There are two ways you can look at the Flyers' loss last night. On the one hand, they played their sloppiest game of the playoffs and didn't get blown out, which means they have a great chance at not only stretching this series to 6 or 7 games, but winning it if they bring their A-game.
But, on the other hand both teams weren't on their A-games because of the layoff between their last games. The Penguins were off for five nights, and the Flyers were off six.
Kimo Timmonen's absence from the team speaks volumes about the level of play on power plays and just in general. Had he been in there, you can be damn certain Malkin would not have been wide open (particularly on his first goal at the end of the first period).
This series could very well go down to another "what if", if the Flyers lose. Defense and goaltending are what win in the NHL, just like what prevails in any other sport; the ability to stop the other team. It's elementary and someone who's not a hockey expert like myself can tell you that.
Martin Biron and the entire Flyers' team (aside from Richards) played very uninspired hockey last night. We can certainly attribute much of it to their 6-game, momentum-killing layoff (you can thank the idiots who run the NHL for that).
Even when the Flyers had a 2-1 lead for what seemed like 5 seconds, they never seemed like they were ready to play last night. Mike Richards is the team's most important player aside from Biron; make no mistake about it now that they're most likely without Timmonen for this series.
The Flyers' braintrust is holding out some hope that he can recover within a week. Don't hold your breath because this isn't a sprained ankle or hamstring injury we're talking about; a blood clot is a potentially life-threatening injury.
The Flyers will look to tie it up tomorrow night in a hostile environment and the Penguins will be out for blood. This a rivalry that's building more and more and expect it to reach mythic proportions when this series is all said and done.
And, get used to Malkin and Crosby because they'll be in Black and Gold for the next decade at least.
No comments:
Post a Comment