Last night in Philadelphia the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Flyers 4-3 in overtime to win the Stanley Cup. While this will be a celebration that was 49 years in the making we must not forget the team that fell short.
So today we take a look at the season for the Philadelphia Flyers. How they got here, what went wrong, & where they go from here.
How they got here:
The Flyers finished the season with a record of 41-35-6, good enough for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.The Flyers came into the season as one of the favorites to not only reach the finals but win the Stanley Cup. The fact they made it to the finals isn't as surprising as what they had to go through to get there.
Philadelphia started to struggle in mid November, losing six out of seven games. At that point General Manager Paul Holmgren decided to make a coaching change, firing John Stevens & hiring Peter Laviolette. The Flyers then lost goaltender Ray Emery to an injury and had to turn to the waiver wire to pick up Michael Leighton.
Leighton won eight of his first nine starts in place of Emery before he returned from injury. Emery would get hurt again allowing Leighton to hold the job in net until he suffered a high ankle sprain. At that point Brian Boucher became the goaltender for the Flyers having less than stellar results.
However Boucher did save his best for when the team needed it. He won a shootout on the last day of the regular season against the New York Rangers, allowing the Flyers to clinch the seventh spot in the East. The Flyers ended up facing a New Jersey team that they won five out of six games against in the regular season. The Flyers continued their dominance over New Jersey winning the series in five games.
Philadelphia then faced the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals. After dropping the first three games of the series the end of the season looked near. But Philly did something only two other hockey teams have been able to do, rally from a three games to none deficit to win the series.
They won game four in overtime 5-4. In game five they lost Boucher to a sprained MCL. Leighton came in relief and shut out Boston 4-0. In game six Leighton held Boston scoreless for 59 minutes before giving up a late goal. The Flyers held on for a 2-1 win to even the series at three games.
In game seven Leighton gave up three goals early on to fall behind 3-0. Laviolette called a timeout to rally the team. James Van Riemsdyk scored on a soft goal to get Philly on the board before the end of the period. at that point the Flyers controlled the pace of the game eventually tying it in the 2nd period. Simon Gagne would scored on a power play in the 3rd to give they Flyers a 4-3 lead they would not relinquish. The Flyers won the game & the series 4-3.
Awaiting them in the Eastern Conference Finals was a Montreal Canadiens team that knocked the President's Trophy winning Washington Capitals & the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. That made no difference to Philadelphia as Montreal's small forwards were no match for the Flyers core of defensemen. Leighton had three shutouts in the series and the Flyers won the series in five games to reach their first Stanley Cup Finals in thirteen seasons.
What went wrong:
It pretty simple, the Flyers were matched up with a Chicago Blackhawks team that was more talented that them. A lot of hockey fans will appreciate what they accomplished and rightfully so. But the fact is for two months just about everything went the Flyers way.
They beat a New York Rangers team in a shootout when Olli Jokinen was stopped by Brian Boucher. (Why Jokinen was picked to take the final shot for the Rangers instead of Marian Gaborik I will never understand)
The Flyers then drew a Devils team they have played well against during the season. New Jersey may have been the number two seed in the East but they are a long ways from the Devils team that were perennial cup contenders from 1994-2004.
Even though Boston won the first three games of their semifinals series against Philly injuries took a toll on the Bruins forwards. Losing David Krecji on a Mike Richards hit changed the momentum of the series allowing Philly to rally & win the series.
As I wrote earlier Montreal's small forwards were unable to get to the front of the net to create traffic in front of Leighton.
But the Flyers luck ran out against Chicago. They tried to play a fast pace up & down game in game one. That resulted in a 6-5 victory for the Hawks. They tried to play a tight defensive game in game two. That resulted in a 2-1 win for Chicago.
In Philly they faired better in games three & four but the Flyers needed overtime to win game three. In game four they outplayed Chicago for 55 minutes until Joel Quennville split up his top line of Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, & Jonathan Toews. After that Chicago was in complete control and never in danger of losing the series.
Michael Leighton was exposed in this series for what he is, a mediocre goaltender that was on a good run. He was outplayed in net by Antti Niemi and in the Stanley Cup Finals the team with the better goalie usually wins the Stanley Cup. That theory holds true once again this season.
Where they go from here:
The Flyers have some interesting decisions to make this coming off-season.
Once again they will have to decide what to do with their goaltending situation. Emery's hip injury will probably end his career. If they would have won the cup Leighton would have probably been resigned. After being pulled in two of the four losses and giving up two soft game winning goals in the other two losses I can't see Leighton returning in any other role but as a backup.
There are a couple decent free agent options on the market this off-season (Evgeni Nabokov, Marty Turco)
While neither of these two have done anything to make me think they can win a Stanley Cup both are upgrades over Michael Leighton. Tomas Vokoun in Florida or Carey Price in Montreal could also be available via a trade.
A trade may be necessay because of the salary cap as well. With Chris Pronger making nearly five million dollars for the next seven seasons, Danny Briere making 6.5 million with a no trade clause & Scott Hartnell making 4.2 million with a no movement clause Paul Holmgren will have some interesting decisions to make.
After next season both Jeff Carter & Claude Giroux are restricted free agents. Chances are Holmgren will only beable to re-sign one of them. My gut feeling is they will try to sign Giroux & shop Carter int he off-season for a goalie. (Personal note: If Carter is available via trade I'd love to see the Wild try to acquire him. But that is for another colum.)
So which Philadelphia team is for real? Is it the one that struggled through the regular season and only qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the season or is it the team that fell two games short of the Stanley Cup. I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
It will be interesting to see what they do for a full season under Peter Laviolette. If they get a goalie I can see them challenging for a top four seed in the Eastern Conference but I still think they are a few players away from being in the same group as the Penguins & Capitals.
That will do it for blogs during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This was my first time writing a blog and I had a lot of fun doing it. Hopefully you enjoyed what you read and even learned something in the process. I'm not sure how much I'll be writing during the off-season but if something catches my eye during the draft or free agency I'll make a note of it. Otherwise I'll see you in September when I start breaking down all thirty teams.
Until thanks for reading & enjoy your off-season.
Well done, sir!
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