Three things to look for in Flyers' Game 2
Three things.
Three things to look for in Flyers' Game 2
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Here are three things that might catch your eye in Game 2 against the Boston Bruins.
1) Glass half-full. This has been the Flyers' take on their 5-4 overtime loss in Game 1. They knew the first period had disastrous potential because of the team's 9-day layoff between series, and it pretty much was. In the second and third period, it is very easy to say the Flyers had the better of the play; overtime, not so much. To put a couple of numbers to the argument, consider: In the first period, the Flyers were outscored by 2-0, outshot by 15-8, and lost 12 out of 19 faceoffs. In the next two periods, the Flyers outscored Boston by 4-2, outshot the Bruins by 24-16, and won 22 out of 34 faceoffs. It really was half-full.
2) Richards vs. Chara. With the benefit of the last line change at home, Bruins coach Claude Julien used it to make sure that his shutdown defenseman, Zdeno Chara, was out against Flyers capain Mike Richards (and his linemates, for the most part, Dan Carcillo and Claude Giroux). If you were looking for a sign of how much the Bruins respect Richards, that is it. He had 39 shifts in Game 1 and Chara was out against him on 34 of them. On the flip side, Chara was out for 36 shifts and 34 of them were against Richards. On the day, Richards had a power play goal and two assists. He and his linemates attempted 11 shots and nine of them got through to the goaltender. Richards played great. Against Chara, he had to play great. We'll see if Julien keeps the matchup in Game 2.
3) A must win? I honestly don't think so. This series has all the signs of being an elongated hell -- very physical, very tense. It is obvious that the math helps the Flyers a lot if they win Game 2, but as long as they continue to play well, it seems to me that regardless of the outcome, either way, we have long way to go here. The body count is going to matter at some point. The Flyers are playing without leading scorer Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Ian Laperriere. The Bruins have now lost their leading scorer, Marco Sturm, as well as defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. But we have a long way to go.
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should be a great series!!! LET'S GO FLYERS!!!— JesseH
My glass is half empty, where's my Jamison? LETS GO FLYERS AND GO GO CARCILLO!!!
still picking the flyers in 6. next games: WWWLW.— azguz- I want to give credit to the refs for a nicely officiated game 1. Often, it's only the blown calls and overly officiated games (NJ series) that cause you to take notice. They did a nice job of letting the players play, as they should in the playoffs, when the stakes are high every shift. Lends itself to exciting end-to-end action too. Let's even up the series tonight.— BroadStreet
- It's a must win. You don't want to have to win 4 of 5.— DavidR
- speaking of glass half-full, any word of if the Flyers have been able to get clean water in Boston?!— ECR
- Glad to see the playing field just got evened-up a little. The Flyers body count is high, but now it's a bit closer with the Bruins losing Strum. Now if Savard could just get a headace, we'd be good to go.— rob808pf
Flyers in 5.- These are two tough, firey teams that should make for a great series...which the Flyers will take in 6. The Phils beat up on the Mets last night, now it's time for the Flyers to smack around the Bruins.— EagFlyPhilSix
- Rob, you feel the Bruins need to get injured before you are "good to go?" Way to show the confidence! I agree with David, winning 4 of 5 with 2 in Boston is a tough hill to climb, its a must win. But I say that before game 2, if they lose we will see the "they will still win" posts. And they might. Go Bruins.
- An old hockey adage says "you're not in trouble until you lose at home".— rmpchf
- A split tonight, 2 wins at home, a loss in game 5, close it out in 6. LETS GO FLYERS!!!!— Fabulous
- tonight's winner takes the series - look for Giroux to light it up— horhey
- Flyers need Riley Cote. Not that Cammi Granato wannabe Andreas Nodl.— Ferrell31
- vhail, it's not confidence that's the problem. It's talent. You do realize we are down our top scorer (carter) - who was 2nd in the league in goals last year, Gagne (a 30+ goal player talentwise), One of the best Pk'ers in the league and a true warrior in Lappierere, plus we are now on our 3rd string goalie. So, yeah it's nice to see it even out a little. But it's still not close. Still, Flyers in 6!— TheCaptain18
