Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Posted: 11:33 p.m.
By Sarah BaickerCSNPhilly.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- All throughout the regular season, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette sought to solve his teams power-play woes. After all, as Laviolette said after Tuesdays practice, special teams win hockey games.
Need proof? Just look to the Flyers wins in Game 2 and 3there were goals on the man advantage in both, thanks to Ville Leino and Jeff Carter. Game 2 was a one-goal victory, Game 3 was won by a pair of goals only because of a last-second empty-netter.
But in Game 4, it was the Flyers penalty kill that stole the show, suffocating the Buffalo Sabres on all attempts, including a questionable five-minute major to Mike Richards that could have closed the Flyers out early.
Instead, despite a noticeable momentum shift after the major ended, they simply couldnt find the back of the net and were shut out for the second time this series, 1-0.
We said that after the second period, Sean ODonnell said. We said, If we can kill this five, obviously, some boo birds are going to come out, and we can take some momentum. And I thought we did, we just couldnt get that equalizer.
The ill-timed major for elbowing awarded to Richards at 19:57 of the second period was almost unanimously derided as a suspicious call. Richards appeared to raise his arm only in an attempt to evade a hit from an incoming Patrick Kaleta. He said after the game that the referee who made the call, Francois StLaurent, offered no explanation, but that he very much felt the penalty was unwarranted.
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And so it was a tense first five minutes of the third period for the Flyers, who, already down a goal, knew killing off the major could make or break them. In fact, after a somewhat sluggish first period, the teams play both during and after the major was vastly improved.
I thought the penalty kill for the first five minutes of the third period may have been the best we were all year, Laviolette said. It wasnt a lot of zone time, there was a lot of entry attempts and a lot of clears off the entry, so we were able to get out of that five minutes. I thought that was really important. I thought we could gather some momentum, and harvest it, and use it to our advantage, and I think we did.
Brian Boucher agreed.
We did a great job, he said of the kill. We didnt allow them in the zone, we really frustrated them, and its too bad we couldnt get a goal after that, because there was a momentum swing.
The Flyers chances to score were sharper as the third period progressed, and they crashed in on Sabres goalie Ryan Miller with much more intensity. It all happened, in great part, because of the success of the penalty killers, who were consistent all night.
Those guys stepped up big, James van Riemsdyk said. Theyve been unbelievable for us, and especially were tonight. To kill off a five-minute power play, basically, those guys were going every other shift. It was pretty incredible.
Unfortunately, though, the power play was, once again, dreadful. In almost five minutes of playing against a shorthanded Sabres team, the Flyers hit the net just once, a shot that was easily scooped up by Miller.
To put that in perspective, their penalty kill had twice as many chances as did their power play. Added to a lackluster even-strength performance, at least to start, the Flyers might not have as many positives to take from the game as they would like to believe.
But dont think that means the team is at all disheartened.
I dont think we should be frustrated, Boucher said. It was a pretty hard-fought game, nobody ever said this series was going to be easy.
Its 2-2, weve got two home games if we need it, and we feel pretty good.
E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com
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