Eastern Conference: Round 1 - #2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #3 Philadelphia Flyers

[Pucked in the head]

28,14,11   17,93,12   54,19,24,    51,22,56(ghoulbourne)   Lyon in goal Tokarski as back up

[Pucked in the head]

Gotta try to match their speed on all four lines... They could have skated backwards with one leg behind their back against sluggo lehtera.... And sluggo killing penalties???? Could that be part of the reason the penalty kill sucks...

[MadDevil]

1 hour ago, Lindbergh31 said:

Now we understand why the Devils tanked the last regular season game so they wouldn't have to face the Pens in the first round.

 

Playing the #1 seed in the conference is a better option?

 

Besides, it's not their fault Ovy and the Caps took that game seriously for some reason.

[Pucked in the head]

The Caps didn't want to face us ...lol

[Samifan]

Hakstol reviewing his goalie options for Game 2.....

 

[flyercanuck]

On 4/9/2018 at 5:08 PM, B21 said:

 

Advantage, yes,

 

ADVANTAGE? No.

 

 

ADVANTAGE? yes.

[flyercanuck]

Laughton has to score...on BOTH of those. That wasn't a great save by Murray (not that he didn't play well)...Laughton fanned on a wide open net, allowing Murray time to get over and save his slow motion shot.

 

Voracek...nice time for a line change. Just as Malkin steps out of the box. 

 

Elliot. I don't expect you to stop every quality shot. One would be nice.

 

One team looks like they've been there before...the other was a deer in headlights.

[Digityman]

Although the score was more lopsided than I thought it would be, it's pretty much what I expected.  I was thinking more 5-2 to be honest.   They'll come out more focused and keep game two close but will loose again as the Pens step up their game even more.   

 

One day all the playoff virgins (IP, TK, TS, OL...) will look back at this game and remember what it feels like to get crushed and how you can't take a shift off or take stupid penalties (TK).  That game sucked for us to watch but it was a good experience for the kids to draw on later.  

 

That's the only positive thing I can find right now

[flyer4ever]

The one positive to last night was that the Jets and Wild game was on. Take a look, men playing hockey.

[brelic]

1 hour ago, Digityman said:

Although the score was more lopsided than I thought it would be, it's pretty much what I expected.  I was thinking more 5-2 to be honest.   They'll come out more focused and keep game two close but will loose again as the Pens step up their game even more.   

 

One day all the playoff virgins (IP, TK, TS, OL...) will look back at this game and remember what it feels like to get crushed and how you can't take a shift off or take stupid penalties (TK).  That game sucked for us to watch but it was a good experience for the kids to draw on later.  

 

That's the only positive thing I can find right now

 

This is kind of it. It's too bad they had to get so thoroughly embarrassed, but it is what it is, right? It's a measuring stick of where they're at, and it's clear they are FAR behind the elites of the league. 

 

I don't want to minimize the issues with this team, because there are a lot. Some fixable with time (experience), some are clear gaps (team toughness is absent).... but for the love of all that is sane, I'm so tired of goaltending being an issue. 

 

I mean, the basket case the Flyers bought out and are paying for another 9 years is trolling the team on Twitter lol! Well played, Bryz. 

 

You know what? He's probably a better option at this point!

 

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, Digityman said:

Although the score was more lopsided than I thought it would be, it's pretty much what I expected.  I was thinking more 5-2 to be honest.   They'll come out more focused and keep game two close but will loose again as the Pens step up their game even more.   

 

One day all the playoff virgins (IP, TK, TS, OL...) will look back at this game and remember what it feels like to get crushed and how you can't take a shift off or take stupid penalties (TK).  That game sucked for us to watch but it was a good experience for the kids to draw on later.  

 

That's the only positive thing I can find right now

 

Yeah it doesn't seem to matter which clown they put it next they can't stop the puck.

 

I think their best goalie is in Allentown.

 

Hard to watch them go out like this.

[brelic]

You know, if this is how it's going to be, I'd put TK back up top. It can't be WORSE defensively than it was last night. G and Coots were -4, Raffl -3.

 

So at least put together ONE line with firepower. 

[OccamsRazor]

33 minutes ago, brelic said:

You know, if this is how it's going to be, I'd put TK back up top. It can't be WORSE defensively than it was last night. G and Coots were -4, Raffl -3.

 

So at least put together ONE line with firepower. 

 

He must get Lehtera out the lineup too who cares how big you are if you can't catch anything to even hit. They need more team speed.

 

Put Leier Laughton and Raffl back together on he 4th. They were pretty damn good earlier in the year.

[flyercanuck]

56 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Yeah it doesn't seem to matter which clown they put it next they can't stop the puck.

 

I think their best goalie is in Allentown.

 

Hard to watch them go out like this.

 

God I hope not....I think their best goalie is heading to Portland. I think their 2nd best goalie is in Brynas. 

 

 

[Buffalo Rick]

15 hours ago, MadDevil said:

 

Hey now, don't go assuming I'm a Flyers fan. I hope they fail too (after beating Pittsburgh hopefully). I just don't think a Buffalo fan has a leg to stand on when trying to chirp fans of teams that have at least been relevant in the last 7 years. Try getting out of the basement first before you start taking shots.

Well I have never seen a Devils fan on this forum.

[OccamsRazor]

36 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

 

God I hope not....I think their best goalie is heading to Portland. I think their 2nd best goalie is in Brynas. 

 

 

 

Well I mean the ones who can play.

 

That would be Lyon.

 

And Sandstrom is in Allentown.

[B21]

6 hours ago, flyercanuck said:

 

 

ADVANTAGE? yes.

 

LOL but I'm not buying it. One of the worst players on the ice last night was Giroux. 69 post season games. -4.  Coots has played in a few post-season series. Also -4. Costly turnover led directly to a goal. Voracek has some experience. Nice job on the Malkin goal. -2. 

 

I didn't see a team that lost due to lack of experience. I saw a team give up after that first goal because it "was a bad goal" and then get progressively less interested as the game wore on. Experience has nothing to do with that.  An attitude like that is on the players, captains and coach. 

[brelic]

18 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Well I mean the ones who can play.

 

That would be Lyon.

 

And Sandstrom is in Allentown.

 

Lyon is not a better option.

 

It's Elliott and Mrazek for the next 3 games. One of them has to step up if the Flyers want any chance at avoiding a sweep and maybe stealing a game or two. 

 

Not even steal a game - just a few really timely momentum saves.

 

Last night, every mistake ended up in the Flyers net, and it's not possible to play mistake-free hockey. Murray erased a few Pens miscues, Elliott didn't. That was the difference early on.

 

Would the outcome have been different? Hard to say because the Flyers were outclassed in every category - but if Murray had allowed a weak goal or two and Elliott came up with a few big stops, maybe that changes the momentum.

 

 

[brelic]

1 minute ago, B21 said:

 

LOL but I'm not buying it. One of the worst players on the ice last night was Giroux. 69 post season games. -4.  Coots has played in a few post-season series. Also -4. Costly turnover led directly to a goal. Voracek has some experience. Nice job on the Malkin goal. -2. 

 

I didn't see a team that lost due to lack of experience. I saw a team give up after that first goal because it "was a bad goal" and then get progressively less interested as the game wore on. Experience has nothing to do with that.  An attitude like that is on the players, captains and coach. 

 

I don't think that's fair either because of the sample size. If the Flyers had beat the Pens, say, 5-1, and Crosby went -3, so be it. 

 

Yes, their veteran leaders did not play well last night, but not because they didn't show up or forgot how to play. The Pens have momentum, focus, and a clear goal. The home crowd was nuts.

 

I think lack of experience played a factor in some ways, but also lack of talent and depth. And the top Pens players thoroughly outplayed the top Flyers players. If that happens over the entire series, that will raise a different set of questions than if it was a game 1 wake up call that led to changes for game 2.

 

I also don't like Hakstol's lines at all - it dilutes them too much to the point that we don't really have a top scoring line anymore. Raffl is a middle six/bottom six player who can fill in when needed, and Coots has scored like 2 goals in the past 30+ games. TK is a dynamic player being wasted on the 3rd line. I hope he switches it up for game 2.

 

 

[B21]

2 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

I don't think that's fair either because of the sample size. If the Flyers had beat the Pens, say, 5-1, and Crosby went -3, so be it. 

 

Yes, their veteran leaders did not play well last night, but not because they didn't show up or forgot how to play. The Pens have momentum, focus, and a clear goal. The home crowd was nuts.

 

I think lack of experience played a factor in some ways, but also lack of talent and depth. And the top Pens players thoroughly outplayed the top Flyers players. If that happens over the entire series, that will raise a different set of questions than if it was a game 1 wake up call that led to changes for game 2.

 

I also don't like Hakstol's lines at all - it dilutes them too much to the point that we don't really have a top scoring line anymore. Raffl is a middle six/bottom six player who can fill in when needed, and Coots has scored like 2 goals in the past 30+ games. TK is a dynamic player being wasted on the 3rd line. I hope he switches it up for game 2.

 

 

 

All good points but....Hakstol's lines, outplaying, didn't show up. These aren't "experience" issues.  To me that is more knowing what is and isn't a penalty in the playoffs vs. the regular season or know when to play more conservative and when to open it up.  I didn't see any "OMG you don't do that in the playoffs" that wouldn't have also applied in the regular season.

[brelic]

2 minutes ago, B21 said:

 

All good points but....Hakstol's lines, outplaying, didn't show up. These aren't "experience" issues.  To me that is more knowing what is and isn't a penalty in the playoffs vs. the regular season or know when to play more conservative and when to open it up.  I didn't see any "OMG you don't do that in the playoffs" that wouldn't have also applied in the regular season.

 

No, you're right, there weren't any egregious OMG moments. Instead, I saw a lot of smaller things get blown up *because* it's the playoffs. A small mistake or turnover that they would have gotten away with in the regular season turned into goals against last night because the intensity was ratcheted up by a team that's been all the way to the end TWICE in a row. You can't just discount that.

 

There's not a single guy on the Pens without playoff experience (I'm guessing?) and also I would think almost all of them have 1 cup if not more.

 

The Flyers had a bunch of players with 0 playoff experience, including some key players - Provorov, TK, Lindblom, Patrick, Weal, Sanheim. 

 

And a bunch more with a series worth or less - Laughton, Ghost, Manning. 

 

That's 9 players, just under half the roster. 

 

These are not excuses, just the reality of the Flyers right now. Whether or not a different coach, or a different team could achieve more with the same, I don't know. 

 

Baby steps. Oof, although last night felt more like kicking the baby down the stairs! 

[ruxpin]

15 minutes ago, brelic said:

No, you're right, there weren't any egregious OMG moments. Instead, I saw a lot of smaller things get blown up *because* it's the playoffs. A small mistake or turnover that they would have gotten away with in the regular season turned into goals against last night because the intensity was ratcheted up by a team that's been all the way to the end TWICE in a row. You can't just discount that.

 

I don't want to take anything away from Pittsburgh. They played really well. And Crosby's mid air stick/puck ability is simply WOW. 

 

That said, I agree with B21 that the errors weren't things that are playoff errors but not regular season errors (although I'm not sure I can come up with an example).  But the Flyers helped the Pens. The number of unforced stupidity errors of turnovers right in front of or around our net was stunning. If it was because of playoffs, maybe it was nerves or maybe even amped up speed of the playoff game.  Maybe it's coaching. 

 

Ultimately, it was just a team playing really well that beat down a team playing really poorly.  Each made the other team look more successful in their opposite endeavors. 

[mojo1917]

45 minutes ago, B21 said:

I saw a team give up after that first goal because it "was a bad goal" and then get progressively less interested as the game wore on.

I saw this but it wasn't until goal 4...

The Flyers played really well early in the second period but had bupkis to show for it. The Guentzel pp goal was the killer imo.

The Flyers had nearly killed that off, had a poor clearing attempt and it wound up in the back of the net , that was the true stake in the heart moment. 

Watching 28's post-game presser was interesting. He was embarrassed, I don't expect him to be -4 tomorrow night.

 

Malkinstien was really good last night, the best I've seen him in the playoffs vs the Flyers anyway.

The Pens played very well, every guy.  I don't think i'll be expecting them to shoot 40% the whole series though.

[phlfly]

Comes back to Giroux and his team. Again captain was Sucked this game a big time. I can understand goalies are bad, but you have score, if none can;t score it's Captain should or he sucks.  

[B21]

27 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

No, you're right, there weren't any egregious OMG moments. Instead, I saw a lot of smaller things get blown up *because* it's the playoffs. A small mistake or turnover that they would have gotten away with in the regular season turned into goals against last night because the intensity was ratcheted up by a team that's been all the way to the end TWICE in a row. You can't just discount that.

 

There's not a single guy on the Pens without playoff experience (I'm guessing?) and also I would think almost all of them have 1 cup if not more.

 

The Flyers had a bunch of players with 0 playoff experience, including some key players - Provorov, TK, Lindblom, Patrick, Weal, Sanheim. 

 

And a bunch more with a series worth or less - Laughton, Ghost, Manning. 

 

That's 9 players, just under half the roster. 

 

These are not excuses, just the reality of the Flyers right now. Whether or not a different coach, or a different team could achieve more with the same, I don't know. 

 

Baby steps. Oof, although last night felt more like kicking the baby down the stairs! 

 

Great post. Again, all good points.

 

BUT...

 

Flyers went 0-4 on the PP and were outshot 2-0. Inexperience? Or poor play by Flyers/good play by Pens?

 

Laughton fans on a wide open net. Poor play? Or inexperience?

 

Can go both ways. I buy the inexperience bit.  I just disagree on how much of a factor is was in last night's game and will be moving forward.