Martin Biron v. Marc-Andrey Fleury
Somehow, the Flyers are here. Despite the 10 game losing streak, several key injuries and a couple tough opponents, the Flyers find themselves back in the conference finals for the first time since the lockout. Against them tonight is a team that may not be the #1 seed like Tampa was, but this year's Penguins might be better than that Lightning team that topped the Flyers in a great seven game series.
Martin Biron may have played great against Montreal, but he's actually statistically the worst goalie remaining in the postseason. Go figure. I don't think Fleury has really been tested, and it'll be interesting to see how he holds up against a team that can really score.
The Kimmo Timonen injury is the one thing that could not happen if the Flyers wanted to have success. I wasn't optimistic from the end of the Montreal series, but this is killer. He's the Flyers' best player. If you lose a Briere or Richards, they have the scoring depth to cover for a little bit. Timonen does everything on the blue line. He's a key part of the PP, and he's great at going out there and shutting down the opponent's top line. He was going to be instrumental in handling guys like Crosby, Malkin and Hossa, and now Jaroslav Modry will have to be much better than he has been.
What kind of style do the Flyers need to play to win? Should they get in a track meet and really outscore them, or should they slow things down and focus on not letting Pittsburgh score? It's tough to say because the Penguins have shown the ability to win both kinds of games. The Flyers should lean towards the side of putting on a lot of offensive pressure. Fleury hasn't had to face a team that can score like the Flyers, and he's still a pretty inexperienced player. Rattling him might be their only chance to win.
As usual, here is Bill Meltzer. Let's go Flyers.
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