Flyers vs. Penguins playoff preview

by Dirk Hoag on Apr 14, 2009 5:25 PM EDT

The Blogs

Another mega-series in the East brings us the Battle of Pennsylvania, as the Flyers and Penguins follow up on their 2008 Eastern Conference Finals matchup last season.

The Storylines

This year's Art Ross Trophy winner, Evgeni Malkin, was accused of running out of gas during the playoffs last year against Detroit. Can he top his 10 goals and 12 assists in 20 games?

The Numbers

	Philadelphia		Pittsburgh
Record	44-27-11	9th	45-28-9	8th
Pts %	.604	8th	.604	8th
Goals For/Game	3.17	4th	3.15	6th
Goals Against/Game	2.83	16th	2.84	17th
5-on-5 GF/GA	1.01	14th	1.18	5th
PP%	22.5	6th	17.2	19th
PK%	83	6th	82.7	8th
Shots/Game	29.8	14th	29.0	18th
Shots Against/Game	32.5	25th	30.3	17th
FO %	48.3	21st	49.1	18th

One interesting aspect about these two teams is the nature of their goal scoring. The Flyers boast five forwards with 25 goals or more, but the dropoff after that point is tremendous. The Penguins, meanwhile have 13 players on their roster with at least 10 goals. Over the course of a long series, might that depth make a difference?

Goaltending

Philadelphia

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Martin Biron	55	3177	29	19	5	2	146	2.76	1718	1572	.915	2
2008 - Antero Niittymaki	32	1805	15	8	6	1	83	2.76	947	864	.912	1

Pittsburgh

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Marc-Andre Fleury	62	3641	35	18	7	5	162	2.67	1850	1688	.912	4

Penalties

No OtF preview would be complete without a look at Penalty Plus/Minus, to see which players will head to, or send other players to, the box:

Philadelphia	Penalties Drawn			Pittsburgh	Penalties Drawn
Player	Draws	Fouls	Pen +/-	Player	Draws	Fouls	Pen +/-
Daniel Carcillo	59	59	0	Evgeni Malkin	62	39	+23
Scott Hartnell	48	61	-13	Sidney Crosby	43	29	+14
Mike Richards	44	24	+20	Matt Cooke	30	35	-5
Arron Asham	36	37	-1	Eric Godard	29	39	-10
Riley Cote	34	34	0	Jordan Staal	28	17	+11
Joffrey Lupul	26	26	0	Chris Kunitz	27	27	0
	Penalties Taken				Penalties Taken
Scott Hartnell	48	61	-13	Evgeni Malkin	62	39	+23
Daniel Carcillo	59	59	0	Eric Godard	29	39	-10
Braydon Coburn	19	38	-19	Matt Cooke	30	35	-5
Arron Asham	36	37	-1	Brooks Orpik	25	34	-9
Riley Cote	34	34	0	Bill Guerin	22	30	-8
Jeff Carter	19	34	-15	Sidney Crosby	43	29	+14

The Prediction

This is going to be an incredibly spirited affair, but in the end I like the Pittsburgh Penguins. They are playing well under new coach Dan Bylsma, and I think the difference here will be special teams; the Flyers just take too many penalties, and the Penguins should be able to make them pay for it.

Poll

Which team will win this series?

Philadelphia Flyers

18 votes

Pittsburgh Penguins

17 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 2 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Scott

Thanks very much for the write-up. I did want to ask for one clarification. Are the stats under “Brad Richards” for the penalty +/- actually those of Mike Richards?

by Scott Reynolds on Apr 14, 2009 10:27 PM EDT reply actions