Will Flyers break up their one line?

[deluca67]

Inorder for the Flyers to generate some offense they have to split up their one good line, don't they?

 

Esche palyed on his head. You can't count on that every night. The Sabres could have easily won 10-2. ;)

[ThePolishSabre]

The Sabres could have easily won 10-2. ;)

 

We will in game 2 :D

[Taro T]

Inorder for the Flyers to generate some offense they have to split up their one good line, don't they?

 

Esche palyed on his head. You can't count on that every night. The Sabres could have easily won 10-2. ;)

When healthy, I don't think the Phlyers have broken up their top line yet this season, so I would be very surprised to see Hitchcock panic after 1 game. While Gagne would still be a threat when not on Forsberg's line, I just don't see Knubble getting anything accomplished without Forsberg and Gagne.

 

I don't think their problem is offense as they do have some decent offensive players (Kapanen, Hanzus, Richards, Carter, and Umberger (?)). They need to hold Buffalo to about 30 shots in regulation if they want to have a chance to pull the upset. Giving up 40+ will not get it done, and I just don't see Philly's slow D being able to limit the Sabres chances to 10/period.

 

Esche played one of the best games of his life, and it wasn't enough. Let's hope he's back to being R.Etsche (or simply Retch) on Monday. If he is only adequate, it should be a fun game for us to watch.

[topshelfcookies]

Even though Buffalo dominated for long stretches of the game, there were a few instances where Philly did a pretty solid job of controlling play and keeping the Sabres pinned in their own end.

 

If the Flyers are going to have any sort of success in this series, they need to be more committed to taking some chances with their D, and pinching at the blue line a bit more. Once Philly was down 2 goals, then down 1, late in the 3rd, the Flyer D started to step up and pinch a bit more.

 

Of course, this is the exact opposite of the type of defensive play that it looked like Philly was trying to play. Philly consistently had both D back, inside their own zone, making sure Buffalo wasn't getting rushes. The problem for Philly, was once their D started to step up and pinch, was when suddenly Buffalo would clear the zone and get a scoring opportunity on the rush. The final 10 minutes of the 2nd and 3rd periods felt like it went:

Philly dumps puck in softly

Cycle, cycle, cycle, shot, pinch, cycle, clear

Buffalo 2 on 1 or 3on2 break, Sabres JUST barely miss connecting and finishing

Philly dumps

cycle, cycle, cycle, etc.

 

We're starting to see why Buffalo poses so many problems for Philly. The Sabres play in their own end was again, for about the 6th straight game, pretty great, so the only way Philly could keep any type of pressure on was to pinch. This opened up the transition game, which is where Buffalo can really exploit the Flyers.

 

That being said, Buffalo needs to make a concerted effort to get the PP working. 0-9 in the playoffs just simply is unnacceptable, and will generally loose you games. If the Sabres had managed to just convert 1, let alone 2 PP's that game is over after 60 mins.

 

Not saying it was a bad game for Buffalo...they played well...but I think the best news is that in order for the Flyers to hang around in Game 1

1- Esche had to play the game of his life

2- The Sabres had to go 0-9 on the PP

3- The Sabres had to somehow not manage to finish any of their approximate 32 scoring chances

4- Philly had to get a late goal on a lucky PP opportunity

 

What are the chances of any ONE of those four scenarios, let alone ALL four occuring again in Game 2?

[Taro T]

Even though Buffalo dominated for long stretches of the game, there were a few instances where Philly did a pretty solid job of controlling play and keeping the Sabres pinned in their own end.

 

If the Flyers are going to have any sort of success in this series, they need to be more committed to taking some chances with their D, and pinching at the blue line a bit more. Once Philly was down 2 goals, then down 1, late in the 3rd, the Flyer D started to step up and pinch a bit more.

 

Of course, this is the exact opposite of the type of defensive play that it looked like Philly was trying to play. Philly consistently had both D back, inside their own zone, making sure Buffalo wasn't getting rushes. The problem for Philly, was once their D started to step up and pinch, was when suddenly Buffalo would clear the zone and get a scoring opportunity on the rush. The final 10 minutes of the 2nd and 3rd periods felt like it went:

Philly dumps puck in softly

Cycle, cycle, cycle, shot, pinch, cycle, clear

Buffalo 2-1 or 3-2, Sabres JUST barely miss connecting and finishing

Philly dumps

cycle, cycle, cycle, etc.

 

We're starting to see why Buffalo poses so many problems for Philly. The Sabres play in their own end was again, for about the 6th straight game, pretty great, so the only way Philly could keep any type of pressure on was to pinch. This opened up the transition game, which is where Buffalo can really exploit the Flyers.

 

That being said, Buffalo needs to make a concerted effort to get the PP working. 0-9 in the playoffs just simply is unnacceptable, and will generally loose you games. If the Sabres had managed to just convert 1, let alone 2 PP's that game is over after 60 mins.

 

Not saying it was a bad game for Buffalo...they played well...but I think the best news is that in order for the Flyers to hang around in Game 1

1- Esche had to play the game of his life

2- The Sabres had to go 0-9 on the PP

3- The Sabres had to somehow not manage to finish any of their approximate 32 scoring chances

4- Philly had to get a late goal on a lucky PP opportunity

 

What are the chances of any ONE of those four scenarios, let alone ALL four occuring again in Game 2?

While my being "pleased" that it happened will probably come back and bite me, I wasn't that upset with the pp not clicking at all last night. (Had they lost, I'd have been ticked.) The Sabres pp is too good to go through seriously long stretches without clicking, so law of averages SHOULD be working to their advantage during the rest of this series.

 

Also, really after the 2nd period, when Buffalo had pp chances they did seem to generate opportunities, they just didn't bury them. Had the pp looked like the 1st one all night long, then I'd be concerned.

[Tom L.]

Also, really after the 2nd period, when Buffalo had pp chances they did seem to generate opportunities, they just didn't bury them. Had the pp looked like the 1st one all night long, then I'd be concerned.

 

Dave, I'm not that worried either about the PowerPlay. I think most of the problems were nerves early and Esche late. The special teams advantage is something the Sabres will need to leverage when in Philly. The Flyers are a horrible 75% on the PK at home. As long as the PP is clicking by the end of game 2 then we should be hitting on all cylinders coming into wednesday.

 

Vive la AGH!

 

Ta,

[Fronz1103]

I didn't like how lindy had five forwards on our early powerplays. it was nerve wrecking watching pominville and connolly guarding the points...

I don't see the harm in playing campbell on the point for the powerplay teamed w/ connolly or pominville is fine, but please not both at the same time. One D-man worked just fine throughout the season!

[Peace Frog]

Don't forget that Ruff said there were several opportunities where Roy and others were looking for the perfect pass instead of shooting it on net. We should hopefully see even more shooting tonight instead of so much passing, especially on the PP.

[jad1]

In addition to absorbing the Sabres speed, it looked like the Flyers also gameplanned to prevent the Sabres back-door passes, which Briere's goal showed are just as deadly. They Flyers really committed the defenders to take away the cross ice passes in their own zone by clogging up the middle in front of Esche. This cut down on their ability to break out of the zone quickly, and kept them away from the boards, hampering their physical play.

 

If Hitchcock believes that the Flyers were a goalpost away from stealing game 1, they'll probably use the same strategy tonight. If he believes that Esche will break down if he gets peppered again, and that his team needs a more physical effort, the Sabres will probably get more opportunities, and could blow the game wide open.

[topshelfcookies]

Good thoughts jad1...and welcome to the board too! Picked a good time to join.

 

Your point regarding Hitchcock is an interesting one. I wonder how his decision will psychologically effect his club. If Capt. Kangaroo really did feel like the Flyers "were a post away" from a Game 1 win and keeps things the same, and the Sabres start converting some opportunities, what will he be able to fall back on in Game 3, perhaps suddenly down 2-0?

 

Also, I'm not sure how much more physical of an effort Philly can put together tonight. They were finishing their checks when they could, but mostly, their "phsyical" style of play was pretty much limited to pushing and shoving after the whistle.

 

Tonight is huge for the Sabres, I believe, simply because if they can start putting some pucks in the net, I'm not sure what style of play Philly will be able to counter with.