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Flyers Playoff Gameday: Game 5 vs. Penguins |
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WRAPUP
This was a nightmarish ending to a good season for the Flyers. In the days to come, when the sting subsides from getting blown out in this game and losing the series, it will be appropriate to discuss the Entry Draft and roster moves over the summer. Not now.
The Flyers finished the playoffs with a record of 9-8 against the first, second and third seeds in the East. That, as much as the fact the club reached the Eastern Conference Finals, reflects both the parity of the Eastern Conference and the fact the Flyers are not as good of a hockey team as the Penguins right now.
The gap isn't huge, despite today's result and the fact it was a five-game series. Nevertheless, the Penguins are the superior team at this time. The Penguins elevated their game today to a level I don't think the Flyers could have overcome even with their own A game. Today, and for most of the series, Pittsburgh was better offensively, defensively and in goal.
The Penguins won pretty much every battle for the puck, got players into scoring areas and finished their chances. Marc-Andre Fleury made the saves he needed to make. Pittsburgh is capable of winning the Stanley Cup against either Detroit or Dallas if they continue to bring this sort of effort.
Quotebook
John Stevens: "We got down and were trying to catch up. I thought we had guys trying to do too much. We started to fall back into some habits that were there before. They got rolling and it just seemed like -- and it hadn't happened all year -- but our spirit was a little bit broken. I thought we continued to play right to the end, but a loss is a loss. We don't have the opportunity to move on. We dug ourselves a hole early on."
Stevens: "Give Pittsburgh credit. To me, they were the number one team in the East from what I've seen. And they're very deserving of moving on."
Stevens: "I see this [season] as a great stepping stone. We handled a lot of adversity. We had the ability this year with our team to have setbacks that sometimes you have to wait for the next year."
Stevens: "I thought we had the ability to to right the ship and keep moving on and learn lessons to still keep our season alive. There's no question we have to get better. But I think we have I think all of our young players have vastly improved. I think the veteran guys we brought in are exactly what we hoped they'd be. Now we've made strides and now we have to try to get better from there. We wanted to get into the playoffs. Now we want to come back and compete longer than we did this year."
*****
THIRD PERIOD COMMENTARY
Dupuis deflects in a Hossa makes it 6-0 at 4:03. Biron stays in net. The goal came on Pittsburgh's 21st shot of the game.
The Flyers had a few opportunities to break Fleury's shutout bid, but the goalie made a couple of very nice saves.
Shots were 8-6 Penguins (25-21 overall for Pittsburgh), faceoffs were 7-5 Penguins (30-23 Penguins overall), hits were 6-5 Flyers (36-32 Flyers overall, Orpik led all players with 7, Ryan Parent led the Flyers with five). Each club blocked 15 shots (Orpik led all players with four, Ryan Parent and Vaclav Prospal each had 3).
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SECOND PERIOD COMMENTARY
Pittsburgh has played a dominating 40 minutes of hockey, and the Flyers have had no answers. What else can you say in a 5-0 game where the Flyers have generated a measly 13 shots? The Penguins are winning every puck battle and controlling the territorial play. This game has turned into an old-fashioned butt kicking, making the third period a formality. The Penguins will be the Eastern Conference champions.
The Penguins opened a virtually insurmountable 3-0 lead at 8:42. The sequence started with a nice backchecking play by Sidney Crosby to take the puck away from Mike Richards and ended with Crosby setting up Marian Hossa. With Jason Smith going into the corner and no forwards nearby to help, Hossa hammered a shot from the left hash marks past Biron. It was the Pens' second shot of the period.
The game turned into a 4-0 affair when Jeff Carter was sent off for tripping Malkin and Malone tipped in a shot on the powerplay at 11:42. The goal was initially credited to Crosby.
In the final minute of the period, the Flyers stopped skating in their defensive zone -- too many players were standing around -- as Staal found plenty of room in front to get the puck and score to make the game a 5-0 rout.
Early in the period, the Flyers hit the blueline with speed, but Marc-Andre Fleury denied Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell in succession. With the game 4-0, Scottie Upshall had a chance to get the Flyers on the board but had the puck knocked away as he moved in.
Shots were 9-8 Penguins (19-13 overall), faceoffs were 11-10 Flyers (23-18 Penguins overall), hits were 16-9 Flyers (30-27 Flyers overall).
*****
FIRST PERIOD COMMENTARY
The Flyers are in a deep early hole, trailing 2-0 on a powerplay deflection by Ryan Malone at 2:30 and an Evgeni Malkin stuff-in at 9:50. On the latter goal, Martin Biron lost his stick behind the net. For the third time in the series, Biron was unable to seal off the post with his skate.
Philly moved the puck well on their only powerplay of the period, but were unable to get a shot on goal. At the end of the period, Ryan Malone high-sticked Martin Biron as the clubs skated off the ice. The Flyers will start the second period on the powerplay.
The game could have been 3-0 after the first, but Ryan Parent stopped a near goal by Sidney Crosby by blocking his shot with half the net staring at the Pens' star.
Shots in the first period were 10-5 in the Penguins favor. Faceoffs were 13-7 Pens. Hits were 18-14 Penguins (this was not THAT physical of a period, but anyway, Dupuis credited with 4 hits, Timonen credited with 3)
*****
Pre-game note: Kimmo Timonen is in. Braydon Coburn is out. Jaroslav Modry and Ryan Parent are both skating in the warmup. Word is that Parent will get the nod.
Today's referees are Paul Devorski and Mike Hassenfranz.
*****
For the third time in this year's playoffs, the Flyers face an elimination game. Today's tilt in Pittsburgh is toughest one yet. The Pens have been on a roll on home ice. The return of Kimmo Timonen and (possibly) Braydon Coburn to the Flyers' lineup makes the task more doable, but the Flyers will still need to collectively duplicate their Game 4 performance.
When the Flyers have been up on their skates in this series, they've had success. The breakouts are crisper, the hitting game is activated, and the Penguins have had fewer counterattacking opportunities. The Flyers are also better able to get to rebounds that Marc-Andre Fleury sometimes leaves out on routine initial shots. Two of the Flyers goals on Thursday were rebound goals; one of which came off an unscreened Randy Jones wrist shot from the point.
It's when the Flyers stop moving their feet that the Penguins start to dominate. That's true of playing an opponent, but Pittsburgh is especially deadly when they're not forced to fight for every inch of ice.
For the Flyers to be successful today,they may need to withstand an early Penguins' onslaught. The Pens will be eager to grab a quick lead and then try to suffocate the Flyers into turnovers and counterattacking opportunities. With Timonen and Coburn in the mix, Pittsburgh won't be able to play back as much as they did in Games 1-3. But they won't abandon what's worked; they'll simply modify their approach.
The longer the Flyers are able to hang close, the more the momentum starts to shift to the road team. Philly will once again need to get scoring contributions from members of different lines. Martin Biron can't allow anything soft to get by him, and he can't overplay the puck.
With the series moving back to Pittsburgh, the Penguins once again get the last line change. The Game 4 adjustment to move Mike Richards to the Daniel Briere line -- with Richards centering -- could reduce the defensive mismatch we saw with Briere and Vaclav Prospal out against the Evgeni Malkin line. However, the Flyers are now a bit more vulnerable with Prospal (centering the second line) out against either Malkin or Sidney Crosby.
In Game 4, the players were allowed to play. That made for good hockey. Hopefully, it will be that way again, with a minimum of whistles for marginal icings as well as marginal penalties. The latter goes without saying, but the former also has the effect of slowing down the game. Too often, defensemen get away with taking a circuitous route to the touchup, and still get the benefit of the call.
Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora missed practice yesterday, because of the flu. They'll both play today for the Pens. By the way, hockey players seem to come down with the flu on a year-round basis. Those flu bugs are especially nasty on playoff practice days- nearly as prevalent as assorted nagging bumps, bruises, aches and pains that need rest.
Flyers lines and scratches (subject to change)
Briere - Richards - Hartnell
Umberger - Prospal - Lupul
Upshall - Carter - Knuble
Thoresen - Dowd - Kapanen
Coburn - Timonen
Hatcher - Jones
Smith - Kukkonen
Biron
[Niittymaki]
Scratches
Modry (healthy)
Parent (healthy)
Guenin (healthy)
Cote (healthy)
Downie (healthy)
Tolpeko (healthy)
Potulny (healthy)
Ruzicka (healthy)
Greentree (healthy)
Munroe (healthy)
Gagne (concussion)
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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