Some nights, there is only so much a coach can do. He can set the lines, draw up the plays he wants to see, call for changes aimed at getting favorable match-ups, and attempt to tweak the tempo. It's up to the team on the ice to execute that, and lately, the Flyers haven't been doing their part for all 60 minutes. Tuesday night, however, the Master of Puppets was at work, with Peter Laviolette getting very involved, ultimately with a favorable result.
The first-place Flyers have been outplayed lately by teams on the playoff bubble, as we've discussed ad nauseum. With the team starting a three-game road trip with the rest of the Eastern Conference drawing much nearer in the standings, all while getting ready to play the rest of their season without the services of Chris Pronger, Lavvy significantly juggled the forward lines—a sure sign that he was expecting change. The results were mixed at first, but before long, the Flyers were in tenuous control of a close game they'd ultimately win by a 3-2 count.
They are the better team, and they lived up to that by capitalizing on an inferior opponent's mistakes. After the jump, a look at how they did it.
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With Mike Richards centering the remnants of the Briere line, the chemistry looked immediate. This was just 4:28 into the first period.
You said it, Billy. So... the Panthers lapse almost spontaneously into a total defensive breakdown, including the goalie, although it's not like Vokoun had any help. Ville Leino threads a gorgeous backhand pass from below the goal line, finding Richards all alone on the far side of the net. Vokoun sells out completely in hopes of stopping Richards' shot—only Richie never shoots. He just patiently waits amidst a crease area that is otherwise descending into utter chaos, and then, with Vokoun and FOUR Panthers converging on him (pictured at the top of the post), finds a streaking Scott Hartnell. Along with every other Flyer on the ice, Hartnell was wide open, and he dunked it easily for his 20th of the season.
Everything was looking right in the world. Unfortunately, the Flyers suffered their own breakdowns in this one as well. After the Hartnell goal, the Panthers weren't as prone to deflation as the video above might indicate. They were actually pretty fired up, kicking the Flyers around the faceoff circle and playing a physical game. The Panthers tied it on a drawn-up, yet no less freaky, outlet pass that broke the neutral zone with an arial element, followed by just a rocket of a shot that beat Brian Boucher.
Florida would take the lead before the period was over, outworking the Flyers' fourth line and scoring on them a second time. The Panthers executed a great play off the boards, shooting quickly while Darroll Powe was in no-mans-land, too far away to block the shot cleanly (without getting killed) and too close to his own goal. The puck went off him, and Boosh couldn't see it even if it hadn't. You can see both these goals in the full highlights package at the end of the post.
Heading into the intermission, Flyers fans were worried, with good reason. The team was losing to a group of guys who are essentially just trying to make next year's club, and Tomas Vokoun. They got outworked for about 15 minutes. Fortunately, although it wasn't their best showing of the season, they recovered well and came back to take a lead, and keep it. I didn't mind getting a little lesson in patience; maybe the three new lines just needed a few shifts together in this one.
Jeff Carter, who was skating most of the night on a line centered by Claude Giroux, with Danny Briere playing off wing, would score the game-tying and winning goals, both of which took advantage of momentary lapses by the Panthers. The first was nothing egregious, but it was encouraging to see the Flyers pounce all over it. Watch as Carter steals the puck off a confused pair of Panthers who couldn't decide quickly enough who should do what with it.
If you don't have your shineboxes, Ryan Carter and David Booth, now would be a good time to go home and get them. I also loved how Vokoun got a huge piece of the shot, but Carter had enough torque on it to break through.
Finally, the timeout goal. Over his season and a half as Flyers head coach, Laviolette has come to be known for calling the timeliest of timeouts, and on Tuesday night, he added another chapter. With the game tied, 2-2, and under five minutes to go in the second period, Lavvy called for a break and gathered his troops, as he's wont to do. He'd later say they were gassed, and he wanted to give them a breather. With 30 free seconds on his hands, Lavvy also drew up a play, but the break in the action to get his guys' legs under them was the primary goal. Florida won the faceoff, canceling out any plan the Flyers had off the draw, but watch what happened next.
On this one, the Florida defenseman pinched too hard, and Danny Briere powered through from the wing and stole the puck, then flew up the ice with the energy gained in the timeout. Carter, coming from the opposite wing, was right there with Briere, as were two Florida players, who were beaten by a step and both sunk toward the puck carrier, leaving Carter open to have his way with Vokoun's empty net. And man did he slam it home. <!-- VIDEO FILTER - INVALID CODEC IN: [video by MrFlyerGuy] -->
It still amazes me, in a copycat league, that we're not seeing more timeouts as a result of Lavvy's success with them (although the Panthers would later call one too). He saw his team was tired, stopped the game, and they came flying out of the next faceoff and put home the eventual game-winner.
Making bad teams look particularly bad at key moments... That's what we need to see the Flyers do again. They are deeper and more talented than the majority of the teams they face. It was far from a perfect game, but there were definitely some points to build on.
Full highlights below. In the thousand words above, I somehow didn't manage to put some praise on Boucher, who had a really good game in net, particularly in the third period. I'm sure I wasn't alone in nervously watching in the hopes that the Flyers wouldn't blow another third period lead, and there were some tense moments that Boosh took care of.