So, Game 2. I think we can go ahead and dispense with a few lines of thinking.
1. No, Carolina’s not going to make it look as easy as it looked in Game 1 for an entire series. This will almost certainly be a more evenly contested game, more in line with what we saw in the regular season from these two.
2. No, the Flyers didn’t mount some sort of comeback in the 3rd period on Saturday. They gooned it up and turned the game into one of those ridiculous lost cause debacles that we see all the time in the playoffs. The idea that “we’re just fine” won’t cut it here. They need to find a game plan that actually works and pronto. I expect them to make some matchup changes and figure some things out.
3. Stankoven is the hottest forward in the league right now, not the best. Some other line is going to have to pitch in eventually.
4. (And yes, I’ve actually seen this) No, Mike Reilly shouldn’t stay in the lineup even if Nikishin can play tonight. God help us but the playoffs make some people stupid.
OK, carry on. I’m interested to see what Philly does with their structure tonight. They made way too many mistakes trying to break puck pressure and seemed surprised that Carolina varied their forecheck so much in Game 1. I expect more patience from them, and if they learned anything from Ottawa, maybe more concentration on maintaining possession when they get the puck into the offensive zone. I get that their scoring against Carolina in the past has mostly come off quit hitting plays, but they can’t afford to chase those at the expense of forcing the Canes to defend their own zone.
For Carolina, I’m interested to see what if any changes they make to their power play setup. Everything else worked pretty well, but they’re still not generating quality chances on the PP like they did in the second half. Everybody has dialed up the pressure and everybody is taking away that seam pass so it’s time for Plan B to kick in. Past time, in fact. Also, they were able to get a forward to split the D in the middle on their breakouts a few times by mixing in an extra pass on the back end. I’m interested to see if that starts to be more of a regular feature … especially when the Seeler/Juulsen pair is on the ice. I’m also intrigued as to whether they continue to chip and chirp Zegras since he clearly lost his mind in Game 1. I’m not sure they set out to do that, but it certainly was a thing that happened. Also, I mentioned Carolina varying their puck pressure, and that was really interesting. They only went with the big heat forechecking pressure with two forwards deep on turnovers and slower developing plays, falling back into a softer 1-2-2 a lot more than normal. That had the effect of getting the Flyers off balance and forcing them to make a read before they got into their breakouts. It also forced some mental mistakes. That was a twist from Brindy and is worth keeping an eye on.
