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Meltzer's Musings: 4/17/11 |
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Game two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals was the hockey equivalent of a baseball game at Wrigley Field with the wind blowing out and bad umpiring -- high scoring and slow paced, with both teams angry at the officials. In a game with 18 combined power plays and nine combined goals, there were hardly any 5-on-5 flow to the game.
Even so, the Flyers won the even-strength battle on the scoreboard, 4-2, and finally managed a single power play goal and killed three straight third period penalties to offset a nearly disastrous night on both ends of special team. It was just good enough for a 5-4 win.
Some thoughts, notes and quotes:
* It seems weird to say that a goalie who gave up five goals on 34 shots played a good game, but that was the case with Ryan Miller. Of the five goals he gave up, three were on excellent shots (Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk and Ville Leino with a defenseman screen and a seeming deflection). One was a deflection off Danny Briere's skate. The other was on a lucky bounce of the puck on a broken play to a wide open Dan Carcillo on the doorstep. It just goes to show you that good things happen when you shoot the puck (on net) and get players willing to go to the heavy punishment/ high reward areas.
* Brian Boucher did an outstanding job of coming in to relieve Sergei Bobrovsky and not only making a handful of clutch saves but also for helping to calm things down for his club. The only goal he gave up was a deflection right in front -- again, good things happen for the offensive team if you get there enough -- and he simply put it aside and kept playing.
* The absence of Chris Pronger was evident at times last night when the Flyers needed someone to put the clamps down. Goaltender Boucher was actually the one who did it in lieu of Pronger. That's not to say that the Flyers defensemen -- especially Andrej Meszaros and Matt Carle -- have not been doing their part in the series but the Flyers are a different playoff team when they have Pronger to take charge.
* James van Riemsdyk has been an absolute beast in the first two games of the series. You can see his confidence growing with every shift, and it's pretty exciting to watch. He's playing like he's no longer in awe of being in the Stanley Cup playoffs -- last year as a rookie, he had a bit of a dear-in-headlights look down the stretch and in the postseason. Now he seems to realize that when he's determined to accomplish something, there are few opponents who can physically prevent him from doing it.
* Claude Giroux was also fantastic in this game. Apart from his goal and assist, he was the best defensive forward on the ice while the Flyers were defending a one-goal lead late in regulation.
* Before scoring his goal, Ville Leino had been used sparingly in the second period. The goal itself was one that would have made Peter Forsberg proud. Leino controlled the puck near the circle and drifted in to look for someone to set up. Seeing that everyone was marked, he did not throw a low percentage pass into traffic. Instead, he kept possession, moved back out and re-surveyed his options. Suddenly, he took a explosive long stride toward the net and, using the defenseman as a screen, executed a nifty little toe drag and measured a wrist shot.
* No question about it: Sergei Bobrovsky had an awful performance in his 12:30 of action. He looked like Roman Cechmanek the way he was flopping around -- which isn't usually characteristic of Bobrovsky's game. He was clearly feeling the pressure in this game, as though he were starting to realize (in a bad way) that playoff hockey is a different level of intensity from the regular season.
Bobrovsky looked awful on all three goals he allowed. On the first Sabres PPG by Thomas Vanek, he took himself out of position to have any chance at a save. On the second, the goalie failed to hold the post. On the final goal by Andrej Sekera coming out of the penalty box, Bobrovsky made himself the size of Sky Low Low, getting too far back and giving up both the short side (he was beaten over the shoulder) and the five-hole.
Bobrovsky has had awful games before -- a couple of them down the stretch -- and has always bounced right back. After the game, Peter Laviolette pretty much shot down the notion -- albeit while saying he won't talk about goalies -- that he will dress Michael Leighton as Boucher's backup in Game 3. Laviolette heavily emphasized the fact that Bobrovsky has recovered iimmediately after bad outings all season, and was strong in Game 1. So I wouldn't look for Michael Leighton to dress in a 1-1 series.
I had an interesting postgame discussion with reporter Natalia Bragilevskaya (Sovetsky Sport) about Bobrovsky. Natalia, who often serves as Bobrovsky's translator. She pointed out that there is no Russian-speaking player or ex-player in the organization who was available to try to talk to the youngster about exactly what the playoff atmosphere is like. Boucher and goaltending coach Jeff Reese try to be helpful but the communication barrier is still too significant. Pelle Lindbergh had Bernie Parent and Ted Sator and a personal psychologist to turn to as his confidants. Bobrovsky has only himself.
No matter how mentally tough the young man is -- and it is clear that he is resilient -- he's still just a 22-year-old learning the mental aspects of NHL goaltending on his own. When something goes wrong, he can only try to sort it out alone, and take the game home and dwell on it.
According to Natalia, Bobrovsky initially refused to talk after Game 1 -- he took the loss very hard, despite his solid outing -- and had to be coaxed. He definitely was trying to do too much in Game 2 with all that flopping around. To Bobrovsky's credit, she said, he was actually a little more upbeat after Game 2, despite his poor outing. It didn't help that he was getting asked some pointless questions by Euro media like "Would you say it's harder to stop the other team on a power play, since you gave up two PPGs?" and "Why was the game so disorganized? Was the defense to blame?"
Bobrovsky said the right things. He said he was relieved that Boucher picked him up in this game, and would completely understand being the backup in the next game even though he wants the chance to redeem himself. Give him credit for being a team player and a level-headed young man during what has been a very disappointing few days for him.
* From a Sabres perspective, they did a much better forechecking job in this game. They skated better and harder than in game one. This time around, though, they didn't provide Miller with as much defensive support as in Game 1.
* A big part of the reason why the Sabres forechecked so much better last night was the return of Mike Grier. In his 22 shifts, the veteran set a tone with six hits and used his strength to win battles on the boards -- in one instance, digging a puck out when he was 1-on-2 on the walls against Braydon Coburn and Darroll Powe.
* Did Dan O'Rourke and Brad Meier have some sort of bet going as to which referee could call more minor penalties? Both clubs were victimized by some marginal -- or outright blown -- penalty calls. Too many makeup calls, too many conferences where confusion reigned.
* Between Leino and his sore hip and Scott Hartnell and his two left feet, I counted five occasions last night where Danny Briere's wingers fell down without being touched.
* If you knew going into the series that Jeff Carter and Mike Richards would be blanked in the first two games, would you have predicted the Flyers would be able to manage a split heading to Buffalo to try to regain home ice? Carter in particular looks likes he's squeezing the stick.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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