Second Season, First Round:
Philadelphia Flyers (45-20-13-4) vs Toronto Maple Leafs (44-28-7-3)
Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs have known they would be first round opponents in the National Hockey League play-offs for a couple of weeks now, which means no excuses for poor preparation.
The Flyers over the season have accepted the notion of playing air-tight hockey, to the extent that they were second in the NHL in home goals allowed, with 76. Dallas led the NHL with 75. Philadelphia has been buoyed with the arrival of winger Tony Amonte and the return of John Leclair and Simon Gagne. Their question mark is goaltender Roman Cechmanek. He was heavily criticized when the team was bounced out of the post-season by Ottawa. He essentially quit on the team. However, his play wasn't bad - 11 goals in five games wasn't the problem when his mates scored only twice.
This season the Flyers have allowed 23.7 shots/game at home and Cechmanek has done his part with a .922 save percentage. The team still doesn't score worth a hoot - 103 goals, 2.51 goals/game, 11th in the conference. Their power play is almost non-existent, with only 25 goals on 183 chances (14%, 13th in the conference).
Flyers don't draw a lot of penalties, but if the Leafs continue their undisciplined play it could be busy. The defence scored 31 goals throughout the season, which won't terrorize anyone, but they are a solid five-aside team with a goals for/against of 76-51. Coupled with strong penalty killing (120/142, 84.5%, 4th in the conference) and the Flyers will be hard to beat. Now that they have four legitimate scorers in the line-up (Leclair, Amonte, Roenick, Gagne) it wouldn't be entirely surprising if their goal scoring stats increased.
The Toronto Maple Leafs enter this fray with their captain trying to regain strength after being bashed in the face with the puck and spending the last few days eating through a straw. The Leafs were re-configured at the trade deadline then watched in horror as all but one of their new players were injured. In some ways this group is still getting to know each other. Leafs scored 113 goals on the road (3rd in the conference) but took only 24.4 shots per game.
With the Flyers allowing just 23.7 shots/game at home, scoring chances could be at a premium for Toronto. The Flyers don't take many penalties so the Leafs power play, which was fourth in the conference (31/175, 17.7%) might not get much work. The Leafs penalty killing was the best in the NHL on the road and had to be - they took 224 penalties, third most in the NHL behind Phoenix and Carolina.
The Leafs have won on the road (20-15-3-3, 4th in the conference) with their odd-man units. They are +11 where the Flyers at home are only +2. However the Leafs are a mediocre 75-80 at even strength.
Conventional wisdom says Toronto netminder Belfour outplays Cechmanek, but the Flyer goalkeeper had a better save percentage at home than Belfour had on the road( .922 - .914), which in the Rat's opinion could be where this series is won.
This series will be long and hard, but the Rat thinks Philadelphia has enough to win game one and the series. Season series: at Philadelphia, L 0-3, W 2-1 at Toronto, L 0-6, W 3-1
Play on the FLYERS Money Line !!!
Philadelphia Flyers (45-20-13-4) vs Toronto Maple Leafs (44-28-7-3)
Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs have known they would be first round opponents in the National Hockey League play-offs for a couple of weeks now, which means no excuses for poor preparation.
The Flyers over the season have accepted the notion of playing air-tight hockey, to the extent that they were second in the NHL in home goals allowed, with 76. Dallas led the NHL with 75. Philadelphia has been buoyed with the arrival of winger Tony Amonte and the return of John Leclair and Simon Gagne. Their question mark is goaltender Roman Cechmanek. He was heavily criticized when the team was bounced out of the post-season by Ottawa. He essentially quit on the team. However, his play wasn't bad - 11 goals in five games wasn't the problem when his mates scored only twice.
This season the Flyers have allowed 23.7 shots/game at home and Cechmanek has done his part with a .922 save percentage. The team still doesn't score worth a hoot - 103 goals, 2.51 goals/game, 11th in the conference. Their power play is almost non-existent, with only 25 goals on 183 chances (14%, 13th in the conference).
Flyers don't draw a lot of penalties, but if the Leafs continue their undisciplined play it could be busy. The defence scored 31 goals throughout the season, which won't terrorize anyone, but they are a solid five-aside team with a goals for/against of 76-51. Coupled with strong penalty killing (120/142, 84.5%, 4th in the conference) and the Flyers will be hard to beat. Now that they have four legitimate scorers in the line-up (Leclair, Amonte, Roenick, Gagne) it wouldn't be entirely surprising if their goal scoring stats increased.
The Toronto Maple Leafs enter this fray with their captain trying to regain strength after being bashed in the face with the puck and spending the last few days eating through a straw. The Leafs were re-configured at the trade deadline then watched in horror as all but one of their new players were injured. In some ways this group is still getting to know each other. Leafs scored 113 goals on the road (3rd in the conference) but took only 24.4 shots per game.
With the Flyers allowing just 23.7 shots/game at home, scoring chances could be at a premium for Toronto. The Flyers don't take many penalties so the Leafs power play, which was fourth in the conference (31/175, 17.7%) might not get much work. The Leafs penalty killing was the best in the NHL on the road and had to be - they took 224 penalties, third most in the NHL behind Phoenix and Carolina.
The Leafs have won on the road (20-15-3-3, 4th in the conference) with their odd-man units. They are +11 where the Flyers at home are only +2. However the Leafs are a mediocre 75-80 at even strength.
Conventional wisdom says Toronto netminder Belfour outplays Cechmanek, but the Flyer goalkeeper had a better save percentage at home than Belfour had on the road( .922 - .914), which in the Rat's opinion could be where this series is won.
This series will be long and hard, but the Rat thinks Philadelphia has enough to win game one and the series. Season series: at Philadelphia, L 0-3, W 2-1 at Toronto, L 0-6, W 3-1
Play on the FLYERS Money Line !!!
