PITTSBURGH \u2014 You don\u2019t need to be a mathematician to figure out why this Flyers-Penguins series could come down to just a very few important numbers.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh\u2019s power play, led by the ageless Sidney Crosby, finished seventh in the NHL this season at 24.1 percent.The Flyers\u2019 penalty kill, which was considered a team strength when the season began, placed 22nd overall at 77.6 percent.<\/p>\n
In the four head-to-head matchups that were split 2-2, the Penguins scored seven power-play goals in 18 attempts (38.9 percent).<\/p>\n
If those numbers repeat themselves in this series, the Flyers will have a tough time moving on to the next round.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sort things out for two weeks, and then we have a game where we give up three (goals) against Detroit,\u201d coach Rick Tocchet said after Saturday morning\u2019s skate at PPG Paints Arena. \u201cI think a lot of it is when we\u2019re pressuring. Not just one or two guys, you need four guys to pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The best solution to the problem is to not go to the penalty box so often. The Flyers were the ninth-most penalized team in the NHL with 785 minutes. Killing off so many penalties can wear a team down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is work ethic plus execution,\u201d Travis Konecny said of the PK. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you we\u2019re going to contain them completely because they know what we\u2019re doing and we know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet agrees with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to play five-on-five hockey, we don\u2019t want a lot of penalty kill,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cThere is some stuff we\u2019re getting better at on the penalty kill. But there\u2019s certain things we have to do better, like pressure. We can\u2019t just be backing in.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where Crosby comes in.<\/p>\n
\u201cSid\u2019s all over the ice,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHe\u2019s really good around the net. So you have to know where he is. Like can we pressure him before the puck hits him? That\u2019s the key.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the flip side, the Flyers\u2019 power play was dead last in the NHL for the fourth time in five seasons at just 15.7 percent. The Penguins\u2019 penalty kill was sixth at 81.4 percent. Adding Porter Martone might help the Flyers improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve done some good things,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cThe encouraging part is when we played Carolina (last Monday) we practiced vs. pressure, which the Penguins do, they pressure. We got that goal on pressure. Adding a couple guys like Martone and (Tyson) Foerster have helped. We have to handle pressure better. We haven\u2019t this year but I thought at the end of the year we got a little bit better at it. It\u2019s still a work in progress but it\u2019s better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean Couturier likes what Martone brings to the table with the man advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done a great job, we have a lot of confidence in him,\u201d Sean Couturier said. \u201cWe have to keep working at it when we get chances. He can be the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Tocchet was barely 21 years old when he played in his first Stanley Cup playoff game in 1985 and the Flyers later went on to play the Edmonton Oilers in the Finals.<\/p>\n
He was asked about his experience and comparing that to some of the young kids on the Flyers like Martone, Alex Bump and Denver Barkey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a little similarity,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cMy first year, we were young, 19, 20. We had a lot of those guys. Same thing here. I just talked to Mark Howe the other day. He, Brad McCrimmon, Dave Poulin, Tim Kerr, they were instrumental to me for my nerves.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s where a Coots (Couturier) or a Glenden (Luke Glendening) can help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet had three goals and seven points in 19 playoff games as a rookie.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Tocchet was an assistant coach on the Penguins when they won a pair of Stanley Cups (2016-17). What did he take away from that experience?<\/p>\n
\u201cUnbelievable time here,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cCoaching under pressure. The two years I was here we won the Cup both times. I think it\u2019s important you stay with your regular routine. Even if you\u2019re a coach, you don\u2019t come to the rink five hours early because it\u2019s a tough game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot from dealing with pressure. You can\u2019t panic. If I\u2019m going to panic, they\u2019re going to panic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Martone has made no secret of the fact he grew up watching Crosby\u2019s exploits on television. Now he gets to experience the superstar\u2019s talent firsthand.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s kind of the face of the NHL,\u201d Martone said. \u201cIt\u2019s someone I looked up to as a kid. You see what he\u2019s done for the game of hockey. Great hockey player but an even better human.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 38, Crosby shows no signs of slowing down. He posted 10 power-play goals this season, the 12th time in his career he\u2019s hit the double-digit mark in that important category.<\/p>\n
Martone got to play with Crosby on Team Canada at the World Championships last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has all the skill in the world but he does everything the right way,\u201d Martone said. \u201cHe\u2019s always putting in the work. He\u2019s someone I\u2019ve looked up to my whole life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got an opportunity to meet him, you kind of sit back and take it all in. He\u2019s one of the best players to ever play the game. It\u2019s just the way he conducts himself in the community. He takes care of his body. Just a world class human being.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 You don\u2019t need to be a mathematician to figure out why this Flyers-Penguins series could come…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5114],"tags":[191,5,4,56,43,8487,190,109,5222],"class_list":{"0":"post-555743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-capitals","8":"tag-capitals","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-top-stories-lan","14":"tag-washington","15":"tag-washington-capitals","16":"tag-washingtoncapitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116429453053570376","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}