Flyers Vs Penguins Preview.

Unless you have been living under a rock, it is no secret that these two teams flat out don’t like each other. Sidney Crosby is one of the most disliked sports figures in Philadelphia. He is viewed by Flyers fans, as well as Flyers players as whiney cry baby who will go out of his way to take dives and fake injuries to get calls from the Refs. Whenever Crosby plays in Philadelphia he is welcomed by the league’s most intimidating fans with long loud chants that are too vulgar to be posted on this website. The animosity for one player has built into animosity between two teams. This leaves little doubt in anyone’s mind that this series is going to be an all out war, and an absolute pleasure to watch for hockey fans all around the world.

Penguins:
The Penguins made it this far in the playoffs by defeating the Ottawa Senators, and the New York Rangers. They made it through both teams in convincing fashion defeating the Senators 4-0, and the Rangers 4-1. The playoffs started for the Penguins marred with controversy however. Many felt that the Penguins tanked the final game of the season against the Flyers, so they would have a favorable match up in the first round of the playoffs (the Senators). The team they were trying to avoid facing in the first round? You guessed it, Philadelphia.

Key Players
Sidney Crosby
Marion Hossa
Evengi Malkin
Jordan Staal
Petr Sykora
Marc-Andre Fleury

The Penguins regular season record against the Flyers: 3-5

The Flyers

Philadelphia certainly had the tougher road to get to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Flyers had to face the hottest team in the NHL at the time in the first round, The Washington Capitals. Their series went seven games. The Flyers then had to face the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, the Montreal Canadians. The Flyers handled the Habs in 5 games.

The Flyers have displayed that they are one of the deepest offensive teams in the Playoffs, as well as one of the hardest hitting teams in the playoffs. The Flyers play a rough and tough in your face game, that matches up well against the Penguins defense whose toughness at times has been questioned. To win this series the Flyers must play the same type of game that they played against Montreal. Keep the shooters outside, so Martin Biron can see the shots. Biron has been extremely hot, and he has to continue playing well for the Flyers to win this series. If the Flyers can establish as strong forecheck in the offensive zone, as well as establish a presence in front of Fleury the Penguins goaltender, the offense should be very successful.

Key Players

Scottie Upshall
Danny Briere
Marty Biron
Vinny Prospal
RJ Umberger
Mike Richards
Jeff Carter
Scott Hartnell

Regular Season Record Vs the Penguins 5-3

Key Stats
The Penguins Rank 1st in the NHL Playoffs with a 1.89 GAA.
The Flyers Rank 10th in the NHL Playoffs with a 2.83 GAA.

Both teams have a 24% Power Play success Rate.

The Penguins have killed 89.5% of their Penalties
The Flyers have killed 77.2% of their Penalties.

The Flyers RJ Umberger and Danny Briere rank 2nd and 3rd in the playoff in Goal scoring. Umberger with 9 goals, and Briere with 8 Goals.

Crosby leads the playoffs in assists with 12.

Philadelphia’s Vaclav Prospal is ranked second in the playoffs in Face-off winning percentage at 61.8%.

I am sitting here in shock and disbelief as I write this. Tonight, I saw a Philadelphia Flyers hockey club play a very brilliant hockey game in which they defeated the Montreal Canadians. The problem is they couldn’t defeat the referees, who allowed two Montreal goals that were a direct result of less than stellar officiating.

The second goal that Montreal scored in the game was a rebound that went off Marty Biron high above the goal. Alex Kovelev hit it in clearly with a high stick. The instant replay showed over and over again that the puck was still above the crossbar when Kovelev’s stick made contact with the puck. Some how the referee, as well as the officials in the War Room in Toronto didn’t see what everyone else watching the replay could see very clearly.

The third goal was scored by Kovelev in the last minutes of the third period on the Power play to tie the game. The power play was a result of a bogus call made on Mike Richards for a knee on knee trip. Once again after seeing various replays, you could clearly see that Richards led with his shoulder and made contact with Alex Kovelev’s shoulder causing Kovelev to spin off balance. It was a completely clean hit.

One bright spot in the game was the play of the fourth line. Jim Dowd, Patrick Thoresen and Steve Downie played very well tonight. That line was responsible for scoring the Flyers second goal tonight. It was scored on a play where Thoresen and Downie worked hard on the boards down low, and they both ultimately received assists on a laser scored by Dowd in the slot.

Unfortunately for the Flyers and the fans, poor officiating ended up costing them the game. It would have been huge if the Flyers were able to take Game One on the road.  Unfortunately a victory was snatched from their grasp.  Despite of the outcome, the Flyers played a well fought game.  I hope they use this as motivation and come out on fire on Saturday night.

This loss is definitely a tough one to swallow.

Keys to the Series

This series will be won by special teams. 

Power Play
The Habs sported the league’s best power play during the regular season, converting on 24.1 percent of its opportunities. The Bruins were able to shut down the Montreal Power Play, and that is how the Bruins were able to make round 1 a seven game series. Montreal has only converted on 9.1 percent of its opportunities during the playoffs.

The Flyers Sported the League’s second best power play converting on 21.8 percent of its opportunities. Unlike Montreal, the Flyers Power Play unit has been pretty hot. So far in the Post Season the Flyers have converted on 22 percent of their powerplay opportunities.

Penalty Kill
Both Montreal and Philadelphia finished in the middle of the pack during the Regular Season killing penalties. The post season has told a little bit of a different story.

Montreal has killed 90 percent of the other team’s man advantages this post season so far, while the Flyers have only managed to kill 77.1 percent of the other team’s man advantages.

The Flyers will need to stay out of the Penalty box as much as possible in order to defeat the Canadians. When the Flyers do end up down a man, they must maintain solid positioning, and make sure to keep the front of the net clear so goaltender Marty Biron can see the puck well. Biron, must be excellent this series and make sure he controls the rebounds for the team to be successful.

Key Players to Watch from Montreal

Carey Price – A20 year old rookie Goaltender, had a few shaky moments in round one, but ended up with decent numbers. He ended up with a 2.09 goals against average and .925 save percentage. He also recorded a pair of shutouts in the series.

Alex Kovelev – The 35 Year Old Russian had his best season since 95 putting up 35 Goals and 49 Assists. He was the top offensive Players for Montreal. Kovelev had 2 Goals and 4 assists in Round 1 Vs Boston.

The Kotitsyn Brothers- Sergei had 3 goals and 3 assists in Round one. His brother Andrei had 3 goals and 2 Assists in round one.

Saku Koivu- The Montreal Captain missed the first five games of round one, but managed to record 3 assists over games six and seven.

Key Players to Watch from Philadelphia

Marty Biron- Must be on top of his game. The Canadians have a high powered offense that will have a lot of opportunities. Biron isn’t the most athletic, or acrobatic goalie. He relies on sound fundamentals and positioning to be effective. The flyers will need him to steal at least one game.

Vaclav Prospal and Danny Briere- Since coming to Philadelphia at the trade deadline, Prospal has been the catalyst to Danny Briere’s offensive success. The two players look like they have been skating together their whole lives. The 2 combined to score 20 points in the first round of the Playoffs.

Mike Richards- Richards must have a big series if the Flyers going to have success. Richards was relied on heavily and was fairly successful to match up against probable league MVP Alexander Ovechkin in Round one.

Scott Hartnell- He must be a physical presence out on the ice. Montreal isn’t known to be a physical team. Hartnell must lead the charge by exploiting that on the Fore-check.

Defense- The Flyers do not have the quickest defensive corps in the league. In order for the Defense to be successful, they must not get caught out of position. The defense can not have too many failed clearing attempts, and NO TURN OVERS.

Game Plan for the Flyers to Succeed.

Montreal is fast, but is definitely not the toughest team in the league. The Flyers must be relentless with the Fore-check. The best way to slow down a faster team is to keep pounding the body. The Flyers can not play back on their heals when they have the lead. The Flyers blew 2 games in the first round where they had a 2 goal lead because they started to play back on their heals. The Flyers have to maintain pressure for a full 60 minutes, every game they play. If the Flyers win this series it will be in six games. They will need to split the first 2 in Montreal, Take 2 in a row at home. They lose on the road come back to Philly in game six.

My Prediction Flyers in 6.