Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Isles out to burst Flyers’ bubble
Matching the expedited nature of the NHL pandemic playoff schedule, Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher Saturday made quick work of verbal pats on the back of his players and moved on to their next challenge.
The New York Islanders, 3-0 against the Flyers so many months ago during the regular season, might represent the tallest hurdle the Flyers will face in their ongoing Stanley Cup journey.
“They’ve played us very well all year,” Fletcher noted of those rebuilt New Yorkers. “Obviously, we’re spending a lot of time over at Scotiabank (Arena) watching as many games as we can. I think they’ve played as well as any team in our bubble here in Toronto. They’ve found their game very quickly. They play with purpose, structure and identity. They have some skill up front, too.”
Foremost in that latter characterization would be diminutive and dynamic Mathew Barzal, a hard-to-catch center who scored 19 goals and led the Isles with 60 points in their 68 games.
But what’s most advantageous for Barzal is that he’s paired with two veterans who offer scoring touches and grit on either side, Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle.
Just as that line is well balanced, so are the Islanders’ forwards as a whole. From Barzal to Derick Brassard, the Isles have eight forwards who during the season registered 10 goals and 30 points or more.
Second line center Brock Nelson is a rock. Brassard haunted the Flyers back when he was a primary player for the Rangers under coach Alain Vigneault. Anthony Beauvillier has six goals in the team’s nine postseason games, a qualifying round win over the Florida Panthers and a wipeout of once-great Washington in the first round of the playoffs.
The Isles have won seven of those nine postseason contests and behind future Hall of Fame
coach Barry Trotz don’t appear ready to be slowing down anytime soon.
“They have three lines that can score,” Fletcher said. “They’re really a good hockey team. I can’t really speak to exactly where they were before the pause. Certainly they’re a team that has found their game really quickly and they’re playing very well. That’s a credit to their coaching staff and players.”
The Islanders also present a formidable team defensive approach just like the Flyers did in their six-game squelching of the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
Behind that is Semyon Varlamov, 32, a solid veteran goalie who somehow doesn’t have much of a postseason resume. In eight years with Colorado, Varlamov only played in the playoffs once. He signed a free agent contract with the Islanders last summer and is a player still out to prove himself.
So it isn’t just about skill and depth at the forward position for the Islanders.
“They’re a great team,” Flyers center Kevin Hayes said
of the Isles. “There’s a reason why they won so quickly against the Capitals. They’ve got a good goalie and play great team defense. They’ve got some good forwards . ... I’m pretty sure we’ll go watch some film and prepare the best we can for the games.”
Over popcorn and pop in the bubble, then, these Flyers viewers will realize they face a tall challenge in keeping up with the Islanders. This is, after all, a Flyers team that in winning a six-game series with Montreal scored all of 11 goals.
The lines might have looked pretty balanced down their very strong stretch drive, but the postseason production has been but a mere blip.
While Jake Voracek (four goals, eight points postpause) led the Flyers’ offense at every turn in the six games against Montreal, the club’s scoring against the Habs and in the three round-robin games just prior has been supplemented by the likes of Joel Farabee, Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl, who all have three goals in the pandemic postseason.
Then there’s usual top-liners Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny, along with James van Riemsdyk, none of whom have
scored a goal.
“It speaks volumes for our team that we didn’t play up to our capabilities and we still got four wins,” Hayes said of the Canadiens series. “I don’t think we played bad, but I think every opponent brings a challenge. I thought Montreal was a tough opponent. I’m proud of the guys and the way we battled. We just need to refocus and realize that we do have a great team. We have a live shot to win this thing.”
To get there, however, there’s no doubt the top line has to get going. Konecny, the club’s leading scorer during the regular season (24 goals, 61 points) seems to be the most glaring example of the urgency felt for more scoring in the upcoming series.
“I think Travis is one of those players that has another level that he needs to get to,” Fletcher said. “In terms of using his speed to create and getting more pucks to the net, I think he’s getting better, but there’s still another level he can get to. That line produced a lot of chances for us the last few games, so I think they’re starting to get going. Again, we’re going to need everybody, not just TK, but everybody to up their level as the stakes get higher.”