"Give them credit," Dan Muse was saying late Saturday night. "They came in and they executed their game plan. And we need to be better in terms of executing ours."
Well, yeah.
But also ... wow, no.
Yeah, the Flyers will have fairly earned any and all credit for prevailing over the Penguins, 3-2, in Game 1 of these Stanley Cup playoffs here at PPG Paints Arena. They were fast and fiery, skilled and smart, and they absolutely executed Rick Tocchet's plan.
But also, wow, no, Muse's team doesn't just "need to be better in terms of executing ours." It needs a plan to rival the multifaceted masterwork Tocchet crafted. Because his, plainly, was aimed at claiming a playoff round, not at winning some random Wednesday night in Winnipeg.
I'll put forth three examples, all of which could become outright excruciating for the home side if they aren't addressed emphatically:
• Their top players were targeted ... a TON.
The other day, Tocchet made some small waves with this remark regarding Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang: "Those guys don't die. It's gonna be a tough series, and we're going to have to go after those guys.”
He might as well have bought a billboard on Mount Washington announcing the same.
No, of course he didn't mean the Flyers would thug it up. We're five decades removed from the Bullies, and even some of that franchise's faithful have experienced modest evolution in the interim. But he did mean that there'd be a physical, in-the-face approach.
JUSTIN BERL / GETTY
That began with not one, not two, but three booming -- and clean -- checks on Egor Chinakhov in the first period alone. He'd been the Penguins' top sniper since his arrival, but this'd be his first-ever playoff game, and the thinking evidently was that he might not like the welcome.
Chinakhov's line after 21 shifts: No goals, no points, no SHOTS.
ANYWAYS. HOW YOU GONNA START THIS SHIT BUT LET ANOTHER MAN FINISH IT FOR YOU. HMM? pic.twitter.com/haRKwxBKM1
Sid was chased around all night by Travis Sanheim, and it affected him to the extent that he'd then do the chasing. He'd sit twice, for roughing and slashing. Geno engaged not only in a strange exchange of stick fouls with Nick Seeler but also in a jawing session with the entire Philadelphia bench. Even Anthony Mantha, a Mr. Cool type to the core and the Penguins' leading goal-scorer in the regular season, would be penalized twice.
None of that's an accident.
“I think I understand the level that’s needed to play in the playoffs,” Sanheim would say down the hall. “I understand the challenge ahead and my job, playing against top guys.”
It's not new. In the lore of the Penguins' five Cups, there are countless cases, stretching back to Troy Loney, Phil Bourque and Bob Errey of the original champs taking turns banging the Bruins' legendary Raymond Bourque with every forecheck. He might not have felt that in the first couple games, but he sure did by the series' end.
"I think Sanny set the tone," Tocchet would say of his No. 1 defenseman. "I think in these playoffs, you have to play uncomfortable, right? You gotta do some stuff that you might normally not do. He really led the physicality for us. ... When you play a team like that, you've got to be physical."
If there was anything of the sort from the Pittsburgh perspective in this game, the physicality with a purpose, I missed it.
But there'd better be a solution, even if it's solely skating away.
"I think we've got to stay out of it a little bit more and trust that, when they try to start it up, they're going to get penalized for it," Sid would say. "That's more something I think they're looking to do. We've got to stay out of it and trust they'll be undisciplined."
“We know it’s Philly, we know it’s the playoffs, and we know it’s coming,” Geno would say. “I like to play physical, I like to play a hard game. But just after a whistle, we need to just go away and play smart.”
Something something Tocchet something billboard.
• No adjustment was made between the blue lines.
Man, this was painful to watch.
It's partly that the Penguins committed 15 official giveaways, three of those leading directly to odd-man breaks for the Flyers. It's also partly that their defensemen generated only three of their already awful total of 17 shots, meaning there was a lot more lateral passing in the attacking zone than necessary. But it's mostly that, my goodness, every time there'd be an attempt to penetrate the neutral zone, the Flyers had a minimum four skaters back to clog it up ... and someone would still try some senseless sideways pass.
"We've just gotta put pucks behind them," Ryan Shea would say, probably echoing half of everyone in the place throughout the game. "They had a really good neutral zone, and we just can't let it rattle us. We've gotta default to kinda old-school hockey and get it behind them, go to work down there, use our bodies, use our forecheck like we have all year."
Like they did on Geno's goal:
None of that happens without all the buildup. And none of the buildup happens without entering the zone. No one asks how.
But here's where more kudos go to Tocchet: All through the Penguins' wonderful season, they've seldom needed to do what Shea suggests. They're not a chip-and-chase team and, if anything, even when the subject's arisen, Muse has bristled a bit. And it couldn't have been clearer that the Philadelphia staff had seen ample video to support this.
"I liked our play without the puck tonight," Tocchet would say. "It's been part of our identity these past six weeks. We knew they were gonna come ... but I liked our play without the puck."
You betcha. Especially if you know they're "gonna come" and just give it away:
These are playoffs. The chess match, the moves and counter-moves and counter-counter-moves, those don't take a pause. It's not enough to try to explain, as Muse often would, that "we don't change what we do" as some point of pride. Because seven straight games against the same opponent, that's a whole new sport.
Seventeen shots? For the NHL's third-highest scoring team? With an antidote so obvious?
I'm sorry, but that's not simply needing to be "better in terms of executing." That's an F-minus at the bench level. And it can't be repeated.
Muse was asked about the lack of offense and replied, "They make it hard. I think that’s part of their game. They’ve been doing that for a while. They can make it difficult. I think we got away from things that worked."
No, they didn't get away from things that didn't work.
• Other smaller, significant modifications, too.
Thought I noticed this from the press box, and I'd become sure later on video replay: When Erik Karlsson, the Penguins' best overall player since the Olympics, was on the rink, the Flyers were far less aggressive in the attacking zone, even dropping back as an ensemble to take away his passing options. (Which, by the way, is why later in the game he'd begun just blowing through people himself.) But when it was anyone else's pairing, the Flyers would go for broke.
And how about the power play?
No goals and two shots on the two opportunities came about largely through keeping not one but both forwards high in the box and, in turn, all over Karlsson. No one had killed penalties like that against the Penguins since Las Vegas more than a month ago.
That's not checkers, my friends. That's a playoff plan. That plays into Karlsson finishing with a modest assist and two shots. That plays into Kris Letang and Sam Girard finishing minus-2 each. That plays into the neutral-zone scenario described above. It plays into everything.
So does this: It's less tangible, but it sure felt like the Flyers were the more composed team amid an atmosphere that was unlike anything this building -- or our city, to tell the truth -- had experienced in some time. Stuart Skinner called the energy "amazing," and I was blown away by it myself.
Trouble was, so were the Penguins, it seemed.
“We were maybe nervous too much or we want it too much," Geno would say. "We were just not thinking a little bit, I think. Everybody wants to play good."
Only one side did, though, and the head coach always has plenty to do with that, good or bad. Tocchet's been in these, as a coach and as a player, both at the very highest levels. Muse was as new to this as Ben Kindel was.
Look, I won't take this too far. As Shea would tell me, "It's one game. It's annoying. It's frustrating. But it's one game." That sentiment would be echoed through the locker room, and reasonably so.
I'll be fascinated to see how everyone, coaches included, respond. And I'm not alone:
"They won Game 1. We reassess tomorrow and go through it, I'm sure," Karlsson would reply to my question. "We've got smart people behind the bench. And smart people in this room. We're already excited for Game 2."
Anyone else excited?
OK, I get that. But consider that, for all the Penguins got wrong in Game 1, Mantha still came this close to tying it up in the final few ticks:
THE ASYLUM
DK: Tocchet brought an actual playoff plan
"Give them credit," Dan Muse was saying late Saturday night. "They came in and they executed their game plan. And we need to be better in terms of executing ours."
Well, yeah.
But also ... wow, no.
Yeah, the Flyers will have fairly earned any and all credit for prevailing over the Penguins, 3-2, in Game 1 of these Stanley Cup playoffs here at PPG Paints Arena. They were fast and fiery, skilled and smart, and they absolutely executed Rick Tocchet's plan.
But also, wow, no, Muse's team doesn't just "need to be better in terms of executing ours." It needs a plan to rival the multifaceted masterwork Tocchet crafted. Because his, plainly, was aimed at claiming a playoff round, not at winning some random Wednesday night in Winnipeg.
I'll put forth three examples, all of which could become outright excruciating for the home side if they aren't addressed emphatically:
• Their top players were targeted ... a TON.
The other day, Tocchet made some small waves with this remark regarding Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang: "Those guys don't die. It's gonna be a tough series, and we're going to have to go after those guys.”
He might as well have bought a billboard on Mount Washington announcing the same.
No, of course he didn't mean the Flyers would thug it up. We're five decades removed from the Bullies, and even some of that franchise's faithful have experienced modest evolution in the interim. But he did mean that there'd be a physical, in-the-face approach.
JUSTIN BERL / GETTY
That began with not one, not two, but three booming -- and clean -- checks on Egor Chinakhov in the first period alone. He'd been the Penguins' top sniper since his arrival, but this'd be his first-ever playoff game, and the thinking evidently was that he might not like the welcome.
Chinakhov's line after 21 shifts: No goals, no points, no SHOTS.
Sid was chased around all night by Travis Sanheim, and it affected him to the extent that he'd then do the chasing. He'd sit twice, for roughing and slashing. Geno engaged not only in a strange exchange of stick fouls with Nick Seeler but also in a jawing session with the entire Philadelphia bench. Even Anthony Mantha, a Mr. Cool type to the core and the Penguins' leading goal-scorer in the regular season, would be penalized twice.
None of that's an accident.
“I think I understand the level that’s needed to play in the playoffs,” Sanheim would say down the hall. “I understand the challenge ahead and my job, playing against top guys.”
It's not new. In the lore of the Penguins' five Cups, there are countless cases, stretching back to Troy Loney, Phil Bourque and Bob Errey of the original champs taking turns banging the Bruins' legendary Raymond Bourque with every forecheck. He might not have felt that in the first couple games, but he sure did by the series' end.
"I think Sanny set the tone," Tocchet would say of his No. 1 defenseman. "I think in these playoffs, you have to play uncomfortable, right? You gotta do some stuff that you might normally not do. He really led the physicality for us. ... When you play a team like that, you've got to be physical."
If there was anything of the sort from the Pittsburgh perspective in this game, the physicality with a purpose, I missed it.
But there'd better be a solution, even if it's solely skating away.
"I think we've got to stay out of it a little bit more and trust that, when they try to start it up, they're going to get penalized for it," Sid would say. "That's more something I think they're looking to do. We've got to stay out of it and trust they'll be undisciplined."
“We know it’s Philly, we know it’s the playoffs, and we know it’s coming,” Geno would say. “I like to play physical, I like to play a hard game. But just after a whistle, we need to just go away and play smart.”
Something something Tocchet something billboard.
• No adjustment was made between the blue lines.
Man, this was painful to watch.
It's partly that the Penguins committed 15 official giveaways, three of those leading directly to odd-man breaks for the Flyers. It's also partly that their defensemen generated only three of their already awful total of 17 shots, meaning there was a lot more lateral passing in the attacking zone than necessary. But it's mostly that, my goodness, every time there'd be an attempt to penetrate the neutral zone, the Flyers had a minimum four skaters back to clog it up ... and someone would still try some senseless sideways pass.
"We've just gotta put pucks behind them," Ryan Shea would say, probably echoing half of everyone in the place throughout the game. "They had a really good neutral zone, and we just can't let it rattle us. We've gotta default to kinda old-school hockey and get it behind them, go to work down there, use our bodies, use our forecheck like we have all year."
Like they did on Geno's goal:
None of that happens without all the buildup. And none of the buildup happens without entering the zone. No one asks how.
But here's where more kudos go to Tocchet: All through the Penguins' wonderful season, they've seldom needed to do what Shea suggests. They're not a chip-and-chase team and, if anything, even when the subject's arisen, Muse has bristled a bit. And it couldn't have been clearer that the Philadelphia staff had seen ample video to support this.
"I liked our play without the puck tonight," Tocchet would say. "It's been part of our identity these past six weeks. We knew they were gonna come ... but I liked our play without the puck."
You betcha. Especially if you know they're "gonna come" and just give it away:
These are playoffs. The chess match, the moves and counter-moves and counter-counter-moves, those don't take a pause. It's not enough to try to explain, as Muse often would, that "we don't change what we do" as some point of pride. Because seven straight games against the same opponent, that's a whole new sport.
Seventeen shots? For the NHL's third-highest scoring team? With an antidote so obvious?
I'm sorry, but that's not simply needing to be "better in terms of executing." That's an F-minus at the bench level. And it can't be repeated.
Muse was asked about the lack of offense and replied, "They make it hard. I think that’s part of their game. They’ve been doing that for a while. They can make it difficult. I think we got away from things that worked."
No, they didn't get away from things that didn't work.
• Other smaller, significant modifications, too.
Thought I noticed this from the press box, and I'd become sure later on video replay: When Erik Karlsson, the Penguins' best overall player since the Olympics, was on the rink, the Flyers were far less aggressive in the attacking zone, even dropping back as an ensemble to take away his passing options. (Which, by the way, is why later in the game he'd begun just blowing through people himself.) But when it was anyone else's pairing, the Flyers would go for broke.
And how about the power play?
No goals and two shots on the two opportunities came about largely through keeping not one but both forwards high in the box and, in turn, all over Karlsson. No one had killed penalties like that against the Penguins since Las Vegas more than a month ago.
That's not checkers, my friends. That's a playoff plan. That plays into Karlsson finishing with a modest assist and two shots. That plays into Kris Letang and Sam Girard finishing minus-2 each. That plays into the neutral-zone scenario described above. It plays into everything.
So does this: It's less tangible, but it sure felt like the Flyers were the more composed team amid an atmosphere that was unlike anything this building -- or our city, to tell the truth -- had experienced in some time. Stuart Skinner called the energy "amazing," and I was blown away by it myself.
Trouble was, so were the Penguins, it seemed.
“We were maybe nervous too much or we want it too much," Geno would say. "We were just not thinking a little bit, I think. Everybody wants to play good."
Only one side did, though, and the head coach always has plenty to do with that, good or bad. Tocchet's been in these, as a coach and as a player, both at the very highest levels. Muse was as new to this as Ben Kindel was.
Look, I won't take this too far. As Shea would tell me, "It's one game. It's annoying. It's frustrating. But it's one game." That sentiment would be echoed through the locker room, and reasonably so.
I'll be fascinated to see how everyone, coaches included, respond. And I'm not alone:
"They won Game 1. We reassess tomorrow and go through it, I'm sure," Karlsson would reply to my question. "We've got smart people behind the bench. And smart people in this room. We're already excited for Game 2."
Anyone else excited?
OK, I get that. But consider that, for all the Penguins got wrong in Game 1, Mantha still came this close to tying it up in the final few ticks:
Game 2's Monday night. Just show up better prepared.
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