Philadelphia Flyers' Game One Nuggets

The Flyers fell 4-1 to the Penguins in Game One of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals last night. The orange and black seemed to sleepwalk through most of the game as the maddening trend of uninspired hockey continued for the Flyers.

Martin Biron played a solid game and could only be faulted maybe on the second Pittsburgh goal. In his defense, Tyler Kennedy scored on a flubbed shot that went through Biron’s legs on a the three-on-one…In the playoffs though, that’s a save that needs to be made. The other three goals were all off crazy bounces.

The third goal was a result of Mike Knuble attempting to pass the puck behind the net, but it took a bad bounce off the boards and caromed out in front, right to Evgeni Malkin.

Knuble had tried this earlier in the game and the puck barely made its way to the Flyer defenseman after bouncing around behind the net. He probably would not have been a good plinko player on the Price is Right.

The opening goal of the game was setup by an awful phantom hooking penalty on Arron Asham 4:26 into the game. That call shouldn’t be made in a peewee tournament let alone the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Faceoffs

The Flyers have been flat out awful on draws all season and it cost them in Game 1…There isn’t a guy on the team I feel confident with in the circle…At least last season they could throw Jimmy Dowd out there to take a key draw…

The Pens won 38 of 59 faceoffs (64%) Wednesday and I’m shocked it wasn’t worse…It seemed like they won every single draw. The Flyers don’t just lose them, they lose ‘em clean. Two Penguin goals were the direct result of faceoff losses.

Malkin beat Carter clean back to Gonchar for the Crosby goal to open the scoring. Claude Giroux then lost a  draw to Crosby for the Mark Eaton goal to make it 4-0. This has been a problem all season and the Flyers aren’t going anywhere unless it’s figured out in a hurry…

The numbers don’t lie:
Jeff Carter: 3 for 18 including 1-9 in the defensive zone
Mike Richards: 4 for 18 including 2 for 12 vs Crosby
Jared Ross: 2 for 8
Danny Briere 1 for 5

On a bright note, Claude Giroux was 5 for 8 and Darroll Powe 3 for 3

On the Fly

• The Flyers are 1-4 in Game 1s vs the Pens all-time, and have now lost six straight Game 1s overall…Their last opening game win was against Toronto in 2004
• In the second period, the Flyers didn’t pick up their first shot until 7:39 was left in the frame. However, they ended up outshooting the Pens 6-4 in the period
• Jeff Carter seemed to be streaking down the right wing all night and led the Flyers with 8 shots on goal.
• Mike Richards hit the post three times.
• Mike Knuble had a game-high seven hits.
• Braydon Coburn led the Flyers with 34 shifts and 26:06 of ice time.
• The most penalized team in the NHL during the regular season was at it again in Game One. The Flyers picked up 12 penalties for 35 minutes. They did hold the Pens to 1-9 on the power play but the penalties meant Pittsburgh was on the PP for 10:34 of the game.
• Scott Hartnell led the NHL in minor penalties during the regular season and picked up three more in Game 1, plus a 10-minute misconduct.
• The Flyers trailed 1-0 after the first period and have now led after the opening frame only four times in the last 24 games.
• The Pens have now outscored the Flyers 10-1 in their last two playoff meetings.