After today’s 5-4 loss to Pittsburgh there are going to be a lot of fingers all around Philadelphia pointing squarely at the man to our left, Martin Biron. Is Marty a true #1 goalie? Probably not, but what if I told you he was not the one to blame for the Flyers’ inconsistency this season?
I’m not going to lie, this post started out as a grand de-construction of Martin Biron and why he is not the guy to get the job done, but as I started looking at the stats I came to a completely different conclusion. Neither Biron nor Antero Niittymaki will make a difference if the Flyers do not first address their Achilles Heel…
…which I will reveal to you in just a few paragraphs (don’t cheat by skipping further down either!)
First let’s address some of the common scapegoats for the Flyers’ inconsistency. Are the goalies truly the ones at fault, or is it the defense in front of them? The Flyers are 24th in the NHL in shots allowed per game. The teams ranked below them? Phoenix, Edmonton, Tampa, Atlanta, New York (Isles), and Florida. Not exactly elite company, eh?
When goaltending isn’t a strength, giving up 30+ shots a game is generally not a good idea…or so you’d think. Yet since December when the Flyers have held an opponent to under 30 shots they are just 5-5. In games (again, since December) where the Flyers outshot their opponent they are 4-6, and when shot totals are even they are 0-4. Here’s the real telling stat though; when the Flyers have been outshot over the past three months they are 15-4.
15-4?!? That seems to defy logic! UNTIL you look at the number of penalties the Flyers take. As a matter of fact the Flyers lead the NHL in penalty minutes with 1,027 (for a whopping 18.4 PIM/G). Now we start to see why the shot totals are so skewed: the other team is getting more shots off with the man advantage (a reasonable assumption to make.) When you couple that with the fact that the Flyers have had the fewest number of powerplays in the league this season it is easier to understand why they might be getting outshot so often.
I know I’m throwing a lot of numbers your way but stick with me here!
Given what we just discussed and considering the Flyers seem to have more success when being outshot, would it then be such a high priority to bring in a defenseman via trade leading up to the March 4th deadline? Unless you get a reasonable deal on a game-changer like Bouwmeester, probably not. Assuming everyone stays healthy the Flyers should have plenty of defensive talent to make a run at the Cup. What about those goaltenders? Sure Biron has been up and down, and Niittymaki has had trouble staying healthy, but statistically they are better than many of the potential trade targets the Flyers could be looking at.
The real problem with the Philadelphia Flyers is a complete lack of discipline.
I understand playing a physical game is important to John Stevens and company, but staying out of the box needs to be a higher priority. Taking fewer penalties will also inevitably lead to more powerplay chances for the team as well and take a lot of the pressure off the goalies. I know this isn’t exactly Earth-shattering news for the fans who have been keeping close tabs on the team this season, but why put so much blame on the guys between the pipes when they aren’t the ones sitting in the penalty box?!?
Making a big trade at this point just isn’t realistic if you look at things from GM Paul Holmgren’s perspective. The team is right at the salary cap limit, and is already going to have to make a move just to fit Danny Briere’s bloated salary back on the books. The Flyers really shouldn’t have to make a big move though because the talent is here to make a run at Lord Stanley, they just have to find a way to stay out of the sin bin first.
**Tomorrow I’ll take a look at the goaltending situation specifically, and reveal the one guy who could take the Flyers to the promised land!**
