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A couple things on last night's game, to counter what seems like a barrage of complaints about the Flyers in the wake of what I viewed as a pretty damn impressive victory: (thread)
1. Just because PHI didn't win in a fun way, or the way you wanted them to win, doesn't mean they didn't play well in their own way. This isn't even "narrative." They collected 59.8% of the Expected Goals in all situations, and 56.8% at evens. They were better. Full stop.
2. A good self-test here is your view of the 3rd period. If your initial thought was that the Flyers turtled and parked it, re-evaluate that. PHI led in scoring chances 9-3 in the final 20 minutes. They gave up very little & created more than you may have thought. Good period.
3. MTL is playing really well. They are playing their pressure-oriented style to absolute perfection. When an opponent is executing that well, a team can't just snap its fingers and score 5 goals, especially now w/defenses ahead of offenses in Return to Play. You have to adapt.
4. Yes, the PHI offense/PP haven't been good. Ideally they'd be rolling (especially the PP). But teams that can only win one way don't go far. The last 2 games they were forced to play this bleh style if they wanted to win. Last night, they proved they could. That's important.
