Craig Berube promised adjustments from the Flyers for Game 4 against the Rangers and his team delivered.
Besides making an impact on the power play with a game-winning goal, the Flyers did very good work on the PK, shutting down 4 Ranges power plays while Steve Mason was nothing short of superb with 37 saves.
Special teams were a deciding factor in the Flyers getting this series even at 2-games apiece.
You had to be impressed with the Flyers commitment to the backcheck and the defense sucking it up by playing one-half the game without Nick Grossmann (right knee).
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault practiced power play on Saturday with the idea of gaining the upper hand come Sunday in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers are a rather very poor 11th in the playoffs in power play efficiency at 15% (3 for 20).
"It’s just a matter of execution," Vigneault said of the Rangers' misfortunes in the series.
"Our execution gets better and we’ll get better looks. It’s more about how we’re moving the puck right now than anything else. We had a good meeting on it today and I’m confident the power play will be effective."
The Flyers were more aggressive on Friday night with sticks in the lanes and blocking shots.
"There wasn’t a lot of difference in the pressure they were putting on us," Vigneault said. "Again teams are very aggressive when they’re killing and it’s a matter of good puck support, good puck movement and when you get an opportunity in the lane to shoot the puck, you’ve got to do it. We just weren’t good enough."
Mason had pretty good looks on everything. Marty St. Louis said the turning point was the Rangers failure to score 4 on 3 at the end of the second period. You could also say it was Mason's sprawling save on Ryan McDonagh 4 on 4 that drew a penalty to become 4 on 3.
That power play carried over into the third period.
“I don’t know exactly what it was,” Rick Nash said of the Flyers PK units. “We’ll have to watch it on video, but I can say it was definitely a game breaker. It was the deciding factor in the game. They score on their power play and we couldn’t get the job done on ours.”
Coburn did yeoman's work to shut down Nash in the game. He was -5 with five shots in 17 minutes of play.
Does Nash need to be more engaged against the Flyers?
"Rick really wants to do well," Vigneault said. "He’s trying, every shift he’s on the ice, to put his best foot forward. It’s a tough league. The opposition, when you’ve got an elite player like that, obviously has got a plan.
"He’s got to keep working, he’s got to try and elevate his game, he knows he’s a big part of us having success and winning games and moving forward and the one thing I don’t doubt about him is his willingness. He prepares himself well and it’s his time and it’s our team’s time. It’s a team game, he’s a big part of that and he’s trying to do his best."
Give Coburn credit for the lack of Nash production.
“I think we’re doing it mostly by committee,” Coburn said, deflection attention elsewhere. “They roll four lines pretty well so we’re trying to roll three sets of D. Obviously, [Nash] is a big, strong player. You want to keep him to the outside as much as you can.”
Who knows. If the Flyers keep doing it, they may surprise everyone in the series.
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