Well that was fun. Before I take off my #18 Flyers jersey I'm going to say that if this game had been played under the rules the rest of the NHL is subject to, Philadelphia wins 3-1 and takes a 1-0 series lead. Unfortunately referees miss calls and the Flyers have been hated by the rest of the league since their inception into the NHL in 1967, and the Montreal Canadiens won game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals 4-3 in overtime. But come on. Saku Koivu scored a shorthanded goal on a clear high stick, and the replay went to the league offices in Toronto, where the Flyers have had enough of their own problems this season, and the high stick goal was allowed for the second time of these playoffs. Then, with 1:49 left in the third period, good guys protecting a 1 goal lead since Joffrey Lupul scored the go ahead goal on the power play, 19 seconds into the third, Mike Richards lays a great hit on a dangling Alex Kovalev and is called for kneeing after Kovalev made a move and took a fall as if Richards had taken him knee-to-knee, although it was clear the Flyers' assistant captain had cleanly lowered his shoulder into the Montreal star. And you know the rest. Habs get a powerplay, Carter breaks his stick on a face off, game gets tied up, goes to OT and some fourth-liner buries his own rebound behind Biron, Montreal takes the 1-0 series lead.
But, as I've just watched the post game interviews on Comcast SportsNet and the players who just got jobbed are not complaining or making excuses, so too must I move on with the analysis. The Orange and Black are down a game in the best-of-seven semi-finals and need to bring the series back to Philadelphia at 1-1, plain and simple. The Flyers just came out of a grueling seven game series and cannot afford to be trailing 0-2 to a faster and better defensive team when the series comes back home for games three and four. During the game Bill Clement and Jim Jackson ran a stat showing that 70% of game one winners in the second round go on to take the series. But the Flyers were in this situation last series. They blew a two goal lead in game one at Washington and were able to win the next three and eventually the series. And to their credit the consensus in the Philadelphia locker room is that this was just one game, and now it's time to look toward winning four times before Montreal can win three more.
There were a lot of positives that Philly can extract from this (travesty of a) game and put what they learned tonight into the rest of the series. After coming out shaky, the Flyguys adjusted well to the Canadian's superior speed. The power play, despite a turnover that resulted in Koivu's aforementioned short-handed high-stick goal, generated several good scoring chances after the Flyers figured out how to work through Montreal's aggressive style of penalty killing, and Lupul managed to score what, for all intents and purposes, should have been the game-winner if not for the questionable officiating mentioned above, on the man advantage. And Philadelphia may have found the chink in rookie goaltending sensation Carey Price's armor, as he dropped and fought off pucks with his glove all night. The heavy shots of Braydon Coburn and Jeff Carter should be difference makers if the goalie's inability to catch the puck cleanly continues.
But the true difference makers will be the players who can counter the speed and size of Montreal. Coburn, who stands 6'5" and can skate with the league's top burners will be an asset. In the offensive zone the players who can skate with the Canadians and use their strength to dominate down low and not allow easy breakouts will be the key to this series. R.J. Umberger was rewarded for his efforts this post season with a fortunate bounce that resulted in a goal. His size and great first step will be huge. Carter, who has been a scoring-chance machine, will need to use his strength along the boards to create mismatches and his athletic ability to escape defenders and whip shots at Montreal's net. Scott Hartnell's contributions will be needed, as his ability to get up and down the ice and create traffic in front of Carey Price will really pay off. A healthy Mike Knuble would be a great asset to the Flyers, but health has not been a luxury the Flyers have enjoyed this season. Steve Downie may be the wild card of this series. He played a horrendous game seven in Washington and was benched for much of the third period and overtime. But tonight he was back to dominating the puck down-low tonight and created a goal with that skill, getting the assist on Jim Dowd's slap shot that gave Philadelphia the 2-0 lead. If Downie can continue to shrug off defenders and stay out of the penalty box, that will go a long way in wearing down the more skilled Montreal Canadiens.
And that is what this series is going to come down to, who will wear down first. Both teams have very balanced scoring and received great production from their checking lines in game one. Philadelphia battled injuries and roster uncertainty all year but benefitted from their depth. But Montreal's roster has just as much talent, top-to-bottom, maybe more. Both teams are coming off a seven game series in which they at one point lead 3-1. The Canadiens had an extra day to prepare and home ice advantage, the perks of being the Eastern Conference's top seed. Who will wear down first? That question could be answered Saturday in game two. Getting down 0-2 will be a tough hole to climb out from, and only the concussed Simon Gagne was a Flyer the last time Philadelphia came back from such a deficit (the 2000 semi-finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins).
Judging by tonight, this series is going to be entertaining as hell. The teams played back-and-forth fast hockey all the while taking every opportunity to pummel each other, and, aside from one absolutely ridiculous call that eventually decided the game, the referees let them play and put their whistles in their pockets. So for at least three more games the boys in Black and Orange will give us everything they have, and just as every playoff series has done, so far, deliver exciting hockey.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
VENGEANCE!
Is there any sporting event on this planet more intense and entertaining than playoff hockey? Not for my money. And, even better than the high quality of all the hockey games I have watched this post-season is the fact that the Philadelphia Flyers, who finished with an NHL-worst 56 points last year (a record of 22-48-12), have advanced to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals for the first time since the lockout. The Fly-guys disposed of 65-goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals. And what a series it was. Big hits, big saves, big comebacks. Overtime in games four and seven. The birth of a new out-of-division rivalry between two of the youngest and most talented teams in the NHL, and possibly an ever more bitter rivalry between the most intimidating fans in the league and the inhabitants of the nation's capital who have recently discovered and fell in love with the game of hockey.
But now, the Flyers must shift their focus from surviving the first round to possibly upsetting the East's number-one seeded Montreal Canadiens and moving forward with their plan to extract vengeance on the National Hockey League. The Habs needed seven games to dispatch the eight seed Boston Bruins, and found themselves in a similar situation as the Flyers, after building a 3-1 series lead only to be forced into a game seven. The deciding game of the series was not nearly as closely contended as the Philly/Washington game, however, as Montreal squashed Boston 5-0. The Bruins had been drained by fighting back to force the seventh game and clearly could not compete with the far superior Canadiens in Montreal.
As difficult as it was to contain Ovechkin & Company, Montreal presents an even bigger challenge to the sixth-seeded Flyers. The Habs won all meetings with the Flyers this season, out-scoring Philadelphia 15-6 in those games. Overall, Montreal has beaten the Flyers in six straight, the last Philly victory was way back in November of 2006, where the Orange and Black doubled up the Canadiens, 4-2. When asked to describe the type of game the Canadiens play, and whether the Flyers should expect a physical, gritty series like the one they just came out of, and those classics with Toronto over the past few seasons or more of an open-ice fast and skilled approach with which the likes of the Buffalo Sabres have worn the Flyers down with in the past, my resident hockey expert Shaun Stamm replied "Both. . . and it's scary." And the statistics tell the same tale. Montreal had seven players finish the regular season with 50 or more points. Alex Kovalev lead the team with 35 goals, 84 points and a plus-minus of +18. Mark Streit finished third on the team with 62 points, also good enough for third among all NHL defense-men. Montreal finished the regular season with the best power play in the league, converting over 24% of its chances. The Flyers were no slouch man-up either, boasting the second ranked power play, coming it at 21.8%. And Montreal's goaltending has been very good as well. After trading Cristobal Huet to Washington, The Canadiens called up Carey Price from the AHL, who went on to post a 24-12-3 record with a goals against average of 2.56. In the playoffs, Price has been even better, posting a 2.09 GAA and a save-percentage of .925. Montreal can also play a very physical game with players such as Michael Komisarek, who finished the regular season with 266 hits, second in the NHL. In the playoffs, the Habs have four of the top ten hitters in the league, including the leading hitter of the tournament, Steve Begin, averaging more than 5 hits per game in the first round. No other team has more than one in the top ten. So the Flyers are in for another tough series with a team that will test them every period at both ends of the ice. There is nothing better than playoff hockey.
So that's my brief review of what's coming up. For an even more extensive comparison of the two teams, check out http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=361418
If you know me, you know that I don't talk up other sites or writer or works in any media that somehow compete with my own, but NHL.com, and this article specifically do a good job of breaking down the series.
Starting Thursday I will begin providing greater coverage of the NHL playoffs, and on Saturday I plan on attempting my very first LIVE COVERAGE of the NFL Draft, so if you're a football nerd like I am, check it out.
But now, the Flyers must shift their focus from surviving the first round to possibly upsetting the East's number-one seeded Montreal Canadiens and moving forward with their plan to extract vengeance on the National Hockey League. The Habs needed seven games to dispatch the eight seed Boston Bruins, and found themselves in a similar situation as the Flyers, after building a 3-1 series lead only to be forced into a game seven. The deciding game of the series was not nearly as closely contended as the Philly/Washington game, however, as Montreal squashed Boston 5-0. The Bruins had been drained by fighting back to force the seventh game and clearly could not compete with the far superior Canadiens in Montreal.
As difficult as it was to contain Ovechkin & Company, Montreal presents an even bigger challenge to the sixth-seeded Flyers. The Habs won all meetings with the Flyers this season, out-scoring Philadelphia 15-6 in those games. Overall, Montreal has beaten the Flyers in six straight, the last Philly victory was way back in November of 2006, where the Orange and Black doubled up the Canadiens, 4-2. When asked to describe the type of game the Canadiens play, and whether the Flyers should expect a physical, gritty series like the one they just came out of, and those classics with Toronto over the past few seasons or more of an open-ice fast and skilled approach with which the likes of the Buffalo Sabres have worn the Flyers down with in the past, my resident hockey expert Shaun Stamm replied "Both. . . and it's scary." And the statistics tell the same tale. Montreal had seven players finish the regular season with 50 or more points. Alex Kovalev lead the team with 35 goals, 84 points and a plus-minus of +18. Mark Streit finished third on the team with 62 points, also good enough for third among all NHL defense-men. Montreal finished the regular season with the best power play in the league, converting over 24% of its chances. The Flyers were no slouch man-up either, boasting the second ranked power play, coming it at 21.8%. And Montreal's goaltending has been very good as well. After trading Cristobal Huet to Washington, The Canadiens called up Carey Price from the AHL, who went on to post a 24-12-3 record with a goals against average of 2.56. In the playoffs, Price has been even better, posting a 2.09 GAA and a save-percentage of .925. Montreal can also play a very physical game with players such as Michael Komisarek, who finished the regular season with 266 hits, second in the NHL. In the playoffs, the Habs have four of the top ten hitters in the league, including the leading hitter of the tournament, Steve Begin, averaging more than 5 hits per game in the first round. No other team has more than one in the top ten. So the Flyers are in for another tough series with a team that will test them every period at both ends of the ice. There is nothing better than playoff hockey.
So that's my brief review of what's coming up. For an even more extensive comparison of the two teams, check out http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=361418
If you know me, you know that I don't talk up other sites or writer or works in any media that somehow compete with my own, but NHL.com, and this article specifically do a good job of breaking down the series.
Starting Thursday I will begin providing greater coverage of the NHL playoffs, and on Saturday I plan on attempting my very first LIVE COVERAGE of the NFL Draft, so if you're a football nerd like I am, check it out.
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