Gameday Preview: Flyers vs. Islanders
In the second game of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia will take on Barry Trotz's New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The Islanders currently lead the series, one game to zero.
Game time is 3:00 p.m. ET. The game will be nationally televised on NBCSN.
The Flyers are the designated home team for Game 2, and will have last line change. That did not factor into last series, as the "road" team side won Games 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Flyers "First Round" series against the Montreal Canadiens and were also the home team in Game 1 of the current series.
Series Progression
In Game 1 of this series, the Islanders dominated the first period and took a 1-0 lead to intermission. It easy could have been 4-0 or 4-1 but for the stellar play of Carter Hart. Andy Greene scored a point shot goal at 6:06 through layers of screening traffic for the period's only goal. On Philadelphia's best chance, Kevin Hayes was unable to score on a breakaway.
The tide turned in the second period. The Flyers dominated territorial possession, and generated a couple high quality looks at the net as well as several Grade B chances. Many of the better chances were blocked by the Islanders or Semyon Varlamov was in perfect position to stop. Overall, though, the Flyers largely had to settle for low-to-high plays with point shot attempts; many of which were blocked or there was insufficient traffic to cause Varlamov trouble. Shots were 15-7 in the Flyers favor, but they still trailed, 1-0.
A lost 2-on-2 battle behind the net by Travis Sanheim and Phil Myers and a rare attention-to-detail lapse by a struggling Sean Couturier (who abandoned protecting the front of the net with both D behind the net, and tried to join them) left J-G Pageau wide open in point blank range to take a pass-out from Leo Komarov. From the dead slot, Pageau quickly finished the play for a 2-0 lead at 2:54 of the third period.
Now the Flyers were in dire straights, as the Islanders continued to take away the coveted areas below and between the dots and to block Philadelphia shot attempts. Another killer mistake followed on an attempted forecheck. Joel Farabee got on the wrong side of the puck as Jordan Eberle slipped past him. That started a 3-on-2 rush for the Islanders. Matt Niskanen came over from his right defense position to the left side, trying to pressure puck carrier Matthew Barzal. Instead, Barzal made a gorgeous pass to a wide open Anders Lee, who had lots of net open with Hart having been positioned to play a shot by Barzal. Lee made no mistake and scored at 8:50.
In desperation, Vigneault pulled Hart very, very early for a 6-on-5 attack and it blew up in his face as Devon Toews scored a long-distance empty net goal to make it 4-0 at 12:21. The rest of the game was academic at that point.
Special teams were not a factor in Game 1. The Islanders were unable to do anything with a late first-period power play that carried over into the second. Philly got momentum from the emphatic kill. The Flyers had a latter third period power play, trailing 4-0, and spun their wheels.
Varlamov went on to record a 29-save shutout. Hart stopped 25 of 28 shots.
Flyers Outlook
In order for the Flyers to win Game 2 -- or the series itself -- they need a lot better performance from Couturier, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek than they got in Game 1. It's not only that Couturier and Giroux are still goalless through 10 playoff games. That's a major problem in and of itself, of course, but there was also deterioration in other aspects of their games.
Couturier had one of the worst playoff games of his career in Game 1. He was a major culprit on the second Islanders goal with a type of mental mistake -- not looking for the dangerous man and leaving the house unguarded with both D-men behind the net -- that he rarely ever makes. That was just a single play, but he was a very uncharacteristic 37.5% in the Corsi department -- on a night where the team as a whole ended up at 57.2%. He was 6-5 on faceoffs (certainly not awful, but not his norm and he lost a couple of crucial draws where the Flyers really needed the instant possession).
Couturier was also off the mark with the puck on his stick. He did hit the post on a re-direct of a Giroux pass at one point, but that was his only bonafide scoring chance.
Giroux wasn't much better on a night where the Flyers really needed him to step up. Early in the game, he was moved from third line center back up to left wing on the Couturier line. As one of the main players the Flyers rely on to carry the mail on entries and set up plays, it's crucial that Giroux be on the top of his game with the puck on his stick. He wasn't, nor were Couturier or Voracek (who was dominant over the latter part of the Montreal series but ineffective in Game 1 of the current series).
The Flyers' second defense pairing of Sanheim and Myers had an erratic night in Game 1. Of the two, Myers was the better half of the pair. They lost some winnable battles, two of which ultimately ended up in the Flyers' net. Myers pinched effectively and blocked several shots. Sanheim had one notable offensive foray. All in all, that pairing has shown a higher level than they displayed in Monday's game.
The Hayes line, by far, was the Flyers' best overall combo in Game 1. Still-goalless regular season scoring leader Konecny ended up having a lot of frustration but he was in the middle of several of the Flyers' better scoring chances. He was also the one who sprung Hayes on his unsuccessful breakaway opportunity in the first period. Hayes was a big part of the Flyers' second-period surge.
For Game 1 of the series, James van Riemsdyk and Robert Hagg were healthy scratches. Shayne Gostisbehere, coming off a stellar all-around performance in the clincher against Montreal, remained in the lineup. Nicolas Aube-Kubel returned from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss the final three games of the Montreal series.
Aube-Kubel's hitting game was in order (four credited hits) but his Game 1 execution -- as with many Flyers players, up and down the lineup -- was a bit off otherwise. Offensively, Gostisbehere was active in joining the attack had a devil of a time trying to get pucks through in Game 1. He attempted eight shots, getting blocked on six (he broke his stick on one), missing the net on one and getting through a single unscreened shot fairly late in the third period. In his own end of the ice, Gostisbehere was tagged with four giveaways, including one that forced a tough save from Hart to keep the score at 1-0 at the time.
During the second half of the regular season and the round robin, the bottom half of the Flyers' forward lineup were frequent contributors -- Scott Laughton, Aube-Kubel, Tyler Pitlick, Michael Raffl. Derek Grant played quite well over seven games following the trade deadline.
Laughton is quietly a key player for the Flyers. He largely struggled in the Montreal series but took a baby step in the right direction as Game 1 of this series progressed. Raffl has done his part since returning from a lower-body injury suffered in the first game of the round robin (where he also recorded a goal and an assist). Grant has been largely ineffective in the playoffs but bounced back in Game 6 against Montreal (including a nice assist on Hayes' lone goal of the playoffs) and quietly was one of the most effective Flyers in Game 1 against the Islanders.
For the Flyers, it has to start with the top of the lineup, though. They knew that players like Laughton, Raffl, Aube-Kubel (two-goal game during the round-robin) and the 20-year-old Farabee probably could not continue to lead the team in goal scoring if the club was to make a deep run in the postseason. Since the start of the Montreal series, the Flyers have scored just 11 total goals (two, zero, one, two, three, three and zero). That gives them virtually zero margin for error in terms of defense and puts all the pressure on Hart.
Philadelphia was in the top one-third of the NHL offensively this year; ranked 7th at 3.29 goals per game. The offense needs to get going. A Corsi edge playing from behind in Game 1 means very little.
Islanders Outlook
A team that was -10 at even strength during the regular season, the Islanders are a cumulative +11 (14 GF - 3 GA) over its series against Washington plus Game 1 of the current series. The NHL's No. 1 hitting team and shot-blocking team during the regular season, the Islanders had 34 credited hits in Game 1 (including 10 by Ross Johnston and 5 by Matt Martin) in Game 1 as well as a 22-10 edge in blocked shots.
On the latter point, the Flyers' failure to block (or attempt to block) Greene's seemingly blockable point shot played into the goal through layers of Flyers and Islanders bodies and past Hart, who failed to track the puck through the screen.
It was somewhat surprising that Johnston played over Derick Brassard in Game 1. That gave an even bigger, and even more aggressive look to an Islanders lineup that already featured Martin, Cal Clutterbuck, Komarov and Scott Mayfield.
The Islanders came right at the Flyers from the outset of Game 1, with a very heavy forecheck. They took advantage of 1st/2nd line mismatches against Philadelphia's fourth line, which led up to the Greene goal (the veteran's first since the 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, also against the Flyers). The Flyers then changed things up for the latter part of the first period, moving some personnel around and largely going with three lines. It should be noted that the Philadelphia fourth line had a solid second period.
Top defenseman Johnny Boychuk has been limited by injury to one playoff appearance to date. It's believed that he's getting close to being ready to return. With the Islanders on a roll so far in the postseason, there isn't a need to rush him.
Adam Pelech got banged up (lower boy) in Game 1 but stayed in the game and finished it.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (primary Game 1 lines, subject to change)
FLYERS 28 Claude Giroux- 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jake Voracek 49 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny 25 James van Riemsdyk - 38 Derek Grant - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel 12 Michael Raffl - 44 Nate Thompson - 18 Tyler Pitlick
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen 6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers 8 Robert Hagg - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart [37 Brian Elliott]
ISLANDERS 27 Anders Lee - 13 Mathew Barzal - 7 Jordan Eberle 18 Anthony Beauvillier - 29 Brock Nelson - 12 Josh Bailey 32 Ross Johnston - 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 47 Leo Komarov 17 Matt Martin - 53 Casey Cizikas - 15 Cal Clutterbuck
3 Adam Pelech - 6 Ryan Pulock 25 Devon Toews - 24 Scott Mayfield 2 Nick Leddy - 4 Andy Greene 55 Johnny Boychuk ???
40 Semyon Varlamov [1 Thomas Greiss]
Comparative Team Stats (League ranking, via NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick)
GPG: PHI 3.29 (7th), NYI 2.78 (22nd) GAA: PHI 2.77(T-7th), NYI 2.79 (9th) 5-on-5: PHI +18 (153-135), NYI -10 (121-131) Power Play: PHI 20.8% (14th), NYI 17.3% (T-24th) Penalty Kill: PHI 81.8% (11th), NYI 80.7% (15th) Special Teams Index: PHI 102.6, NYI 98.0 SHG: PHI 8 (T-6th), NYI 6 (T-10th) SHGA: PHI 6 (T-14th), NYI 5 (T-7th) Average Shots: PHI 31.4 (16th), NYI 29.6 (28th) Shots Against: PHI 28.7 (1st), NYI 31.2 (T-13th) Corsi: PHI 51.02% (9th), NYI 46.45% (29th) Scoring chances: PHI 50.91% (13th), NYI 47.91% (15th) High-danger chances: PHI 50.83% (12th), NYI 50.08% (18th) Expected goal differential: PHI 50.64 (14th), NYI 48.84% (20th) Faceoffs: PHI 54.6% (1st), NYI 49.9% (T-17th) Credited Hits/60: PHI 21.4 (17th), NYI 27.7 (1st) Blocked Shots/60: PHI 12.02 (28th), NYI 16.61 (1st) Giveaways/60: PHI 8.93 (13th), NYI 12.96 (31st) Takeways/60: PHI 6.29 (24th), NYI 7.02 (18th)
Series Schedule
Mon, Aug 24 -- Islanders 4 - Flyers 0 Wed, Aug 26 -- 3 PM Thu, Aug 27 -- 7 PM Sat, Aug 29 -- Noon Mon, Aug 31 -- TBD * Wed, Sep 2 -- TBD * Thu. Sep 3 -- TBD *
* If necessary