Joel Farabee sat at the podium following a victory against the Tampa Bay lightning, “We are going dancing,” he said. After one playoff series, and their first clinching playoff series victory since 2011-12, gone are the slow starts, gone are excuses, gone is a team that skates flat-footed. A lot of credit has to be given to Head Coach Alain Vigneault and his experienced coaching staff, as well as Carter Hart and the team overall defense. For their efforts, they grinded out a 4-2 series victory against the Montreal Canadiens. Now the Flyers play the New York Islanders for the first time in the playoffs since 1987, a series the Flyers won 4-3.
Vigneault preached a five man defensive unit the day he was hired. After the Flyers defeated the Canadiens Vigneault made true to that promise. The Flyers played well defensively particularly in the third period throughout the series. Of course, with some exceptions, but overall the Flyers played well in the third period to nail down both games and it goes back to work ethic, “That was the goal,” Vigneault said, “When we were at phase one in Philly and when talked to our group, we talked about what we needed to do individually and collectively to get back to that strong work ethic that we had, the high compete level and the execution to have success. Since basically November 1st and on, we’ve been with Boston and Tampa, the best teams in the NHL. I thought we played extremely well. We did the right things, the high percentage things. They did the things that permit you to have success on the ice.”
The Flyers finished the season series 0-2-1 against the New York Islanders this season. The stars really performed well for the orange and black though, for instance, Claude Giroux lit the Isles up for one goal and two assists in three games played, Sean Couturier tallied two goals and one assist in three games played, Travis Konecny and Jakub Voracek both tallied one goal and one assist in three games played.
Carter Hart will be tabbed as the starter, as he brings his league leading Save Percentage with a .943 into the series against the Isles, and the team is just confident in him, “He is the best Goaltender in the league,” young defenseman Phillippe Myers said last week.
The Flyers have yet to play their best game, but they do play suffocating defense much like the New Jersey Devils did in the ’90s and early 2000’s. That’s great, but the Flyers do admit they have another gear they could get to, and they will need it as the Islanders play the same style of Defense as the Flyers. Josh Bailey has two goals and eight assists in the playoffs, and Jean Gabriel-Pageau has four goals and two assists. Pageau is tied for the league lead in plus/minus at +9, and Bailey is tied for second in league in this category with Philippe Myers at +8, “They’re a good team,” Vigneault said, “They’ve got a good balance with their forwards. They got D’s that can move the puck and get pucks through to the net. Obviously they’re a team that defends extremely well. They are probably the biggest change in identity since Trotz got there. As a fact, he’s made that team play that full 200-foot game. Defense first. Make sure you don’t give up much and the other team will give you some looks. That’s how they’ve played. That’s how they’ve had success.”
Vigneault says the Islanders have three lines that can score, so hopefully the Flyers Power Play will get it in gear, as they are 4-39 with the man advantage good enough for 22nd second best in the playoffs. However, the Flyers Penalty Killing Unit has been on fire though, as Mike Yeo continues to get the most out of his Unit. They have only allowed six Power Play goals (31-37), which is good enough for 14th best in the league, with a success rate of 80.6%. The Islanders and Matthew Barzal in particular knows how to put the biscuit in the basket, so the Flyers can ill afford to get into penalty trouble they have to stay out of the box throughout the series.
Travis Konecny vows to establish a net front presence that was lacking at times throughout the Canadiens series,
“I think that’s important in any game to be honest,” Konecny said, “It’s been one of the things we’ve been discussing and something that we have gotten away from a little bit. It’s kind of one of those things that it takes a lot of hard work to establish that net front presence. Just a matter of finding that extra gear to get there. It just comes down to the will and if you want to get there and play in the dirt areas. We’ve discussed it. I think moving forward we are definitely going to try to improve on that area.”
Prediction:
The Flyers win in seven
The Flyers can expect a physical series against the Isles, so players like Nicolas Aube-Kubel who has skated the past few days, according to Vigneault, becomes a key integral part to this series. Other players like Nate Thompson, JvR, and Derek Grant have to get to the front of the net for success, and they have to level up, physicality wise to the Isles. If the Flyers continue to get solid Goaltending, and play well Defensively then the Flyers can continue to “Dance” past the Islanders. Here we leave you with a video, Should the Flyers fear the Islanders:
