Flyers special teams have been the deal-maker or deal-breaker. In game 1 the Flyers went 1 for 4 on the powerplay. Those missed oppurtunities came back to hurt the Flyers in the end, when they lossed 6-5.
Chicago didn't see any powerplays, however against the Sharks their PP was only 3/14. The Flyers PK vs Montreal was 21/22. The advantage here goes to the Flyers, the Habs Powerplay wasn't working on all cylinders with Andrei Markov out of the lineup. But the Flyers PK was solid and didn't let the Habs PowerPlay change the momentum.
Blocking shots will be huge for the Flyers in this series, Chicago has a lot of power from their points and the shot blocking of Betts, Powe and Laperriere will be key.
Flyers Powerplay has been hit or miss as of late. They have been bad over the past few seasons versus an agressive PK, that's Chicago. Throughout the Habs series the Flyers were a sad 4/24. They were 4/9 in the first 2 games. 0/15 in the final 3 games. Missed oppurtunities is not a phrase you want commonly used when talking about your team's PP.
The PP goal by Hartnell on Saturday was the first PPG for the Flyers in the last 4 games. However the next 3 unsucessful powerplays, one in which Dave Bolland got a shorty, hurt the Flyers down the stretch.
Flyers PK Lines:
Betts Powe Pronger Timonen
Richards Giroux Carle Coburn
*Lappy will slowly be worked into PK as the 5th offenseman
Flyers PP lines:
Gagne Richards Leino Pronger Timonen
Hartnell Briere Giroux Coburn Carle
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