They tricked us. All year long the Philadelphia Flyers lay in the NHL’s weeds. They fired coach John Stevens in early December and promptly got whipped by the Capitals 8-2 at home in coach Peter Laviolette‘s debut.
Eastern Conference champs? The Flyers didn’t even look like a playoff team. Their allegedly combustible dressing room chemistry didn’t bode well either.
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Now Philadelphia is in the Stanley Cup Finals and — believe it or not — may pose a bigger threat to the favored Chicago Blackhawks than the Caps or Pittsburgh Penguins would have.
Chicago wears down opponents with a relentless forecheck. No team has been able to stand up to it yet this postseason. Forward Dustin Byfuglien — a massive presence in front of the net at 6-foot-4, 257 pounds — has eight playoff goals. And the lightweights are pretty good, too. Patrick Kane, 21, and Jonathan Toews, 22, both have seven goals.
But if Byfuglien wants to stand in front of the net in this series, he’ll have defenseman Chris Pronger wailing on him. Philadelphia’s blueline is a composed group. The wildly underrated Kimmo Timonen — always a thorn in Alex Ovechkin‘s side — is a perfect complement to Pronger. And with forwards Jeff Carter (broken foot) and Simon Gagne (broken toe) back in the lineup — though far from 100 percent — there is enough goal-scoring skill to pull another upset. Danny Briere (nine goals) and rookie Claude Giroux (eight goals) took over in their absence. Even in goal — waiver-wire pickup Michael Leighton vs. Chicago rookie Antti Niemi — the series doesn’t look like a mismatch.
Maybe the biggest key is which team gets something from an underachieving forward. Marian Hossa — a Stanley Cup runner-up the last two seasons with different teams — has just two goals in the playoffs. In this kind of series, the Flyers need Scott Hartnell — all 6-2, 210 pounds of him — to be a presence up front. He has just eight points in 17 games.
