The Flyers took care of business on Friday night. They will force the Penguins to travel east in order to close the series out. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol shuffled up the lineup and switched goaltenders and for at least one night it worked.
Personally, I didn't think the Penguins did a bad job. I thought Michal Neuvirth played an excellent game and much like Game 2 the Penguins just couldn't cash in on their bevy of chances. They need to keep generating and have a short memory. So far in the series the Penguins have an xGF% of 55.22 at 5v5 and it is very similar in all situations (55.44%). They are the better team and have played that way. It would have been nice to see what would have happened in overtime, but sometimes pucks go off people's legs and in the net. That's the sport.
Something the Penguins have going for them heading into Game 6 is that I would be surprised if Patric Hornqvist did not return to the lineup. He has been skating and if it was an elimination game last night I bet he would have found his way into the lineup. That's just my own personal speculation. If Hornqvist did return I would leave Dominik Simon in the lineup and pull out Kuhnhackl. I think Simon helps diversify the Penguins attack. I don't expect that change to be made.
Matt Murray is another reason to feel confident. I really didn't know how he was going to fare heading into this series. His regular season was below average with sporadic glimpses of the prior two years. So far he's been great. He has the second best high danger save percentage in the playoffs behind Marc-Andre Fleury and has an overall .943 5v5 save percentage. I hated the shorthanded goal he gave up. It was sloppy. The other two goals I don't believe he had a fair shake at stopping.
If you are interested in opinions from the other series you can find them on the podcast which was recorded after Game 5 last night.
Thanks for reading!
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