right now.

It is going to be up to the Flyers' offense to win the series for them. They need to do it next game, because the top three on defense may have nothing left in the tank for a Game 7 the way things are going right now.

********

Evgeni Malkin took a pair of undisciplined penalties in last night's game and has been whistled off for several minors throughout the series. But the Art Ross Trophy winner has been getting more leeway from the NHL than any other player in this series.

In successive games, Malkin has been guilty of deliberate head shots to Flyers' players. In Game 4, he clearly targeted Grossmann's head with a borderline shoulder/elbow as he skated behind the net in the first period. At least Grossmann had the puck. Last night, Malkin made a predatory hit on Sean Couturier when the rookie center did not have the puck. He got a minor penalty.

In both cases, Malkin knew full well what he was doing. It is also no coincidence that the targets were the shutdown center and the shutdown defenseman who had been frustrating him at times during the series. The NHL does not publicly announce warnings to players (only suspensions and fines), so there is no way to know if Malkin has been put on alert by the league.

If they have not already done so, the Flyers should submit to the NHL's Department of Player Safety a video collection of stunts that Malkin has pulled against their players this season -- going back to an attempted head shot from behind on Claude Giroux in the first game of the season series (Giroux ducked and everyone laughed it off) and continuing through subsequent head shots and no fewer than four nasty stick infractions in the regular season and playoff matchups.

For Malkin to get suspended, unfortunately, it would probably take a hit that led to an injury that immediately knocked a player out of the game. Oddly enough, he almost accidentally took out teammate Crosby last night. The teammates collided in the first period and Crosby was on the receiving end of a jarring hit.

I do not think Flyers fans -- or any true sports fan -- should ever wish injury on a player. Defeat is injury enough and much more satisfying to inflict. But there was a certain amount of poetic justice to the fact that the biggest check Crosby has taken in the series was thrown by Malkin.

By the way, how was Malkin NOT called for goaltender interference on the shift where he ran into Bryzgalov in the crease? It nearly led to a Pittsburgh goal. But the key non-calls went both ways. In particular, the Flyers caught a huge break when Coburn was not called for a blatant trip at the blueline late in the game. With the Flyers trailing by one goal, the lack of a penalty call kept them on the attack.

********

KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information click here.



Join the Discussion: » 497 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Bill Meltzer
» Flyers Gameday: 3/28/24 @ MTL
» Wrap: Flyers Lose 6-5 OT Game to Rangers
» Flyers Gameday: 3/26/24 @ NYR
» Quick Hits: Flyers-FLA Wrap, Flyers Daily, Phantoms, Bigger than Hockey
» Flyers Gameday: 3/24/2024 vs. FLA; Phantoms Update