Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Philadelphia Flyers are hoping to prove that their Game 4 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins was just a bump in the road on the way to the next round. The Penguins would love that win to be just the start of an against all odds comeback.
Teams have come back from 3-0 deficits in the past but not very often. It’s happened just four times in the history of the NHL. The Flyers pulled it off in 2010 vs the Boston Bruins and it was glorious. This Flyers season has taught us that anything can happen on any given night. And it’s important to remember works both ways.
Although Pittsburgh won Saturday’s contest they are still facing elimination and will be every game until this series is over. Game 5 will be played in Pittsburgh tonight at 7PM. If necessary Game 6 will be in Philly on Wednesday.
Goaltending
It’s too early to know who will be given the start for either team but here are your options. For the Penguins Stuart Skinner started the first three games of this series. He lost all three but that was not necessarily his fault. Skinner played well, the Flyers were better.
Pittsburgh started Arturs Silovs in Game 4. That move could have been made to rest Skinner or just to shake up the team and shift the mojo. Either way he got the win that they needed and you have to wonder if the Penguins will stay with the winning hand. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
For the Flyers Dan Vladar started all four games so far, winning the first three and taking the loss on Saturday. Vladar was a “game-time decision” before Game 4. He had gotten a bit banged up in Game 3 and skipped practice the following day.
In hindsight it may have served the Flyers well to have started Samuel Ersson instead. With the 3-0 advantage it would have been a good time to rest Vladar and give Ersson some much needed ice time to keep him in game shape.
Ersson had a shaky start to his season but was very solid down the stretch. It’s not like you are throwing the game away by putting him between the pipes. So we’ll see what the situation is for both teams when the starters are announced later today.
Stay Gritty
As a series goes on you start to hear words like fortitude, resolve, and persistence. It’s not easy going into these battles every couple days and giving it your all every single shift. Especially in a physical series like this one. These are the Stanley Cup Playoffs and this is no time to hold back. All gas, no breaks, all the time.
It starts to take a toll on the body. When you see both the quality and the quantity of the hits being thrown by guys like Couturier, Tippett, and Seeler we tend to focus on the nail but the hammer is taking the impact as well.
These guys are asking their bodies to be relentless and resilient at the same time. Both teams are expected to give their all. One of them will be expected to start the entire process all over again against the next opponent.
You see players like Denver Barkey setting up camp in front of the other teams net and taking all the abuse that comes along with being there. Saturday night Barkey’s hard work paid off as he scored his first NHL playoff goal from right there at the top of the crease. Relentless tenacity.
The other Bump in the road
Based on the lines being drilled at practice on Sunday morning it looks like Alex Bump just may get a spot in the Flyers line-up for Game 5. Bump was skating on a line with Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster.
That left Matvei Michkov skating with Garrett Wilson and Carl Grundstrom. Wilson and Grundstrom are expected to be healthy scratches for tommorrow night’s game so what does that say about Michkov’s status?
The very mention of this has caused division among the ranks of Flyers Fans on social media. Michkov’s ice time has been dwindling in this series. He’s been skating just over ten minutes per game. The entire subject is a hot potato and I guess we’ll see where it lands but for right now the focus needs to remain on the Penguins in Pittsburgh at 7:00 PM tonight!
Extra Credit: When we last tuned in, as the horn sounded ending Game 4 Bryan Rust had a hand full of Porter Martone’s hair and was full on trying to pull him around by it. He didn’t even take his glove off first. It was mondo bizzarro. These two teams are going to be real happy to see each other again tonight. Maybe the Flyers should start taping their helmets on.
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NHL Philadelphia Flyers Hockey. Rink-side reports, press-box coverage, credentialed access.
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