For the first time in these playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers are returning home for a Game 3 in a 2-0 hole. In series wins over Washington and Montreal, Philadelphia shook off losses in the opener to race out to 3-1 edges.
"We're 0-2 right now, and I don't think we've played very well," said Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. "We played better in the second game, but I think we have to play better if we expect to win a game."
Tonight's Game 3 against Pittsburgh is a must-win, with Philly the money line betting underdog at -105 (over/under: 5.5), but there are several bad omens facing the Flyers:
*-Pens star Sidney Crosby has now scored in each of the first two games of this series, after being held without a goal during the Penguins' five-game victory over the Rangers in the second round.
"In the playoffs, you're not just going to get your chances, you have to work for them," Crosby said. "Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't. That's just playoff hockey. You have to give yourself the best chance possible. I have to give myself a chance to create plays, and I've been focusing on that."
Crosby, who did have six assists against the Rangers, has scored a goal in back-to-back games for the first time since Games 3 and 4 of the Penguins' first-round sweep of Ottawa. Including the playoffs, Crosby now has four goals and six assists in six games against the Flyers in the 2007-08 seasons. For his career, he has 18 goals and 22 assists in 22 games against Philadelphia.
*-The Flyers are getting no production from the line of Daniel Briere, Vaclav Prospal and Scott Hartnell. The trio is pointless in the series and a minus-7.
*-Philly, already missing its top defenseman, Kimmo Timonen, with a blood clot in his ankle, likely won't have its best remaining blueliner tonight. Braydon Coburn was hit on the left side of his face by a deflected puck less than two minutes into Game 2 Sunday night, and he did not return.While Coburn needed more than 50 stitches to close a gash near his left eye, Holmgren reported Coburn suffered no fractures and did not suffer a concussion.
"He had no loss of consciousness," Holmgren said. "We're still waiting to hear word on how his eye is. It's swollen shut. There are no fractures. He's doing better. We have no reason to think there's anything wrong with the eye. Our doctors thought he was fine, but we wanted him to get checked out by an actual ophthalmologist. Assuming there's no issues there, we'll just wait for the swelling to go down."
Rookie Ryan Parent, who played 22 regular season games, will likely fill the void, although Coburn could play in Game 4. "We have full confidence in him as he's a good, young player who continues to get better," coach John
Stevens said.
*-Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has posted a 10-1 record and 1.80 goals-against average in the playoffs. Pittsburgh has allowed the fewest goals of the remaining four teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"You know what, people probably won't pay attention to our defensive game, because of the weapons that we have offensively," said Penguins coach Michel Therrien. "And I believe that's normal. We stress a lot with the players about playing a good team game, good defensive game, a good checking game.
"I think Marc-Andre gives us a chance to win every game."
Betting trends: Penguins are 7-0 in their last 7 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game. ... Flyers are 9-1 in their last 10 home games. ... Under is 7-1 in Penguins' last 8 road games. ... Over is 4-1 in Flyers' last 5 home games. ... Over is 8-1 in the last 9 meetings in Philadelphia. ... Penguins are 0-4 in the last 4 meetings in Philadelphia.
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