Flyers Playoff Player Review: Bunnaman, Lindblom, Gostisbehere
Connor Bunnaman Playoff Review: Did We see Enough of Anything from the young Flyers forward?
Connor Bunnaman was far from a staple in the Flyers lineup, suiting up for 21 games, averaging over 9 minutes a night during the abbreviated 69-game regular season. The twenty-one year old must have gotten a confidence boost when he was invited to come with the team to the playoff bubble.
Bunnaman was more than just an extra body for practice as he got to dress and play in four playoff games, of which the Flyers won three, and where his average ice time increased to just over 10 minutes a game. This bodes very well for the centerman’s chances to stick with the big club this season.
By The Numbers
Bunnaman played in four games, playing mostly on the fourth line and recording no points. The Flyers did not score while he was on the ice and he was on the ice for a single goal against, a prayer by Joel Armia that snuck by Carter Hart in Game Five against Montreal, a 5-3 loss. Bunnaman received a scant 24 seconds of powerplay time and did not do any penalty killing in the playoffs.
As one might expect, Bunnaman did not have good advanced numbers. His corsi percentage, 35.94, bested only by Tyler Pitlick and Nate Thompson, two players who played in all sixteen playoff games. The fluid nature of the Flyers’ lines probably had a compounding effect on Bunnaman’s corsi. The third and fourth line seemed to struggle to find an identity or game plan through out the playoffs. It looked like a jumble of spare part and recent acquisitions. To make matters worse, players like Derek Grant and Nate Thompson were not providing help in driving play.
Grade: Incomplete
Bunnaman’s stats were not great, but they were also on par with his 4th line brothers. He really did not do anything memorable that hurt the team, and the goal that Armia scored was one of the rare variety that could be pinned mostly on Carter Hart. It is not enough to make an assessment one way or the other.