1) It took the Philadelphia Flyers until Game Four of their playoff series to do it, but when they finally changed their penalty killing strategy against the Washington Capitals, they held the Caps off the power play score sheet the rest of the series. That, along with taking fewer penalties overall and Michal Neuvirth playing great in goal were big keys to why Philadelphia held the Capitals to two goals over the final nine periods of the series.
In the early portion of the series, even in going 5-for-6 on the PK in Game One, the Capitals carved up the Flyers' passive PK box. That number was mostly a product of Steve Mason having a strong game in goal and the Flyers coming up with several key shot blocks to largely offset a double-deflection power play goal off two Flyers. Games Two and Three saw a parade of Washington power play goals.
Why did it take the Flyers until Game Four to start pressuring Nicklas Bäckström on the half boards and John Carlson at the point, similar to what the Caps were doing quite effectively against Claude Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere? Quite simply, the tight PK box (the positive term for it when it's working) had been relatively effective for the Flyers in the latter part of the regular season.
Unfortunately, when the Flyers ran into the Caps in the playoffs, they found themselves against players who could find the seams when they had time to survey their options. Philly blocked a slew of shots but they couldn't get zone clears, nor could they prevent traffic in front of the net. When they finally turned up the pressure, the Caps found it tougher to funnel pucks to Alex Ovechkin for one-timers or to Carlson at the point with Marcus tJohansson left alone to screen in front.
Special teams -- the Flyers' miserable 1-for-24 on the power play, as well as the 19-for-27 on the penalty kill -- was the single biggest reason that the Flyers lost the series. Even strength play was fairly even. As with the PK, the Flyers did make some tweaks to the power play strategy. They tried throwing some different looks at the Capitals by moving Brayden Schenn from the left side to up high on the right side with Jakub Voracek moving down low on ths e right. It didn't work, but that was at least partially because the Flyers couldn't get set up very often in the first place. The zone entries and puck retrievals were lackluster and scarcely improved as the series went on.
Assistant coaches Ian Laperriere and Joe Mullen have taken heat from fans for the special teams letdowns in the playoffs and inconsistency in the regular season. That's part of the territory in a results-oriented business but a little counterweight to the complaints is in order.
First, all the strategic tweaks in the world by the coaches and all the video sessions and pre-scouts aren't going to make an iota of difference if the players don't execute.
Question: Was coaching a "problem" when a Laperriere-coached Flyers penalty kill was 84.8 percent in the 2013-14 regular season and 89.7 percent against the Rangers in the playoffs? Did he just forget how to coach PK the last two seasons? Or perhaps the fact that the PK personnel has not been quite as good the last two years -- no more Kimmo Timonen or Braydon Coburn, a downturn in Matt Read's overall effectiveness, the 2013-14 presence and subsequent departure of faceoff/PK specialist Adam Hall -- has had something to do with it.
With Claude Giroux looking so out of sorts at the tail end of the regular season and in the playoffs -- more or less in the majority of games since the one in Arizona that he had to leave in the third period with what looked like a potential concussion, although he was officially fine afterwards -- it was going to be tough for the Flyers to generate much on the power play regardless of what Mullen concocted.
That was especially true with Jakub Voracek having an off-year on the power play overall and hobbling late in the season. The Caps forced the Flyers to find weapons other than Gostibehere. In fact, they just about dared Voracek to take shots on Holtby from the right circle or Wayne Simmonds to try his swing-across play near the goal line. Simmonds is largely neutralized on the power play when there are not loose pucks in front or screen/deflection chances from the point.
Getting back to Giroux for a second, of all his many assets as a player, he rarely shoots for the specific purpose of creating rebounds. When he's firing rather than pasing -- and he looked somewhat hesitant and hampered in his shooting in that series -- he's usually looking to pick a corner. Giroux can do it his fair share of the time because his hands are so good but he also has a pretty large percentage of his shot attempts either miss the net and heavily rim out along the boards or else not quite time it right and shank the shot for an easy clear.
In terms of predictability, many of the best power plays in the league are predictable (including Washington's and the Flyers' when they were routinely near the top of the NHL until falling to the middle of the pack this season). Knowing what the other team is doing and preventing them from doing it are two different things. There is also a streakiness factor.
Even the best power plays tend to run hot and cold. The Flyers ran ice cold at the worst possible time, and it happened against a very good penalty killing team.
2) The Flyers-Capitals series was a very physical and grueling one. I think there were a bit of a wear-down effect on Washington although their now-completed six-game loss to the Penguins -- who have been on fire for the last five months --was not really a matter of fatigue.
The Pens were the better team overall in the series, but it should also be noted that there were were three overtime games (two won by Pittsburgh) that truly could have gone either way. Of the other three games in the series that ended in regulation, two were one-goal games.
Final thought: I wonder how a Flyers goaltender, especially Steve Mason, would have been critiqued for an identical short-side goal from above the circles (albeit using the defenseman as a screen and shot by a proven top-end goal scorer) like the one likely Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby gave up to Phil Kessel on the first Pittsburgh goal in Game Six?
Or how about all the room upstairs that Matt Murray gave up in looking Darren Pang sized rather than 6-foot-4 on Justin Williams' third period goal swinging out in front of the net that opened the door to the Caps later going on to tie the game and force OT after trailing 3-1 after two periods? It wasn't a soft goal, but it was not well played. Williams had a lot of net to shoot at on the sequence and he made no mistake.
I could only imagine the hot-take field day the talking heads would have had if it involved a Philadelphia goalie: "Yeah, his numbers look good but he just gives up too many goals like that one and that's why you can't win with this guy." (based not on the reality of the player's norms but simply the law of averages that EVERY goalie periodically looks bad on a given play and it sometimes happens in big game/ late game/ momentum save situations)
3) IIHF World Championships: Team France ran its preliminary round record at the IIHF World Championships to 2-1-0 with a 6-2 victory over winless Hungary (0-3-0) on Tuesday. Top-line France center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare racked up three assists. For the tournament to date, he has won 61.1 percent of his faceoffs. France plays Team USA (1-2-0) on Thursday.
4) QMJHL President Cup Final: The Shawinigan Cataractes stayed alive in the championship round of the Quebec League playoffs with a 6-4 home win over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in Game Four on Tuesday night. Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers had a power play goal and a power play assist in a losing cause, to go along with four credited hits (he has elevated the physical part of his game in this series) and four shot attempts. He was minus-two at even strength; the latter coming on a Shawnigan empty netter in the final four seconds. Game Five is in Rouyn-Noranda on Thursday. The Huskies lead the series, three games to one.
5) WHL Final: The Brandon Wheat Kings took a three games to zero lead in the championship round of the Western Hockey League playoffs with a 3-2 road overtime win against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday night. Flyers defense prospect Ivan Provorov did not record a point but was plus-two in the game and was called for a first period tripping penalty on Mathew Barzal that resulted in a Seattle power play goal. Matched up frequently against New York Islanders 2015 first-round pick Barzal, Provorov has helped to keep Barzal from registered an even-strength point in the series to date. The Thunderbirds nursed a 2-1 lead at the first intermission through the second and into the third period before John Quenneville's second goal of the game and 15th of the playoffs sent the game to OT. Reid Duke won the game at 2:59 of the extra frame. Jordan Papirny stopped 22 of 24 shots to earn the win, while Landon Bow stopped 32 of 35. Game Four is in Seattle on Wednesday.
6) Over on the Flyers official site, the
2015-16 "Team Superlative Awards" were announced, with Flyers players voting for their teammates (or themselves) for such distinguished and vital categories as Best Hair (Michael Del Zotto), Best Smile (Sean Couturier, with teammate Pierre-Edouard Bellemare specifying when Couturier does not have his false teeth in and flashes his Bobby Clarke-like smile with multiple front teeth missing), Best Dancer (the self-voting Jakub Voracek among other self-voters and enough nods by teammates), Best Dressed (Michael Raffl, although it was a shock that Wayne Simmonds' bright red suit alone didn't win him the vote) and Team Comedian (Sam Gagner in what looked pretty close to an unanimous vote).
7) Reminder: The episode of "The Goldbergs" dedicated to the memory of Ed Snider airs on ABC on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. EDT.
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