Friday Morning Fly By: Series Win, Lappy and Giroux Step Up

Exactly my point. Ramped-up physicality + continued shot-blockery = war of attrition. Add extended minutes on the PK to that mix and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Not sure that will work with Backstrom playing as well as he is. But I don’t see why Pronger and Timmonen’s great play won’t extend to next series as well.

Yeah, I agree. I think he will show flashes, but he is also the type of goalie that will usually let in at least one soft goal. And when he has a good offensive team flying in on him all the time (because of a sub par defense) he will get shaky, I hope.

why do you always start with “Caps fan here”, isn’t your sign in name a dead giveaway?

Just wondering.

Also

Philly Defense >>>>>>> Montreal Defense

The Flyers have lit goaltenders like Price up, too. The Pens are a better team than the Devils, but struggled against them all season. Sometimes it’s a match up thing. In this case, the Flyers defense was too much for the dysfuctional Devils.

A lot can happen to the Caps between now and the next series that can affect their depth. This is the playoffs. In hockey, I really do believe anything can happen if you have luck on your side. The Flyers definitely won’t be the favorites nor would I make any sort of proclamations that they will win, but what kind of fans would we be if we just said, “That’s it; it’s over. Just give the wins to the Caps now?”

I mean, come on.

I will agree with HockeyOutsiders here. The Philly defense makes the Montreal defense look almost AHL quality, at least the top 4 (considering our bottom two pretty much are AHL players). That makes things a lot easier for a team that has the offensive ability that the Caps have. Once you take into consideration that Pronger is play near 30 min every game, and then you have Kimmo to help out, it really takes a lot away from an offensive team such as the Caps. Again, I’m not saying it’s going to be easy for either team, but I think our defense will be able to do some good things against your offense. Playoff Chris Pronger is not the same as Regular season Chris Pronger. Trust me.

Yeah, it’s a much different defense than what Montreal has. Carter and Gagne being out does hurt the matchup some to be sure. But I think the teams play each other well and it should be a great series.

It’s a far cry beating the Habs defense to beating our defense. Especially the way the Flyers have been playing lately. Let’s hope for a better series than the last one! (And a Flyers win!)

Yeah, that’s what he’s looking for but I think his value deflated quite a bit because of his performance this offseason. He just doesn’t play well with others.

I think the writing is on the wall for Langenbrunner. Wasn’t he a bizarre healthy game scratch near the end of the season?

Problem with NJ is that every year they lose more promising guys, started with Niedermayer a few years back and has gone from there. Gomez, Gionta, Rafalski etc. etc. Trading Oduya for Kolvalchuk didn’t help, because they really weakened their defensive core.

The Caps almost certainly will not trade for a veteran G in the offseason. Due to their cap situation, they probably go into next season with Varlamov and Neuvirth sharing time, and get a vet at the trade deadline if they need one.

To clarify the cap situation, they have to sign Backstrom and Schultz, plus they need to acquire at least one center.

The Hawks have absolutely no cap space at all. And that was after they dumped millions during the deadline this year.

Yes I remember those days. It was great to live in this area and be able to see the Bears and wear a Flyers jersey to the game and not get food thrown at you like you do now.

The whole area around here is Caps, Caps, Caps even though not so long ago they were all Cheering “Lets Go Flyers”

It makes me sick.

They do bring up their rings all the time and it is the ultimate closer in an argument. There is absolutely nothing anyone can say to a Yankee fan after they throw that out there. It sucks.

PO period, was that when the locals referred to their team as the “Crapitals”?

Bosh was scared half to death when he got the puck stuck in mask back in 2000, wasn’t he? And it never made contact with his eye, just really really frighteningly close. I think I remember him saying something like he thought he went blind for a second until he realized the black puck was just obscuring his vision. There’s no way you don’t get spooked by something like that.

i play goal in soccer and have been hit numerous times in the face with shots playing indoor. and on a few occasions i’ve had the “instant blindness”, which almost has the same feeling as being close to knocked out(been done that road a few times as well). sometimes it would last for a few seconds and others it would take up to 15 mins or so to regain sight in that eye, having to ask if my eye was swollen shut or if i just couldn’t see. it was never the swelling and always a very scary situation.