In their first bit of playoff action in almost 6 years, the Philadelphia Flyers went into enemy territory and came out with a 2-0 lead as they head back home for Games 3 and 4 – scheduled for Wednesday and Friday.
There were a lot of questions heading into the playoffs about their inexperience, if the youth could contend with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ veterans, and whether or not the special teams’ battle would play a factor among many others.
However, coming out of Pittsburgh, the Flyers hold a 2-0 lead in large part because of their neutral zone trap defense, strong penalty killing, and all-around team performance highlighted by Porter Martone and Dan Vladař.
On paper, the Flyers don’t have the star power to go toe-to-toe with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Erik Karlsson, but they’re a pesky group who feel they have a lot to prove after being doubted all season long.
Both games have been prototypical playoff-like matches with not a lot of room to make plays, not a lot of shots, and stingy defense. That latter part can be attributed to the Flyers playing their neutral zone trap to a tee, not allowing the Penguins any room in the middle of the ice, and forcing them to dump the puck in.
Game 1 was a bit different to Game 2 in that the Flyers held a lead for the final 25+ minutes compared to the Penguins tying things up shortly after scoring the game’s first goal in Game 1. The defensive structure came out a lot more with more clearance attempts, rims around the board, and dump-ins from deflected stretch passes.
That style of play was spearheaded by their fourth line of Sean Couturier, Luke Glendening, and Garnet Hathaway – an unlikely trio considering their path to this point. Couturier humbly took a fourth line assignment post-Olympics, Glendening was claimed off waivers at the trade deadline, and Hathaway was a frequent healthy scratch near the end of the season.
However, fast forward to the postseason, and they’re an extremely effective fourth line that is usually on the ice against Crosby, and primarily in the defensive zone due to Couturier and Glendening’s faceoff prowess.
Couturier led the way with the physical play in Game 1, which included 7 hits and 5 of them coming in the first period, but it was his defensive play and faceoff acumen that took centre stage in Game 2. With the Flyers holding onto a lead, the captain was out there a bit more with 18:20 TOI and 13 faceoff wins, a lot of which came against Crosby.
Moreover, the rest of the forward group has been great as well. Martone has scored both game-winning goals to continue his sensational stretch of play, Owen Tippett’s physicality and speed has gotten under the skin of the Penguins, Tyson Foerster’s two-way game has been on display, and Noah Cates has been a thorn defensively.
Additionally Jamie Drysdale, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Travis Sanheim have driven offensive from the back-end, and Nick Seeler has put the body on the line with 7 hits and 5 blocks thus far, including 4 of each in Game 2.
While the skaters up front have been doing their job, unsurprisingly another factor was Vladař, who earned his first shutout as a member of the Flyers in Game 2, stopping 27 shots. With the Penguins trailing and the Flyers sitting back, the Penguins fired 25 shots in the final 2 periods compared to just 2 in the first 20 minutes.
Vladar was tasked with making several grade-A saves, especially in the third period, but the defense still did a terrific job around him for the most part, especially on the penalty kill, where the Penguins didn’t muster up too many shots.
Speaking of, the penalty kill has been up to the task so far against what was always seen as a vaunted power play unit. The Flyers killed off both penalties faced in Game 1 before going 5 for 5 in Game 2, which included an interference penalty from Travis Konecny with 13:29 remaining.
The power play has been a moot point, but for now, it hasn’t been a detriment to their game. They’ve found ways to win games during the season and down the stretch without a power play, but at some point they’re going to have to find a way to generate chances and momentum with the extra skater.
Going into Game 3, the Flyers will look to keep the same game plan of sound defense, strong goaltending, and the overall team-wide embrace of Rick Tocchet’s system. They’re going to have to take less penalties, but if they can continue to frustrate the Penguins’ power play, the special teams battle should be theirs.
Taking a 3-0 series lead isn’t going to be an easy task with the Penguins ramping up the physicality and feistiness at the end of Game 2, but that’s not entirely against how the Flyers normally play, so it shouldn’t deter them moving forward.
It will be interesting to see how the Flyers respond to what should be a desperate Penguins team, as they have to win at least one game on the road to keep their season alive. Expect Crosby and company to throw the kitchen sink towards the Flyers, but as long as they keep their cool and stick to their game plan, they should be able to weather the storm.
Considering this is the first home playoff game in Philadelphia since 2018, the home crowd is going to be a massive factor. It’s going to be a raucous affair with the sea of orange taking full effect, and hopefully the Flyers can come out on top, starting on Wednesday night.
