Flyers need to start on time again against the Hurricanes

While the Flyers have generally outperformed expectations over their first series and change in this playoff run, there has been one specific scenario that they just cannot get right. Throughout the first seven first periods they played in the playoffs, the Flyers have failed to score. 

Despite blitzing the Penguins early on and running out to a 3-0 series lead, the Flyers never really took the play to the Penguins early on. In fact, the Penguins seemed to be the quicker team off the mark quite often, with the Flyers growing into the game and dominating in the second period. 

It is a reflection of what we saw during the regular season, the Flyers seem to struggle to create and finish real offensive chances early on in games. Sometimes it doesn’t even result in the Flyers being heavily outplayed, just a lack of real opportunities for either side. Maybe Tocchet wants the team to feel the game out, and that results in a more subdued start, but that still isn’t acceptable for a team playing into May. 

And when the trend continued against a much better Carolina Hurricanes team in Game 1 of round two, the Flyers found themselves down 2-0 within eight minutes, and with an immediate mountain to climb the rest of the way against the Metropolitan Division champions. You could perhaps use the excuse of the quick turnaround after round one, or even the absence of Owen Tippett as an explanation, but the reality is that spotting a team like the Hurricanes a free period makes them nearly impossible to beat.

With the Hurricanes dominating the offensive zone time early in the series, the Flyers seem to fall back into a pattern of defending early, allowing Carolina to regroup in the neutral zone and start a new attack while the Flyers either change lines, or are too late in a shift to realistically sustain any pressure going the other way. Not only does all that defending tire the Flyers out over time, but it also prevents them from getting comfortable and reading the Hurricanes defensive structure.

The longer Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff get to analyze the Flyers’ stout neutral zone defensive structure that largely silenced Crosby and the Penguins, the easier it’ll be for them to figure out a solution that works. The Hurricanes went 28-9-3 in the regular season when holding a lead at the end of the first period, and with their ability to defend on the front foot with their potent forecheck, they can overwhelm most teams as the game goes on, even when someone like Sebastian Aho hasn’t found their scoring touch.

It really drives home the point when you look at how the Flyers have performed when it comes to unblocked shot attempts at 5-on-5 in each first period so far.

While raw shot attempts can get noisy and shots on goal can be sometimes too minimal to get a grasp of who has the advantage, unblocked attempts fill in the middle range of trying to see who is really controlling the game. And unfortunately, it was rarely the Flyers in the first period.

In only two games in these playoffs so far have the Flyers had the advantage after 20 minutes in this statistic. It was Game 5 and 6 against the Penguins where the Flyers were able to come out on top — every single other first period had the other team walking away with more offensive chances and most likely more zone time, than the Flyers.

But it has changed ever so slightly and the Flyers were able to manage the first period slightly better in the most recent game.

Flyers showed more jump in Game 2, but not enough

Thankfully in Game 2 on Monday, the Flyers were able to awaken from their slumber and start on time. Goals from Jamie Drysdale and Sean Couturier in quick succession within five minutes of the opening faceoff gave the Flyers a crucial leg up early on the road. And with the freedom of an early lead, they were able to lean on their goalie and withstand some of Carolina’s assault, it didn’t result in a win, but it made it much easier to see a world where the Flyers can actually keep pace with the fast-paced Hurricanes team that is just flat-out more equipped for this time of year. They were a Travis Konecny breakaway from stealing a game on the road from a Stanley Cup favorite, but it was at least encouraging to see a path that could lead to the Flyers actually being able to put up a fight the rest of the way.

In order to do so, Rick Tocchet and the Flyers need to continue to be prepared from minute one for the intensity that the Hurricanes are going to bring. And while it was fair that they may not have been fully prepared for Game 1 after the emotional Game 6 win against the Pens, coming back to Philadelphia for Game 3 against the Hurricanes, in a 2-0 series hole in front of what will surely be a raucous crowd, they cannot afford to squander the inherent momentum they’ll get early in that first frame.

Without Owen Tippett and Noah Cates, they will likely be relying on a piecemeal lineup that is unlikely to be able to hang with the Canes over a full 60 minutes, unless they get out to a hot start and ride the wave of pressure.

Even if that happens, they’re unlikely to win the puck possession battle, especially in this state, so scoring a quick one early and getting the crowd on Fredrik Andersen right away may be the easiest route to potentially getting their backs off the wall, and back into this series.