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Lightning Take Game One of Conference Finals, 3-1
Handzus gets lone goal for Philadelphia
Playoff Series
vs. Tampa Bay | |
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Tampa, FL Brad Richards broke a 1-1 tie in the second period for the eventual game-winning goal, as the Tampa Bay Lightning took Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals at the St. Pete Times Forum, 3-1.
The winning goal came after a turnover by the Flyers in their own zone. A bouncing puck ended up to the right of goaltender Robert Esche, and Richards was able to get his stick on it and backhand it in at 13:34.
Game Two will be on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in Tampa Bay.
They play well in this building, but so did we, said Ken Hitchcock. I think we created enough opportunities. They defended the front of the net well tonight. They have big players back there and they did a pretty good job of defending the front of the net. Were not going to beat them scoring one goal.
Im definitely not discouraged, said Esche. We did come in here by any stretch of the imagination assuming wed go four games, and I dont think they did either. Were excited about playing the next game on Monday night, and thats the way we look at it.
Philadelphia had tied the game earlier in the frame after the Lightning had taken the lead.
After Tampa Bay opened the scoring, the Flyers responded with good offensive pressure in their end before tying the score on a goal by Michal Handzus at 6:48. On the play, Danny Markov flubbed a shot from the point that glanced off of the skate of Handzus and on net. The rebound came right back out to the Flyers center, and he backhanded the puck into the net.
That was all the offense Philadelphia could muster in the game, however. Chris Dingman added an insurance goal 7:04 of the third period to give the Lightning a two-goal cushion.
Philadelphia outshot the Lightning 9-5 in the first period, but the game remained scoreless at the intermission. The Flyers had a goal called back at the 6:02 mark, when Keith Primeau went in on a breakaway. Primeau made a move and fell to the ice in front of the net, and Sami Kapanen was there to put it in, but referee Dan Marouelli ruled that Primeau had interfered with goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin.
We werent able to capitalize get a lead after the first period, and it allowed them to stay in the hockey game, said Hitchcock.
We felt we had a really good first period and got some good chances, but they weathered the storm pretty well, said Jeremy Roenick. They capitalized on some of our mistakes. They are talented and we have to be better with the puck.
Tampa Bay went on the power play at the beginning of the second period on a penalty to Marcus Ragnarsson at the 20-minute mark. They scored just after the power play expired, when the Flyers won a defensive zone faceoff but Kim Johnsson turned the puck over as his attempt to get the puck out of the zone hit a referee in the back. Fredrik Modin passed the puck to Dave Andreychuk at the side of the net, and Andreychuk lifted the puck in over Esches glove hand.
The Flyers got a power play late in the first period on an interference call to Andreychuk and the line of Roenick, Tony Amonte and Alex Zhamnov set up in the Lightning zone for over a minute. Tampa Bay kept the Flyers on the perimeter, however, and Martin St. Louis went in on a shorthanded, partial breakaway later in the power play. Ragnarsson chased him, and was sent to the box for slashing with 1:04 left in the period.
St. Louis was held to one shot in the game, while Vincent LeCavalier did not register any shots. Philadelphia outshot the Lightning for the game, 20-17.
FLYERS NOTES
Flyers surrendered the first goal of the game for just the second time in 12 playoff games. Philadelphia is 11-15 when losing Game One of a seven-game playoff series.
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| 5/9/2004 |
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| Hitchcock talks about what adjustments the Flyers need to make before Game 2 against Tampa Bay. |
Were a lot closer than we were to the game thats on the ice now than we were in February. My opinion is that the challenge for us is the way we played in the first 30 minutes, we have to play like that for 60. If we play like we did in the first 30 minutes of the hockey game, then were going to give ourselves a chance to win every game.
They made just as many mistakes as we did, but they were able to ratchet up their tenacity in the second half of the game, and it made us make the mistakes. We were able to do it in the first half of the game and thats why we got all the odd-man rushes and bang-bang plays at the net. It was because our tenacity was controlling them, and thats going to be the controlling element of this series.
The game was there for us for the taking, and when they scored their second goal, their level went up and ours went down. That was the big difference in the second half of the game.
This is different than the Toronto series in that the Toronto series had way more physical play to it than this series does. This series has, I use the word tenacity, but when you play a team like Tampa, you have to match that every shift. Theres no resting on the ice, theres no gliding through a shift. It really has a lot to do on the response on a shift-by-shift basis. Theres no holes with Tampa, you dont get easy opportunities, just like you dont get easy opportunities with us. They had 17 shots on goal. When they got the 2-1 lead they were really able to defend well, and we couldnt get through.
The change that we have to make is, the things that we did well, the challenge for us is to continue to do them well for the full 60 minutes of the hockey game. Our problem was the things that we did well in the first half of the game, we did not do those things in the second half. Some of it was what Tampa did, but some of it is what we did. Their checking forced us to make errors that we didnt make in the first half of the game. |
Effort There, Mistakes Must Disappear
Flyers look to rebound in Game Two on Monday night
by Kevin Kurz, philadelphiaflyers.com
Tampa, FL All things considered, there were some encouraging signs for the Flyers in their Game One loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday afternoon.
Philadelphia generated several good scoring chances in the opening half of the game, and controlled play for the most part through the first 30 minutes. The Flyers held the Lightning to just 17 shots on goal, none of which came from Hart Trophy candidate Martin St. Louis.
What did happen, however, is that Tampa Bay improved as the game went along and capitalized on a couple of turnovers by the Flyers in a 3-1 victory for the Lightning.
The game was there for us for the taking, and when they scored their second goal, their level went up and ours went down, said Ken Hitchcock. That was the big difference in the second half of the game. The challenge for us is the way we played in the first 30 minutes, we have to play like that for 60. If we play like we did in the first 30 minutes of the hockey game, then were going to give ourselves a chance to win every game.
Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin made 19 saves in the game and kept his goals against average in the playoffs at 1.00. According to Mark Recchi, he has a lot of help from his defenseman when it comes to making saves. The Flyers are going to have to find a way to break through the defensive system of the Lightning and score more than a goal a game if they want to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.
They don't allow too many shots inside, and then when you get it up top, they have five guys playing net as well as Khabibulin, said Recchi. You have to try and find a way to get it around them. And obviously you have to have two guys in front to create some traffic.
If they step out beyond their forwards and pucks do get through, you're usually going to get rebounds. It's something where you've got to get it through, and if we can get it through, you're going to have opportunities down there in the paint area, and then it's up to us to get to those areas and put something in.
Despite the gaudy numbers from Khabibulin, the Flyers arent intimated by the goaltenders success.
I don't think we tested him enough yesterday to even be intimidated by how well he's been playing, said John LeClair. Each game is different. Each team has different styles and different approaches to a game, and I don't think we tested him as well as we would have liked to yesterday.
When discussing the Lightning, Hitchcock keeps coming back to the word tenacity. He said his team must be able to match the tenacity of the Lightning if it wants a chance to win. Its something that the Flyers did in the first half of the game, but lost after Brad Richards scored the eventual game-winning goal in the middle frame.
I use the word tenacity, but when you play a team like Tampa, you have to match that every shift, he said. Theres no resting on the ice, theres no gliding through a shift. It really has a lot to do on the response on a shift-by-shift basis.
Theres no holes with Tampa, you dont get easy opportunities, just like you dont get easy opportunities with us. They had 17 shots on goal. When they got the 2-1 lead they were really able to defend well, and we couldnt get through.
Game Two, on Monday night at 7:30, will be an important one to say the least. It would be a huge boost for the Flyers to break their losing streak against the Lightning and return home with the series tied in front of their rabid home crowd. The Flyers are a perfect 6-0 on home ice in the playoffs so far.
We are going to look at this as a desperate game tomorrow, as we do every night, said Recchi. We looked at yesterday as a must-win, as we will [Monday]. This is the time of year where we're in a situation where there's four teams left and we think of that every night now. So there's no situation that isn't a must-win game.
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Primeau, Roenick and Recchi Meet the Press
Flyers forwards hold press conference on Friday afternoon
Flyers forwa rds Keith Primeau, Mark Recchi and Jeremy Roenick met with the media in a joint press conference after practice on Friday at the St. Pete Times Forum. Below is a transcription of that interview.
Q. Keith, do you put any stock in the sense that's going around that you've had maybe two tougher series than Tampa, they have been resting for eight or nine days and you might be tired and they might be tired, you might be banged up? What's your thought?
KEITH PRIMEAU: It's the same as, for us, reverse of what occurred in the Toronto series in that it can work for you and it can work against you. We faced a team in Toronto that just finished a grueling seven-game series and had no time really to recover and allowed us to get an early lead in the series. But also, I thought that the rest hurt our precision, hurt some of our energy and worked against us in that regard. So eight days is a long time off at this time of year. The rest is great. I think rest is crucial if you're going to make a long playoff run. But we like our situation in that we didn't have to play a Game 7 in round two, we finished them in six and we feel that three days was plenty, enough time for rest to prepare for this series.
Q. Many of the games in the first two series, you guys were outshot; do you have to limit the chances more in this series?
KEITH PRIMEAU: It was kind of uncustomary for a team to be shot the way we were. We talked about it a lot in the Jersey series, that it was really part of the way they forechecked. Toronto did a good job, as well of getting a lot of shots, and a lot of rebounds, a lot of traffic at the net. But I agree, it's going to be crucial in this series to try to minimize scoring chances as best we can because they have, I think more dangerous offensive players than what we've faced in either of the first two rounds. I take nothing away from either one those two teams but this is a skilled group of forwards.
Q. In the Jersey series, you guys played a team that was very good in transition, and most of those games were really up-and-down the ice, and Hitchcock said yesterday, you can't get into this type of running game with this team, so how are you going to beat them?
KEITH PRIMEAU: Their transition, I agree, is similar to New Jersey. They are as good as anybody in the National Hockey League on transition, but their system is more similar to what we just faced in Toronto if they press up and they want to try to create turnovers. Again, for us our focus has to be being strong, getting pucks out of our zone, being strong at lines, continuing to advance the puck and get pucks in behind if we are going to have a chance to win.
Q. Have you been able to outmuscle most teams you've played this year?
KEITH PRIMEAU: I don't know. I think to a large extent, at times, it's overstated. Do we have some big forwards? Yes. But we really transformed our defense, our defense is extremely skilled. We also have some smaller skill guys up front who just play big. And so, as far as being able to outmuscle teams, we've competed hard and that's the biggest reason we've had success.
Q. How important is it to have the Lightning, as you do, I guess two, good scoring lines?
KEITH PRIMEAU: Again, it's a different challenge than what we've faced to this point, two teams. We faced one really strong offensive line. Other guys filtered into their lineup and were capable of scoring. But this team poses a different threat in that they have their top end loaded, especially the top two lines. It becomes a challenge. More guys have to be aware of them defensively to minimize the chances they get.
Q. You talked yesterday about feeding off of Sami back there; can you talk more about what he brings to you?
KEITH PRIMEAU: He'll be a real sparkplug for us in this series because of his energy and the way he's capable of skating. Sometimes he flies under the radar because of his size, but we as a group know how important Sami is to what we're trying to do.
Q. When you see him - can you describe the effect of him?
KEITH PRIMEAU: I see his energy and I always say, him at five-nine and me at six-five, he's capable of running into people.
Q. Having played these guys four times in the regular season, from your perspective, how do you label their philosophy, is there a label you can put on this type of hockey?
KEITH PRIMEAU: No, I don't know if you can. System-wise they are very strong. They don't allow you a lot in the middle of the ice; they keep you to the outside. They do a tremendous job of their forwards getting back and helping out the defense. Just staples of good teams. I don't know if you really can put a tab on what you would call it.
Q. Even though they are a different style team than Toronto, do you pretty much play the same strategy, keep them away from your goalie?
KEITH PRIMEAU: I think we have to. I think we have to be even better in certain areas on the ice. As Toronto, they try to create a lot of stuff down behind the net so we have to be really aware of not allowing them to create chances from that part of the rink, so that we rely on our defense and our low forward to do a lot of work.
Q. On paper this looks like their youth and speed against your experience and size; does it play out like that?
KEITH PRIMEAU: I think as the precursor, I guess it does. But once we get into the series, it all evens out. I think you look at Toronto, we talk about their age and experience, but it ended up being, you know, our age and experience. So I know they are a young team, but again, they have been through some battles as a group, they were last year, as they have been this year and they have some veteran guys over there who have done a tremendous job of helping to lead their team.
Q. Do you expect this to be an emotional series?
KEITH PRIMEAU: Because of the time of year, it will be intense and it will be competitive and it will be real physical and a real challenge for both sides.
And so, only I think primarily because of the time of year it is.
Q. Jeremy, this is the first time you've been this far in a real long time, and a lot of the older veterans don't have cups; do you use that hunger to your advantage?
JEREMY ROENICK: No question it fuels our hunger. I think even more the uncertainty of what's going to happen with the NHL next year, not knowing whether we are going to have this opportunity again for a long time, if ever, guys like myself, this is an opportunity that doesn't present itself very often and obviously, haven't been to this point, like you said, in 12 years. It's sweet. It is a sweet feeling. We want to keep it going as long as we can.
Q. Is it something that you guys, as a group, that you've talked about, really stressed that this could be the last chance for a lot of you guys?
JEREMY ROENICK: I don't think we sit down and talk about it very much but it's evident to everybody. Everybody really realizes the situation and knows the time of year that we are in. When it gets really warm outside and gets very hot in the buildings, it starts to get a little bit more emotional and exciting. We know what time of the year it is. Like I said, we might not get back here again, so we have to take advantage of our opportunity.
Q. You guys have been very business-like in your approach to this whole post-season, can you articulate how knowing how to deal with all of the distractions, the peripheral stuff will be an advantage?
JEREMY ROENICK: I think Hitch has heard enough out of my mouth all year, so he doesn't want to hear me for another couple of months. (Laughter). I think it's important that everybody understands that this is a total team effort. We have guys that are very capable of comes out and being spokespeople, Recchi, Primeau, guys that are very well spoken, know what's going on, and for some of us, like myself, it has to be a total businesslike situation. I'm trying to learn a new position. A lot of that has to do with preparing differently every game and every day. You know, I can't sit around and worry about what I'm going to say to the media or get caught up in verbal competitions with some of the things that go through my head during the course -- like I wanted to with Antropov with last series. I had to keep those to myself. But what's most important is if the team does well and we come out and win, it doesn't matter what anybody says.
Q. Those distractions, can they disrupt a young team that's not used to dealing with that stuff?
JEREMY ROENICK: It depends on the veteran leadership. It depends on the guys they have leading them. If the team is together and the team is focused and strong, the leaders will take responsibility and bring everybody through it. We have great leaders on our team, Recchi and Joni and Prime, some of the best captains.
Q. Yesterday Hitch said if you looked on paper, the series over the year, people would narrowly pick Tampa Bay in this series. Why would someone say the Flyers could win this series, knowing what you know in the regular season?
MARK RECCHI: I think the biggest part is, we are a team, and we changed some personnel, we brought people in who are tremendous team players, tremendous people, and trying to win. I think since we've got J.R. and Primes back, I said all along, we are going to get stronger and stronger, because we are building as a team again and missing two important pieces like that, eventually, everything is going to continue to get better. The roles will be more defined, like they are now. Now everybody knows what they have to do going into a hockey game. That's why we believe that we do our things right, we can be a successful hockey team.
Q. How much better did you guys get from the start of the playoffs to where you are now? You had to go through two tough series with Toronto and New Jersey?
MARK RECCHI: We got better and better. The better the games got, the better we got, too. We had opportunities to close things out and we did. That says a lot about our resilience. We had to play with some injuries, missing our top defenseman, Malakhov goes down the other night, we've been through a lot. We just, you know, we keep pushing through and we've got a very unselfish group of guys who really don't want to command any attention. It's all about what we are doing as a team now. It's not about any individual. It's about 23 guys right now trying to build something.
Q. What are your memories of playing for Tortorella in Phoenix, the time you were together with him?
JEREMY ROENICK: Yeah, he's a wonderful man, for one thing. He was assistant coach in Phoenix. He did an unbelievable job of being a grade mediator between the players and the coach. I think that's a very important thing that an assistant coach has to do is to be able to get along with the players and have a relationship with them and his personality was one of those that everybody instinctively and immediately was attracted to. So I enjoyed playing for him, and I still enjoy having a friendship with him. It doesn't surprise me the way he's turned this organization around on the ice. Really, his attitude all the time in Phoenix was a competitive one, and he's just really taking that to another level as a head coach. I'm real proud of him. Series Overview
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