We’re all dreaming of it. It would be too sweet. Maybe something that we don’t entirely deserve but something that is too good to not think about: Sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins as they venture into a summer of unknowns and the Philadelphia Flyers of all teams killing this era of a team that we have despised forever.
Evgeni Malkin is a pending unrestricted free agent, Kris Letang looks worse than Keith Yandle did during his year in Philadelphia, and Sidney Crosby is about to be left alone with a bunch of children and reclamation projects on that Pittsburgh roster as they finally sink into potential obscurity until he calls it quits. They’re dying and with the Flyers having a commanding 3-0 series lead, they appear to be already dead.
But the Flyers can’t be celebrating yet or even thinking about the second round. They need to deliver the final knockout blow to the Penguins and truly put them out of their misery. As they try to crawl away from the crime scene, leaving a trail of blood and guts, with only survival instincts and the primal will to live pushing them to try and escape. The Flyers need to step over them and pull the trigger.
But who will be able to do that for them? Who will be the player on this roster that will be that cold-blooded killer and finish the job? Let’s look at some possibilities.
Porter Martone
It’s the one we sort of all want. Imagine the scenes if Porter Martone at 19 years old is the one to truly stick a fork in the Penguins and eat them for dinner. To have a game that is even better than all of his performances so far — still averaging over a point per game with 13 in 12 in his career so far, by the way — and puts Pittsburgh to bed.
This possibility would more than just symbolize the new generation of this Flyers team but it would give fans of all ages and all level of support from diehard to casual, a hero figure when this team is just getting started on what is going to be an interesting era. If Martone came out swinging and scored a goal and had three points and just looked absolutely dominant out there in the majority of his shifts while closing out a sweep for the Flyers, we would be dedicating weeks of praise for him on this website.
Travis Konecny
Travis Konecny has not showed up on the score sheet a whole lot in this series so far. He has two assists in the three games, and that’s a perfectly fine amount of production but chipping in a helper here and there isn’t true domination. But, he is getting in the face of every single Penguin and making them look incredibly foolish. The playoff performer that we knew was inside Konecny all along has been unleashed.
If Konecny can follow up his incredibly dramatic and emotional Game 3 with being just a lethal shooter, potting in a couple nasty and grimy goals to really put an end to this Penguins team, it would just be beyond perfect. The player that so desperately wanted to taste the playoffs, so much so that he was willing to say it publicly, has come up big to continue this underdog story.
Matvei Michkov
There might be no other player on this Flyers roster that could personally use a dominant performance more than Matvei Michkov. With zero points and averaging fewer than 10 minutes of ice-time in Games 2 and 3 (he had a whopping 11:25 time-on-ice in Game 1)to go along with his three shots on goal, Michkov has been fairly absent from everything going on in this series so far. He has not looked great, so with every game meaning so much, head coach Rick Tocchet has not played him a whole lot. It’s perfectly understandable — the playoffs are not a time to give a developing player a longer leash so maybe they can learn something.
But, in those scarce minutes, what if Michkov just goes buck wild? Maybe scores in the opening minutes or in his first couple of shifts and earns the temporary trust of Tocchet to put him out there for more offensive opportunities. And then that leads to more scoring and a real coming out party for the 21-year-old Russian to kickstart his playoffs and let us all forget about how much of a no-show he was during the first three games.
It feels like an unlikely scenario at this point, but it would just be so magical.
Sean Couturier
Sean Couturier has been the on-ice heartbeat of this team. More than just the captain, the 33-year-old center has taken his role on the fourth line and absolutely run with it. There are veteran players who end up accepting a bottom-six role and end up looking just fine — think of Kyle Okposo when he won his Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers — but then there are players who completely envelop themselves in that role and become the best version of that type of player that they possibly can be. That’s Couturier in these playoffs.
While playing over five minutes fewer than he was used to at the start of this season, Couturier has now centered a powerful, experienced line alongside Garnet Hathaway and Luke Glendening that we cannot get enough of. And to go along with having nine hits in the first three games — which includes seven in just Game 1 — and going 24-for-34 in the faceoff dot like a very good fourth-liner would do, he also has three assists and six shots on goal. He is a maniac and he’s looking like he reversed his age by at least 10 years.
For this 14-year Flyer, that has lived through the hell of facing this Penguins era, to be the one that finally ends it and drives the dagger through their heart, would be so poetic.
Sam Ersson (potentially)
This one would just be something else. Dan Vladar is a game-time decision for Game 4 after injuring his hand on Wednesday. He hasn’t participated in any practices since then and has been looked at by medical staff, but it is uncertain that he will be playing and in the crease to potentially finish the sweep.
So, it could very well be Sam Ersson in between the pipes for Game 4 and in a moment that could define his future.
The 26-year-old has not been good at all this season (or really ever in the NHL), with a .870 save percentage and a 3.12 goals against average, he grades out as one of the worst options in the entire league. And that’s even after having an incredible stretch of performances after the Olympic break and being a big factor in the Flyers’ eventual run to making the playoffs.
It would be incredibly dramatic if Ersson came in as the untrusted backup and someone who could very well be playing his last game for the Flyers and maybe even in the NHL period, and get the win that kills the Penguins. Of course it’s possible that he does this anyway, but if he is the focal point and the main character for a potential Game 4 win and series-winning game then it would be such a storybook ending. Something people write in the cheesiest Disney sports movie ever — the backup that has been awful all year and no fan is truly comfortable having in the net, saving 32-of-33 shots he faces with some highlight-reel saves included.
