What Bettors Need to Know: Blackhawks at Flyers
Don’t call it a comeback
The Philadelphia Flyers turned heads earlier this postseason with an amazing comeback from 0-3 down to the Boston Bruins. As great as those four straight wins were, the Flyers would rather not have their backs against the wall, especially in the Stanley Cup Final.
Philadelphia is trailing the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in the final after taking a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory in Game 3 Wednesday night. Forward Claude Giroux netted the game-winning goal just under six minutes into the extra frame.
“Any time we face adversity, we find a way to get it done,” Giroux, who had struggled in Games 1 and 2 of the series told the Toronto Star.
“It was a big game for us. We really needed that win. I don’t think the guys wanted to come back again from being down 3-0.”
While the seventh-seeded Flyers are underdogs in the Cup final, they’ve been with the Blackhawks every step of the way. They lost 6-5 and 2-1 in the opening two games in Chicago, proving that they can hang with the second-seeded Blackhawks.
“I think he loosened up a bit,” Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette said of Giroux. “You have to remember it’s the Stanley Cup finals. We talked about just lightening up a little bit. At this point of the year, you know what you have to do in order to be successful. There’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of intensity. There’s a lot of competitiveness in the battles.
“If you tighten up too much, you seize up a little bit. We talked about just having some fun tonight, come out and let everything roll. I think he took that advice because he was smiling all day. He came to the rink and went out and played a great game.”
The win also improved the Flyers’ record to 8-1 inside the Wachovia Center this postseason.
Boxed in
The Blackhawks need to find a balance between their trademark physical play and the costly penalties they took Wednesday night.
Chicago was whistled just three times in the entire game but the Flyers made the most of those man advantages, scoring twice on the power play. Daniel Briere opened scoring with a power-play goal in the first period and Scott Hartnell picked up another goal with Chicago in the box midway through the middle frame.
"We maybe took a few penalties that we shouldn't and that's maybe what cost us the game, too,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews told the CBC. "So we'll be smarter. We don't want to be that team - we've said all along we're going to be smart.
"We've seen other teams take stupid penalties against us, but we're not going to try and let them suck us into playing like that."
Philadelphia has one of the best power-play attacks this postseason, netting 10 goals on the man advantage for a 22.8 percent efficiency. It has scored four times on the power play this series.
"We were right there," Duncan Keith told the media. "We've got to learn what mistakes we did out there and basically it comes to staying out of the penalty box. We talk about that every day. Every day we talk about that and sooner or later we've got to put that in our heads."
Finishing strong
The Flyers have proved harder to kill than a horror movie villain this postseason. And it seems they save their best for last.
Philadelphia has dominated the third period in this series, outshooting Chicago 36-16 in the final frame. The past two games, the Flyers have put up 15 shots in the third to the Blackhawks' four. However, goal scoring in the third period is locked at 2-2.
"I thought we were pretty effective for the first 40 minutes," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville told reporters after Game 3’s loss. "We were pretty good at the start of the third when we scored, then they scored on the following shift.
"We spent a lot of time in our end, not as bad as last game. I thought in overtime we had a couple good looks to end it."
Can the Flyers pull even?
By Judd Hall
You knew that it was only a matter of time before the Flyers were going to strike in the Stanley Cup Final. The Broad Street Bullies did just that on Wednesday night with a fantastic, but sloppy 4-3 victory in overtime over Chicago as $1.35 home faves.
Now Philadelphia finds itself with a chance to turn this round into a best-two-out-of-three affair with a win on Friday. The oddsmakers aren’t so sure that the Flyers will be tying this series, having making them $1.15 home favorites (risk $115 to win $100) with a total of 5 ½.
While public perception no doubt played a part in moving this number down, quality of play of certain men on this ice will also have some effect.
Michael Leighton has been a sticking point for many fans, experts and gamblers that have been backing the Flyers in this series. He may logged three clean sheets against the Canadiens to win the Eastern Conference, but the stage has gotten to Philly’s netminder.
Leighton was visibly nervous in his 35 minutes of work in the opening game of this series, allowing five pretty soft goals on 20 shots. He performed much better in the second contest, stopping 24 of 26 SOG. Of course, those goals came within 28 seconds of one another. Game 3 saw Leighton return to the scared little boy that I beheld in the opener. It makes you wonder how short a leash Leighton will be on with Brian Boucher riding the pine.
Outside of goaltending, Philadelphia has shown nice depth on the attack in this round. The Flyers’ top line of Simon Gagne, Mike Richards and Ville Leino has lit the lamp three times with a pair of assists. The second line duo of Danny Briere (2G, 4 A, 11SOG) and Scott Hartnell (2 G, 3A, 5 SOG) has been even more impressive.
Chicago’s offense seems like it is about to wake up. Patrick Kane finally picked up his first goal of the series in Game 3 and Jonathan Toews earned his first point by assisting on Kane’s score. Dustin Byfuglien, on the other hand, has been snuffed out by the Flyers’ defense in this series by getting just 3 SOG with now goals to his credit.
The Blackhawks need any one of those three strikers to come through in Game 4 because Antti Niemi is starting to look shaky himself. Niemi put together a great effort in the second game of the Stanley Cup Final (32-of-33). Yet the Finnish netminder was out of position on several occasions on Wednesday evening. He’s in no danger of losing his starting job (Cristobal Huet ?!?), but you have to think that Joel Quenneville could be pushed into pulling Niemi mid-game like Leighton.
It’s going to be awfully hard to back Niemi’s Blackhawks in this game since Philly has gone 15-5 in its last 20 dates at the Wachovia Center. Gamblers could take a chance with the Flyers covering the puck line (-1 ½-goals) for a plus-250 return (risk $100 to win $250), but they’re only 5-15 in that spot since the end of January. Plus, this series is being so closely contested that backing the pups to cover the puck line (+1 ½-goals).
Chicago fell as a road pup for the first time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday night. But the Blackhawks are still a very profitable 11-4 in this spot for the season. The ‘Hawks have gone 7-2 on the road in this year’s playoffs.
vegasinsider.com
Desperation fuels Philadelphia Flyers
By Doug Upstone
When you were a child, did you have one of those plastic punch-down toys? They usually had a clown face on it and when you would hit it, the toy falls over but had a base where it always would come right back up to be punched again. If you think about, the Philadelphia Flyers are a lot like this toy, you can smash it, bash it and kick it, but they get right back up looking for more.
Forget about all the other remarkable aspects the Flyers have done just to be in the Stanley Cup Finals, what they had to overcome emotionally in Game 3 was plenty.
Down 2-0 in the finals, Philadelphia needed video replay to take a 2-1 lead in the second period. Chicago roared back to take a 3-2 lead in the third period before stunned Philly fans, yet 20 seconds later Ville Leino tied the score at 3-all.
Off they went to overtime knowing any fluky Chicago goal would for all intents and purposes end their season. The Flyers Claude Giroux redirected Matt Carles pass past Antti Niemi for the game winner at the 5:59 mark, but only after having video replay confirm an early goal the Flyers crowd had thought had ended the contest at that juncture.
This is how everything is done hockey-wise in Philadelphia these days.
Like I said this morning (Wednesday), 2-0 for us is comfortable, coach Flyers Peter Laviolette said. Were OK with that. We know how to battle through it. Philadelphia is up to 13-7 in the postseason after the victory.
This story takes on made-for-TV-movie quality with the tale Giroux had after the best contest of the series. While Giroux was having his pregame nap, he said he received a text message from a friend.
"He doesn't usually text me a lot," Giroux explained. "He said, 'I have a feeling you're going to score the overtime winner tonight.' I texted back and said, 'You're crazy.' I'm going to call him now. It's obviously a big goal. It's probably my biggest goal in my career." This gives him nine in the playoffs, compared to 16 during the regular season.
Chicago has been fantastic in stopping the Flyers top scoring unit led by Mike Richards, who have all but invisible. The Hawks should start turning attention to Leino, Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell line, who are doing most of the damage for Philadelphia.
The Blackhawks seven game road winning streak was snapped and though beaten, they are hardly down, knowing they could have just as easily been up 3-0 in the series.
Right now it looks like they have the momentum in the series, Patrick Kane said. But if we take Game 4, then we put ourselves in a great position to go back and play in front of our home crowd and hopefully win it there. Chicago is 8-1 on the road if the opponent has won 60 percent or more of their home games.
Sportbet.com has Philadelphia as -115 money line favorites to even the series, with total once again Ov5.5. The Flyers are 11-1 in last dozen favorite roles and 7-1 UNDER after a home game where both teams scored three or more goals this season. Chicago enters next contest as treacherous road underdog with 11-1 mark and 20-9 UNDER off a loss.
The Flyers continue to thrive when faced with dire circumstances and that is fine with defenseman Chris Pronger who has been a force.
We've had an awful lot of adversity this year. We have had to learn on the fly," Pronger told reporters. "I don't think anybody has ever questioned [ourselves] in the locker room, anyway. I'm sure some of you clowns have, but we haven't questioned ourselves or questioned exactly what it is we're trying to do. We've struggled at times and been able to turn the corner and figure it out."
Philadelphia has defeated Chicago nine consecutive times in the City of Brotherly Love and is 7-0 after winning previous game in overtime.
Chicago Blackhawks vs. Philadelphia Flyers
The fans at Wachovia Center will be treated to a game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers when they take their seats on Friday.
Oddsmakers currently have the Blackhawks listed as 105-moneyline favorites versus the Flyers, while the game's total is sitting at 5½.
Claude Giroux scored at 5:59 of overtime in Game 3 on Wednesday as the Flyers defeated the Blackhawks 4-3 to cut the Stanley Cup final deficit to 2-1.
The Flyers won that game as -140 favorites, while the seven goals made it OVER the posted over/under (5.5) set by oddsmakers.
Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell, and Ville Leino added the other goals for the Flyers. Duncan Keith, Brent Sopel, and Patrick Kane tallied for the Blackhawks.
Team records:
Chicago: 52-22-8
Philadelphia: 41-35-6
Chicago most recently:
When playing on Friday are 5-5
Before playing Edmonton are 5-5
After playing Philadelphia are 4-6
After a loss are 7-3
Philadelphia most recently:
When playing on Friday are 3-7
Before playing Tampa Bay are 7-3
After playing Chicago are 4-4-1
After a win are 7-3
A few trends to consider:
Chicago is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games
Chicago is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Chicago's last 7 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Chicago's last 6 games
Philadelphia is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Philadelphia is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Chicago
Philadelphia is 14-4 SU in its last 18 games when playing Chicago
Philadelphia is 9-3 SU in its last 12 games
Next up:
Philadelphia at Chicago, Sunday, June 6
CHICAGO (66-26-0-9, 141 pts.) at PHILADELPHIA (54-41-0-7, 115 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
CHICAGO is 3-2 (+0.8 Units) against the spread versus PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
CHICAGO is 3-2-0 straight up against PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
3 of 5 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+1.3 Units)
CHICAGO vs. PHILADELPHIA
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Chicago's last 12 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia
Chicago is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Philadelphia's last 6 games at home
Philadelphia is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Stanley Cup Finals Game Four (Chicago Leads, 2-1)
CHICAGO AT PHILADELPHIA
CHICAGO: 39-17 SU when playing their 3rd game in 5 days
PHILADELPHIA: 7-13 SU after a non-conference game
NHL News and Notes
Home side is 3-0 in Cup finals; Blackhawks had seven-game win streak ended in OT in Game 3; they're 8-3 on road in playoffs. Philly is 8-1 at home in playoffs, winning last six; they're 4-10 on power play in series (16:08), after scoring twice in just 3:23 with man advantage in Game 3, while Chicago is 0-6 (11:55). Flyers outshot Chicago 30-8 in third period of last two games- their only shot in OT was game-winner.