The Flyers have the edge on Montreal right now, but they need to find scoring from their top guns.
While the Flyers are currently up in their goaltending against Montreal, they can thank their goaltending for a lot of it. They’ve scored three goals in three games thus far against the Canadiens. But none from a large group of Philadelphia’s key players.
With two sharp goaltenders on either side, this series wasn’t expected to be a high scoring one. Nevertheless, the Flyers need their top players to start finding the back of the net.
Having only three goals after three games isn’t going to cut it if the Flyers want to make it further. Depth scoring is never a bad thing. It is, however, when you can’t get scoring from anywhere else.
Going back to when they first came to Toronto, these are just a few of the players who don’t have a goal: Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Kevin Hayes, and Sean Couturier. The group does have 10 points combined, four of those coming from Hayes.
And it’s not like each player is not doing their part elsewhere on the ice. Couturier has the best on-ice metrics at even strength among all Flyers players. He leads the group with a 60.16 CF%. His 60.00 FF% also leads the team. So the chances have been there for Couturier.
The numbers are similar for Giroux. He’s right behind Couturier with a 52.50 CF% and a 55.56 FF%. The expected goals don’t necessarily line up for him while on the ice. He’s actually projected to give up a goal slightly more than he is to score while on the ice.
That has a lot do with the typical shut-down defensive pair that plays against them. The top line did do a good job against Shea Weber and Ben Chiarot in the last game. But the goals still aren’t coming for them.
The underlying numbers don’t paint a pretty picture for Hayes and Konecny. They have among the worst advanced metrics of the entire group. Konecny is seventh worst (40.65 CF%) and Hayes is just below him (40.00 CF%). They have outscored Montreal 4-1 while on the ice, however.
So while they are seemingly losing the offensive battle, they’ve actually come away looking better than they appear. But none of those goals have come off their sticks. And while they’re currently out-scoring the Canadiens, their poor metrics will come back to haunt them eventually.
They were being carried by the hot play of Scott Laughton. He currently leads the team in goals (3) and points (5) since the team has come to Toronto. He had a point in each of the Flyers first three games. He has cooled off since this series against Montreal began, though.
The Canadiens style of play has kept the big guns off the scoreboard. But it’s been since the playoffs have started that the players haven’t been able to find the back of the net. The Flyers have seen the ways they need to crowd the net and take away the eyes of Carey Price.
It doesn’t have to be a pretty goal by any means. They all count the same no matter how they are scored. And it won’t matter if they are doing everything else on the ice. Depth and goaltending can only carry the Flyers for so long.
The Canadiens have already proven that they are going to be tough to get past. Scoring one or two goals a game isn’t going to get the job done. The Flyers have to find away to turn a low-scoring matchup into the same blowout that Montreal got in the second game.
It won’t be easy by any means, but getting the above players to find the scoresheet could open the floodgates for the Flyers.