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Five Thoughts: Flyers goaltending not all to blame for bad goals

Brian Boucher

Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher has some water as he looks up at the scoreboard after giving up another goal in the second period in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NHL Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Boston Bruins, Saturday, April 30, 2011, in Philadelphia. The Bruins won 7-3. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

AP

Yesterday’s games in Philadelphia and Vancouver certainly gave us enough of a rainbow of both how to and how not to handle a playoff game. In Philadelphia old demons that never really went away resurfaced all in one bad afternoon. Meanwhile in Vancouver, teams traded blows in a defensive showdown that needed two overtimes to settle things out. With such a smorgasbord of action there’s plenty to discuss this morning.

1. Everyone’s busy talking about how the Flyers goaltending problems are once again in vogue and that’s understandable. After all, a team loses 7-3 and sees them make a goaltending change again in the playoffs mid-game, there’s clearly an issue there. In Philly, Brian Boucher just did not get things done and Sergei Bobrovsky didn’t fare much better in relief. Those guys are worth of criticism and that’s fine.

What’s not getting scrutinized enough from yesterday’s game are the failings of the Flyers defense. For the entire game their defensemen were busy trying to keep up with the constant motion of Boston’s forwards and they seem shocked by how often Bruins defensemen jumped into the play to mix things up offensively. Flyers defensemen were chasing players all over and getting confused or lost on their assignments leaving Bruins forwards all the room around the net to make plays or pounce on rebounds untouched. If the defensemen had problems keeping up, the Flyers lines had a hard time matching up with the Bruins top line as Nathan Horton and David Krejci dominated whoever lined up across from them.

From Peter Laviolette on down to the players, they had no answers for Boston. They’ll need to fix things defensively fast or else things are going to head south quickly. They need to straighten up their assignments and play things a lot tougher and a lot tighter on top of it all.

2. The scary part of what Boston did was that they saw a breakout game from David Krejci. Krejci ascended to the role of #1 center after Marc Savard was knocked out for the season. Since then Krejci has had some injuries and he’s been very inconsistent. In the playoffs, however, he’s turned back into the playmaking type center they knew he could be. Getting two goals and two assists in yesterday’s rout could be a sign of great things for the Bruins as a healthy and motivated Krejci on the top line to help get Horton free and perhaps even wake up Milan Lucic would be huge in helping them go even deeper in the playoffs. Asking Krejci to be the new Savard is asking too much of him, but having him be the best he can be is all the Bruins really need now.

3. What’s all the more amazing about the Bruins doing as well as they are is that their power play continues to stink out loud. They’re now 0-26 in the playoffs with the man advantage and by all appearances not getting any better at all. Even in a game where they gave up seven goals, none of them came on the power play. That’s wretched. The Bruins are rolling on borrowed time as far as this stat is concerned. They’ll run into someone capable of edging them out consistently and those opportunities where they’re not scoring with the extra man will haunt them. Claude Julien says they’re working things out but the most immediate change they can make for the better is to put a shock collar on Tomas Kaberle and whenever he doesn’t shoot he gets a jolt.

4. If you needed an exercise in how to play goalie in the NHL look no further than Game 2 between Vancouver and Nashville. Pekka Rinne got the win stopping just 32 shots through nearly five full periods, but it was his stops in the two overtimes that made his night look spectacular in leading the Predators to a 2-1 double OT victory. Roberto Luongo too was fantastic in defeat stopping more than 40 shots on goal. With both guys being Vezina Trophy finalists it’s thrilling to see both of them living up to the designation against each other.

5. One area of major concern for the Canucks, however, has to be their offense. With just two goals against Nashville in two games and the biggest of the big names not showing up yet, there’s reason for the Canucks to be nervous. If Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Ryan Kesler don’t start finding their way to the score sheet more often, things are going to get ugly in Vancouver. With Nashville not making life any easier on those players, it’s up to them, the Sedins in particular, to play like MVPs and lead the charge. Easier said than done we know, but if they really want to impress us, lighting it up in the playoffs would do the trick.