Stop me if you've heard this one before. The Flyers were able to get back into a game against an opponent on the road in the playoffs, only to fall on a late goal by someone that hadn't scored during the postseason. If that sounds a lot like Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, then you've been paying attention, because that's exactly how the Flyers dropped Game 2 of the series to Boston tonight.
For the second straight game, the Flyers found themselves down early, as Johnny Boychuk scored just five minutes into the game. However, they would bounce back later in the first period as Mike Richards scored his fourth goal of the playoffs to tie the game. The Bruins would take the lead again in the second period on a goal by Miroslav Satan, but Danny Briere scored with just 25 seconds to play in the second frame to tie the game again. For most of the third period, neither team could get much going, but the Bruins would strike late in the final stanza. Milan Lucic scored the game winner with just under three minutes to play, and that would be all for tonight. Just like that, the Flyers are down 2-0 in the series, with the next two games becoming must wins in Philadelphia.
The fault on this game begins with the defense, which just wasn't there tonight for Brian Boucher. Boucher stopped 24 of 27 shots and looked solid out there again, but his defense just wasn't playing up to the same level that they were in the first round. In the first round, the defense was blocking shots left and right and clearing out the loose pucks in front of the net. Tonight, the Bruins won on a puck that managed to get loose in front of the net and passed back to Milan Lucic. Those were the kind of things that weren't happening in the first round for the Flyers. The injuries might have something to do with it, but that's not a good excuse. The fact of the matter is that this team needs to do better when it comes to cleaning up the trash than they've been doing so far in this series.
I can't place much blame on the scorers in this game, as they did all that they could. They pressured Tuukka Rask with the same amount of shots that Brian Boucher faced, and save for the third period, where Boston took control, the number of shots were almost even in both periods. The only problem is that the Flyers are allowing the Bruins to take control of a period or two in each game so far, and that's been the difference. In the first game, Boston ran wild in the first period and the overtime, and tonight, they controlled the third period. In both games, that time that Boston had with control was enough to push them past the Flyers, and that has to stop if Philadelphia wants to advance to the Conference Finals. This team has to stop playing sloppy hockey and get aggressive at all times, like they were against the Devils in the first round. They also need to get their power play working again, as they are 2-10 in the series. Hitting just 20% of your power play chances isn't enough in the playoffs. They have to do better.
With that being said, this team can still come back against Boston. Despite dropping the first two games of the series, which I had pegged as a key, the Flyers can still tie things up with wins in the next two games at home. The Wachovia Center crowd is going to be rocking for the Flyers during Game 3, and I think the home ice is going to give the team a bit more of an edge that they've been lacking in the last two games. While things don't look good right now, they can certainly get better, and I think they will when this series comes back to Philly. You can't give up hope yet, not with this team.
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