I broke down the regular season into “test” periods last month- sequences of games that would be challenging for the Flyers and good markers by which to judge whether or not they had shirked the inconsistency that had plagued them for the last several years. The last “test” was how the Flyers would fare in the face of significant player injuries.
I’m still not sure how they would perform if they lost key players in the way that the Pittsburgh Penguins have with Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and “Philadelphia favorite” Sidney Crosby out of the line-up with various injuries.
The style of play in Thursday night’s win against the Nashville Predators, though, brought about another marker by which to gauge the team’s future success- the fight for home ice advantage.
“We want to show we’re a hard team to play here at home and there [are] no easy games in our building,” said Ville Leino. He added, “Sometimes, when you’re ahead in the standings and you’re pretty sure you’ll make the playoffs, you’ll lose your focus and just let it go for a bit.”
That’s exactly what they have to be concerned with heading into the remainder of the season. With the win against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, the Pens are now one point behind the Flyers. The Tampa Bay Lighting and the Boston Bruins comprise the only other teams in the East that legitimately have a shot at winning the Cup, but that doesn’t mean a team like the Montreal Canadiens couldn’t sneak in and steal the fourth spot if the Flyers got lazy.
Asked whether he thought the team was beginning to emulate playoff hockey, Jeff Carter said, “I think we’ve been doing that for the last month or so. Look at the standings.”
“Obviously, we’re focused on getting home ice throughout the playoffs. It’s kind of our goal right now. You saw how big it [was] last year.”
That statement is a bit of a misnomer in the context of the Eastern Conference, as the two teams that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals were seeded 7th and 8th. In fact, teams from the East that didn’t have home ice advantage had a 23-20-0 record (there are no shootouts in playoff hockey). In the West, however, the record for lower seeded teams was 13-27-0.
Regardless of that record, home ice advantage is exactly what it says it is- an advantage. Failing to show up for games will allow for other teams to claw their way back into contention.
In the post-game presser, coach Peter Laviolette hit the nail on the head. “You’re going to be playing teams that are fighting for home ice or they’re fighting… You catch a Western Conference [team], somebody may be sitting in [the] sixth spot, but they’re only three points out of the twelfth spot, so they’re fighting for their lives right now. You can’t afford to take any games lightly.”
The Stars have lost four of their last five games, but basically owned the first three weeks of January. As a result, they’re sitting 3rd in the Western Conference, but just 7 points ahead of 9th place. They are missing a number of players to injury, including Chris Pronger’s biggest fan, Adam Burish. Burish got his clock cleaned on Thursday by Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference and will be out for the next week with facial injuries.
The Flyers will need to be prepared for the long haul if they’re going to hoist another cup, and there’s no better time for playoff hockey than February.
For live game-time updates and post-game quotes/video, follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).
Yup, February’s that first setup heading into the stretch of March/early April. This is a huge month for preparation and testing resolve. I just don’t want to see them pull a “Caps” from last season.