Flyers: Analyzing corsi in Friday night’s win over Penguins

The Flyers faced a motivated Penguins team that was eager to avenge their loss in game 1 one of the two-game series. While corsi told a story of Penguins dominance, the 5-2 score Flyers victory told a different story.

The story was of Carter Hart.  He is really good, and “stole” this game from the Penguins.

First Period 

Flyers CF:11 CA: 13 CF%: 45.83

The Flyers had an uneven start, caused in part by the absence of Selke winner Sean Couturier, who was injured early in the first period and did not return.

The teams traded chances, with the Penguins getting opportunities on odd man rushes and by forechecking and then delivering turnovers to high danger areas.

The Flyers defense did a nice job of denying the Pens most of the rebound chances, which may have been the difference between trailing or escaping with a 3-2 lead.

Second Period

Flyers CF:5 CA:11 CF%: 31.25

The Flyers stumbled in the second period, it was only through the efforts of Hart that the team in the held the lead.  The Penguins came out aggressively with defensemen stepping up to hold pucks in the offensive zone or to stop oncoming rushes in the neutral zone.

The Flyers were playing conservatively, not pressing the challenging Penguins defenders who had move aggressively forward, but still, somehow,  gave up several odd man chance.  The second period was a prime example of a goaltender making stats meaningless, as Hart was unbreakable. The Penguins deserved more than zero goals.

Third Period

Flyers CF:6 CA:11 CF%:35.29

Much like in the first game of the season, the Flyers slowed their forecheck efforts in the third period and looked more interested in running down the clock than scoring.  They took no chances and would often dump the puck deep with only token pursuit.

The Penguins carried play in the third period with their defensemen getting very aggressive joining the rush.  The Flyers were able to hold strong against the added pressure, and then counter attack and cash in with the Penguins undermanned on the defensive end, increasing their margin to 4-2.

Corsi Winner

PIT Sidney Crosby CF:12 CA:5 CF%: 70.59

If Konecny’s hat trick would not have got his hat trick on Friday night, Crosby would have been the best non goalie on the ice.  The Flyers centers each had significant time against Crosby, including Giroux. Giroux shifts at the pivot for the injured Couturier.   Giroux and Laughton took the brunt of Corsby’ wrath, with a combined 8-1 corsi disadvantage.

Corsi Losers

Sean Couturier CF:0 CA:1 CF%: 0

Couturier was the statistical loser with a CF% of 0.  His injury limited the center to 45 seconds of action, and this is clearly an injury based anomaly.

Joel Farabee CF:2 CA:13 CF%: 13.33

Farabee had a rough night.  Though his corsi was a disaster Farabee seemed more or less invisible rather than a problem which his corsi% might indicate.  I saw no egregious errors or plays on Farabee’s part that led directly to Penguins’ scoring chances.

Conclusion CF:22  CA:35 CF%:  38.6%

For the second game in a row, corsi painted a picture of Penguin dominance. If taken with out context might be indicative of a Penguins win.  Unlike the first game, the Penguins did seem to be the better team tonight.  It could be argued that they were more deserving of the win, however the reality the Flyers ability to draw penalties and Carter Hart’s play made this another decisive win for the Flyers.

On the season the Flyers have 2 wins, outscoring their opponents 11-5 without a corsi advantage.