ECSF Game 2: Time on Ice Numbers

The Flyers find themselves down two games to none and there are plenty of reasons for that.  Each game had different reasons for the Flyers coming up short, but Game 2 was interesting in that all five goals were scored at even strength.

In a growing trend, the previous game's goats rebounded, but those who had a bad game last night are some familiar names.  Overall, the Flyers as a team improved.

The Bruins outshot the Flyers 27-26, a lot more in line with what everyone expected this series to be.  At 5-on-5, the Flyers outshot the Bruins 20-18, which is a good sign, but giving up 3 even-strength goals is a problem.

Jump for the zone-start bullets and Corsi table.

For the full zone-start information, click here.

• The Flyers had 14 offensive zone faceoffs and 13 defensive zone faceoffs, 5 of which came after an icing.
• Darroll Powe and Matt Carle led the team with 3 icings, with Hartnell, van Riemsdyk, Briere, and Parent each having 2.
• For the non-icing defensive zone starts, Darroll Powe and Dan Carcillo led the team with 4 each.
• Peter Laviolette only had 8 opportunities to put people out for a defensive zone draw, and he clearly chose not to use Ville Leino (0), Arron Asham (1), Andreas Nodl (1), Danny Briere (1), and Claude Giroux (1) for those.  The only two that really surprise me on that list are Nodl (Betts' and Powe's winger) and Giroux (60% on faceoffs for the game).
• Naturally, the three guys with the most offensive zone draws come from the previous list, as Briere (9), Leino (8), and Giroux (8) led the way there.

For the full Corsi and Fenwick information, click here.

Just like last time, the three best performers are in bold while the three worst are in italics. 

Shots on Goal

As mentioned above, the Flyers outshot the Bruins 20-18 at 5-on-5, which is promising. And there were good signs in the form of Danny Briere and Ville Leino having a markedly better game.  Both finished plus-2, and Leino outshot the Bruins 9-4.  The best performers last night, however, were Matt Carle and Chris Pronger.  Neither allowed an even-strength goal against, and Carle outshot the Bruins 13-2 while Pronger finished 12-3.  Having the first pairing only give up 2 shots on goal while playing over 17 minutes is fantastic.

Most importantly, though, were Ryan Parent, Lukas Krajicek, and Dan Carcillo ending up in the dreaded italics (seriously need some better graphics) with the worst Corsis, which should come as no surprise since all three finished a minus-2 on the night.  On top of that, half of all Bruins shots on goal at even-strength came when they were on the ice.  Each of those three allowed 9 Bruins shots on net, yet none of them played even 11:30 at 5-on-5.  Not good, gentlemen.  Hopefully returning to the Wachovia Center gets them a more favorable matchup.

Fenwick (SOG + Missed Shots)

The Flyers again gave up more missed shots, but this time it only resulted in a minus-1 (24-23) Fenwick.  Giving up 6 missed shots isn't bad, especially since it seems as if Jeff Carter misses the net six times a game by himself.  The same three players should be commended - Carle, Pronger, Leino - for their excellent Fenwick scores, just as the same three - Krajicek, Parent, Carcillo - are guilty. 

The redeeming stat for Carcillo is his zone starts.  He had 5 defensive zone draws (4 non-icing) and only 1 offensive zone start (4).  Those are tough minutes, and while others had similar defensive numbers, he wasn't given a chance to start in the offensive zone and counteract his poor positioning.  Carcillo wasn't good, but he wasn't given much of an opportunity.  Krajicek (-2) and Parent (-1) on the other hand, have no excuse.

Corsi (Fenwick + Blocked Shots)

The Flyers lost the Corsi battle 34-32, but they only blocked one more shot than the Bruins at even-strength, so the Flyers got more shots through to the net, but directed fewer shots.  Either way, it was a pretty evenly matched game in terms of shots.

Again, there really isn't much to say about Corsi that wasn't already addressed in the two previous paragraphs, except to say that Andreas Nodl and Jared Ross were vastly underused - for good or bad, and I think bad - and their stats are thus minimal.

Conclusion

It's becoming common, but every game there seems to be a handful of players who had superb games and a handful of players who had terrible games.  Game 2 was no exception and it was Krajicek and Parent's turn.  Again, not too surprising.

Honestly though, you have to wonder why Powe (-7) and Hartnell (-6) got the minutes they did.  Powe played really tough minutes (7-3 defensive to offensive zone draws), then added over 5 minutes of PK time.  I wonder how tired he was by the end of the game, and if Andreas Nodl was able to stay awake.  Powe played well last night, but his ice time needs to be better distributed.

Hartnell - with yet another bad game - had some tough minutes (5-2 defensive to offensive), especially since 2 of those defensive draws were caused by icings, but his play didn't warrant the ice time he got either.  Asham could have easily taken some of his minutes, and maybe the results would have been better.  Then again, Parent and Krajicek could have played better, or the power play could have converted, or... you get the point.