2011 NHL Playoffs: Five Predictions for Boston vs Philadelphia
The Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers have eliminated their first round opponents and will face each other in a best of seven Eastern Conference Semi-Final series.
Boston is coming off an emotional come from behind 4 games to 3 defeat of arch-rival Montreal Canadiens.
Philadelphia defeated the Buffalo Sabres in seven games also.
Boston and its fans have been hoping to face the Flyers since the infamous collapse in last year's second round when Philadelphia came from being behind three games to none to win the series four games to three.
Philadelphia is looking to return to the Stanley Cup Finals after losing in last year's Finals against Chicago.
Each team needs to see improvements from specific players and special teams in order to advance to the next round.
Here are five predictions to look for in this Eastern Conference Semi-Final between Boston and Philadelphia.
Boston's Power Play Will Score a Goal
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The Boston power play went zero for the series against Montreal. Odds are that it will score against Philadelphia in a long series. It just has to, right? When a team has a defenseman who can shoot a puck over 100 miles per hour, another who is the premier passing defenseman in the NHL, a future Hall of Famer on the wing, a highly creative center and a 30 goal scorer on the power play, it's only be a matter of time before it begins to fill the net with pucks.
The Bruins have struggled scoring goals on the man advantage throughout season. They finished 20th in the league, scoring on 16.2 percent of their chances. In the playoffs, they rank last among the eight teams remaining in the tournament.
If there is a silver lining in this it could be that the two teams with the best power plays in the post season, Anaheim and Phoenix, are no longer in the playoffs.
The fact is, the Bruins coaching staff needs to revise the power play. Every team Boston faces expects Tomas Kaberle to dish the puck over to Zdeno Chara, who is expected to blast his slap shot on goal. It is an age old strategy but one that has not worked. Passes get intercepted and Chara buries his head and shoots the puck. Unfortunately, for Chara, his shots are getting blocked or go wide of the net. Forwards have been standing still and have not created enough traffic in front of opposing nets.
The Bruins coaching staff sees these issues and has addressed them for this round.
The prediction here is that the Boston power play will be new and improved and it will find the back of the net against Philadelphia.
Nikolay Zherdev Will Have a Break out Series
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The Philadelphia Flyers have some highly skilled forwards. Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Mike Richards and James Van Riemsdyk are fast, skilled forwards who are constant scoring threats. One Flyer who has the skills to be the best player of the lot is the Ukrainian born Nikolay Zherdev.
The 26-year-old Zherdev has the speed, puck handling and shooting skills to be an elite NHL player. Sadly, he has been his own worst enemy when it comes to consistency on the ice. Zherdev has been a part of three NHL organizations in six seasons. He spent four seasons with Columbus where he was expected to be a high scoring winger when he was drafted as the fourth overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Blue Jackets.
In 2008, the 6' 2" winger was traded east to the New York Rangers. He posted respectable numbers in Manhattan with 23 goals and 35 assists for 58 points but never fulfilled expectations that Ranger management set for him.
Zherdev was signed by the Flyers as a free agent in July of 2010. He played in 56 games for Philadelphia registering 16 goals and 6 assists for 22 goals. His plus/minus was a plus five.
In five 2011 NHL playoff games, he has scored one goal and one assist.
Nikolay Zherdev is an extremely speedy winger. He can create plays and scoring chances at speeds that most players cannot.
It is up to the man from Kiev to decide what type of player he wants to be in this series. If Zherdev puts his mind to it, he will have a breakout series.
David Krejci Will Be an Improved Player
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Boston Bruin center David Krejci was tied with linemate Milan Lucic for the team lead in points during the regular season. Each player posted 62 points. In the seven games against Montreal, Krejci trailed Lucic by one point. He scored one goal and Lucic had two assists. Hardly the kind of production a team would expect from its first line center.
Some began wondering aloud whether the 25-year-old forward was playing with an injury. If he was, the organization kept it under wraps.
Krejci likes to carry the puck through the neutral zone and deep into the offensive zone where he can set up along the boards or behind the net to make plays to his wingers. He also likes to take the puck to the net, beating opposing defensemen by protecting the puck with his reach and getting quick wrist shots on goal.
Against Montreal, Krejci was not able to get close to the net consistently. The Montreal defensemen are a good skating group who were able to keep the Czech Republic native away from their goal.
The Philadelphia defense, while bigger than the Canadiens defense, are a bit slower. Krejci should be able to take advantage of the less fleet of foot Flyers and will have more freedom to gain the time and space he deftly uses to score goals and set up Lucic and Nathan Horton for scoring chances.
David Krejci will be an improved player against the Flyers because he has the hockey sense and skills needed to perform the way the Bruins have become accustomed to seeing and because of that, he will be a leader once again in the scoring column.
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Philadelphia Goaltending Will Continue to Flounder
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It is no secret the goaltending situation of the Philadelphia Flyers has been a train wreck during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In the first round against Buffalo, the Flyers used all three of their goaltenders.
Rookie Sergei Bobrovsky played 71 minutes. The Sabres scored four goals against him. The young Russian netminder's statistics consisted of a 3.38 goals against average and an unimpressive .875 save percentage.
Michael Leighton, last year's playoff standout, has seen 70 minutes of playoff action. His goals against average is 3.43. His save percentage is .862. With numbers like that, it is highly unlikely he will see much more action in the playoffs.
Veteran Brian Boucher has seen the bulk of the action for the Flyers in this year's playoffs. Against Buffalo, he was credited with all four wins over the Sabres. In 286 minutes, he gave up 10 goals and posted a respectable 2.10 goals against average and a save percentage of .934.
Rhode Island native Brian Boucher should see most of the action against Boston. If he falters, the reigns will be handed over to Bobrovsky.
When a team has questions concerning it's men in the nets, the forwards and defense begin trying to do too much and mistakes are made. Those mistakes can lead to goals against and as we know, too many goals against will lead to too many losses.
And the Winner Is...
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In the regular season, Philadelphia finished in second place in the Eastern Conference while Boston finished in third. The Flyers had one more win than the Bruins. However, in head to head battles, Boston won the season series 3-0-1.
The Bruins have been using the motivation of "The Collapse" all season while the Flyers have been using last year's loss to Chicago in the Stanley Cup Finals as their motivation.
The Bruins will need improved play from it's power play and David Krejci.
The Flyers will need more scoring from it's secondary players such as Nikolay Zherdev. More importantly, it needs to get its goaltending troubles straightened out.
National Hockey League teams build from the net out. The Bruins have the advantage of sending out Vezina Trophy candidate Tim Thomas every night. The advantage rests with Boston in that department.
Look for Boston to advance beyond this round with victory over Philadelphia in six games.
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