Saturday, May 7, 2011
Posted: 12:35 a.m.
By Tim Panaccio and Sarah Baicker
CSNPhilly.com
BOSTON -- Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren didnt use any excuses for being swept in four games by the Bruins on Friday night, but he did feel some things stood out.
We ran into a team that was very unburdened by their tremendous seven game series with Montreal, Holmgren said. They took it to us. I dont think we were ready to play in the first game, mentally or physically.
The second game was probably our best game by far and we came up here and didnt do very well.
Some of his players thought they were outworked in the series.
Its not we didnt work, Holmgren countered. They were just the better team for the better part of four games and it showed.
He did say that he felt his defense sagged without Chris Pronger when it needed to raise its head collectively.
NHL
Injuries happenOur defense as a group, I didnt think raised their game enough to beat Boston in this series, Holmgren said.
Would we have liked to have Chris? Yeah. But other guys, four of those guys have a lot of playoff experience and they didnt play the way we needed to play.
While Sergei Bobrovsky played well in Game 4 to keep the Flyers in it for most of three periods, the goaltending overall failed in the playoffs. Holmgren, however, doesnt see it that way.
I dont think we can fault our goaltending at any point in the series, he said. I know it looks bad when you pull a guy all the time but goaltending, as I said before, is a function of your team.
The Lucic factor
Bostons Milan Lucic didnt have a single goal in the playoffsuntil Friday night in Game 4.
He scored the games first goal and the third goal in the final period that broke the Flyers backs.
Feels good, Lucic said. Its been kind of frustrating, the last 20 games, not being able to put the puck in the back of the net. But tonight I was able to get open, and when I got those opportunities, both great plays by Nathan Horton to set me up, and when I got the opportunities it was nice to step up and score big goals.
His goal was on the power play, too. Boston had just two power play goals in the series.
Yeah, it was great, especially, you know it was our first five-on-four goal of the playoffs here, Lucic said. So its nice that the power play was able to score a goal for us there.
And right there was a great feeling once I scored that goal, just to get the monkey off the back and get that lead. But for us, I think thats why weve been so good these last nine games after losing the two to Montreal. We always had a good start, and we were able to establish that lead again.
There goes that
Entering Friday nights game, Flyers forward Danny Briere had achieved a rare feat: he was averaging exactly one point per playoff game for his career. Only one other NHLer could say the same: Sidney Crosby.
But Briere stayed off of the score sheet in Game 4. He now has 96 points in 97 playoff games, leaving Crosby as the sole current bearer of the accomplishment.
Shooting blanks
The defense certainly deserves some blame for the Flyers outcome in this series, but its offense wasnt muchif at allbetter in Game 4. Even shots sent in on Bruins goalie Tim Thomas were hard to come by.
The Flyers had just six shots in the first period, during which they also allowed the Bruins 11 consecutive unanswered shots (and one goal). It took them 4:30 to register their first shot of the second period, and they were outshot 18-9 at the midpoint of regulation.
Loose pucks
Pronger (backhamstring) did not play.Scott Hartnell traded stick blows with Zdeno Chara in the first, getting a roughing call, but Chara also decked him with a glove on, and picked up a four-minute roughing penalty. Most of the Flyers power play carried over into the second period.Jody Shelley replaced Nikolay Zherdev for Game 4. That likely had something to do with the way the Bruins bullied the Flyers in Game 3. Shelley last dressed for Game 2.Dan Carcillo was nailed with a cross-check penalty late in the second period and left the game injured blocking a shot that Ville Leino served.Bruins got two empty net goals at the end.Flyers went 100 straight games without accruing a shutout.This was just the sixth time in franchise history and the first time since the 1997 Stanley Cup Final vs. Detroit that the Flyers were swept in a seven game series.The Flyers had a playoff-low 23 shots.James van Riemsdyk once again led the team in shots in the game, posting five. He either led the Flyers or tied for the lead in shots in nine of the 11 playoff games and finished the playoffs with a total of 70 shots over 11 games.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net. E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com
Related: Flyers' season comes to a close with sweepDon't fault Bobrovsky for Flyers' Game 4 loss