For the first ten minutes of the first period and for most of the overtime period, it seemed as if the Philadelphia Flyers had made the adjustments needed to successfully take on the Hurricanes. However, it was kind of like that hidden 90s comedy gem The Great White Hype. There is a scene where the challenger has the champ on the ropes after a big hit, and it shocks the boxer. He shakes his head and yells out, "Are you trying to embarrass me on national TV?" He then proceeds to pummel the boxer.
After the two goals, the Hurricanes responded with one of their own and would later tie it up in the third period. They went back to their neutral zone trap ways, suffocated any Flyers attack, and then aggressively attacked Dan Vladar for the rest of the night. What seemed to be a sure win ended up as a heartbreaking defeat in overtime thanks to Taylor Hall.
Yes, the Hurricanes made the in-game adjustments that a winning team needs to do. The Flyers couldn't match the adjustments and therefore lost. HOWEVER.......
There is a major reason that the Philadelphia Flyers lost. You know it before I even bring it up. You can copy and paste the reason going back for the last five or six years running.
Power Play Failures Strike Again
The Flyers are second in the NHL with 28 total power play opportunities this postseason. During that time, they have taken a grand total of 29 shots. That's, on average, slightly over one measly shot per power play. While Drysdale's goal was on the power play, they have gone just 1-for-11 on the man advantage. In Game 1, Philly went 0-for-4 with just two shots on goal. In Game 2, they went 1-for-7 with three shots. Yes, three shots.
But it isn't just Carolina and their vastly superior defense. Against the Penguins, Philly scored just twice out of 17 power play chances. So, in total, the Flyers have scored on three of 28 total chances. That's 10.7%. Yikes!
For a team that has offensive players such as Travis Konecny, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, and Tyson Foerster, they struggle when they have an extra man on the ice. To be fair, the loss of Owen Tippett could be hurting them more than they realize on the power play unit, as well as five-on-five play.
What makes Game Two's loss that much sadder is the fact that Carolina practically gave them opportunities to strike back. The Hurricanes had two too many men on the ice penalties. They've had three during the series after committing just four such penalties all season. Too many men is the laziest of all penalties in the NHL. Count! You have five men on the ice. Six...that's too much! To do that twice in a game is being lazy. As if that isn't enough, Caroling also committed two delay of the game penalties. Whereas Pittsburgh took a lot of physical penalties against the Flyers, the Canes are just taking sloppy ones. Worse than that, they aren't converting when given the opportunity on the power play.
Hopefully, the change of scenery will help the Flyers. They're not out of it yet. Still, scoring on the power play would help out a lot. If the Canes are presenting them with the chances, the Flyers need to take every advantage we can.
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