For a team who beat the star-studded Tampa Bay Lightning to secure the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers have not been playing like a Stanley Cup Contender. The Flyers currently sit ahead in their 2-1 series lead over the bottom seed Montreal Canadiens, but that doesn’t mean that they have been playing well to get to that point.
Not too many people expected a lot out of the Habs during the postseason. Entering the qualifying round as the last-place team, many expected them to get swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins and take their lottery pick and call it a day. While most fans didn’t expect a lot out of the Habs, Montreal expected a lot out of themselves.
After beating the Penguins in four games, they went on to make the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers. Three games have been played between the two sides and it has made for some entertaining hockey.
The Flyers beat the Canadiens 2-1 in the first game in what proved to be a matchup between two elite goaltenders. The star veteran and the new star in the making. The first game was very close and showed the hockey community that the Canadiens were going to put up a fight.
It certainly was not the effort you would have expected from the #1 seed in the East and a high caliber cup contender. But with all that being said, the first game in a series can sometimes be a bit rough as teams are beginning to get to know each other. Game 2, however, was an entirely different story.
Canadiens head coach Claude Julien left the bubble after experiencing chest pains, leaving assistant coach Kirk Muller to take the reins. Muller dazzled in his coaching debut with his team evening out the series in a 5-0 blowout. It was the Habs at their best and the Flyers clearly at their worst.
The Canadiens did a great job at all ends of the ice, limiting Philadelphia’s offence and finding ways to chance Carter Hart from his crease. Game 3, on the other hand, was painful to say the least for Habs fans. The Flyers beat the Habs 1-0 on Carey Price’s birthday, but both sides did not play their best hockey by any means.
The Canadiens simply just had no luck. They hit the post at least five times and ran into a hot goaltender on every chance they had. While both sides played well, the Flyers played much better than they did on Saturday afternoon, however, it was still far away from the play of a true Stanley Cup Contender. The teams lone goal came off of an odd rediection from Jakob Voracek in front of the net.
Finding ways to get pucks past Carey Price is obviously key, and the Flyers surely do not care exactly how they beat him, as long as they do. However, their lone goal on Sunday night was rather lucky and is not something that they can bank on throughout the NHL playoffs.
For a team with a deep offensive core consisting of high-calibre depth all around, the Flyers offence has been troublesome. In three games against the Canadiens, they have scored just three goals, two of which were from Jakob Voracek. The fact of the matter is that the Flyers stars have been quiet, not only all series, but throughout the entire postseason.
During the round-robin, none of Philadelphia’s big guns found the back of the net. It has all been from their depth. Don’t get me wrong, having solid offensive depth that can contribute in big games is crucial for a Cup calibre team and is one of the reasons why I have said that Philadelphia could be a serious cup contender, but your depth players and defensemen cannot be your only point producers. You need to have your star players playing like star players or else winning the Stanley Cup becomes much much harder.
Saying that your star players need to score is obvious and easier said than done, especially against Carey Price. As much as we can take a deep dive into exactly what’s going wrong for the Flyers and looking at the underlying numbers, it almost doesn’t matter. Even if they make it past the first round of the playoffs playing like they have been, making it far into the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup is frankly not an option for the Flyers if their top players remain invisible.
The lacklustre play of the Flyers stars cannot solely be blamed on the players themselves. The Habs defence has done a great job limiting offensive chances and playing physical to stop Philadelphia from playing the game that they want to play. For Alain Vigneault to light a spark to get his top players playing like top players is not the only thing needed.
The Habs have been relying heavily on Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and Ben Chariot, who have been absolute lights out for the Canadiens, making it virtually impossible for the Flyers to penetrate their defence. Kirk Muller has been giving these three blue-liners large amounts of ice-time, and when they are on the ice, only the strangest and luckiest of chances seem to get passed them. Figuring out how to overpower these key blue-liners is crucial, not only for this series, but for as long as the Flyers are in the playoffs.
The teams that they could potentially face in the second round surely feature some elite blue-liners with a ton of depth. Figuring out how to beat Weber, Petry and Chariot is only the first step, but it will be crucial in their potential future matchups as well.
It’s also pretty hard to produce when your power play has absolutely no confidence. The Flyers have not scored on the power play throughout the entire NHL postseason. Against the Habs, they have had a couple of chances, but for the amount of time they have had playing on the man-advantage, it hasn’t shown even in the slightest.
Getting things going on the power play could be exactly what the Flyers stars need to gain some confidence back. Claude Giroux, James Van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny, Kevin Hayes and Sean Couturier all get time on the Philadelphia’s power play units. Finding a way to change up their power play to create more offence could see a change of pace with the team’s top-two lines and give them some added confidence that is necessary to beat the Canadiens.
I have said it before and I will say it again. Philadelphia is a very well put together team all around. Their core is strong enough to make a deep playoff run, and with the way Carter Hart has been playing as king of goaltending through most of the playoffs, that’s what a hockey club requires to both make it far and win a Stanley Cup. Despite all the potential in the Flyers’ lineup, it won’t matter if the players that make the lineup so strong do not perform.