THE FLYERS HIVE Forums

eleven24 · #1 April 20th, 2004, 12:13 PM

Watching last nights game between the Bruins & Canadiens I began to salivate at the thought of facing Boston in round 2. We would have annihilated them, home ice or not.

While I generally have a much different feeling about the team this year (see other post), I'd prefer Toronto. So, here's to hoping for a triple overtime tonight, with the Leafs prevailing.

Being a number crunching fanatic, here's some relevant info on why I'd rather play Toronto.

Flyers vs Toronto, reg season:
* Won 3, Lost 1.
* Scoring: Flyers, 17; Leafs, 5.
* Shots: Flyers, 89; Leafs, 107.
* Power Play went 5 for 21 (23.8%).
* Penalty Kill was 13 for 16 (81.3%).

INJURIES: Owen Nolan (knee-OUT); Mats Sundin (quad-OUT); A.Mogilny (hip surgery-playing hurt); D.Tucker (abdomen-playing hurt); M.Renberg (hamstring-playing hurt); K.Klee (shoulder-playing hurt)

OBSERVATIONS: 3 of the 5 Leaf goals came in the final meeting between the two teams. In that game the Leafs were outshot 29-14, but won 3-2. It was one of those horrible games by Esche, and obviously he's moved past that slump.

Flyers vs Ottawa, reg season:
* Won 1, Lost 2, Tied 1
* Scoring: Flyers, 8; Ottawa, 9
* Shots: Flyers, 120; Ottawa, 116
* Power Play: 2 for 10 (20%)
* Penalty Kill: 12 for 17 (70.5%)

INJURIES: J.Spezza (lower body-playing hurt); P.Lalime (knee sprain-playing hurt); T.Simpson (shoulder-OUT)

Quick Stats from the TOR/OTT Series:
TORONTO: 128 shots / 10 goals. PP: 4 for 26
OTTAWA: 201 shots / 10 goals (shutout 3 times). PP: 3 for 30

OBSERVATIONS
In the last Flyers/Leafs game, the Flyers outshot Toronto 29-14, but lost 3-2. It was during Esche's March slump. Take that game out, and the Leafs only scored 2 goals in 3 games vs Philly.

The Flyers have such a hard time scoring against the Sens. 120 shots and 8 goals proves that fact, as well as the past history versus these guys in the past playoffs.

Based on stats, the easy team to root for tonight would be Toronto. But Belfour is white-hot right now & Lalime is a bit shaky. That right there gives good argument to rooting for the Sens.

In the end, at least for me, I'll take my chances with the hot goaltender which we can get quality chances against over a weak goaltender that we won't get quality chances against. Toronto is also an over-emotional team which leads to many PP opportunities. Quite simply, they're not as disciplined as Ottawa. They're also extremely banged up, with Sundin & Nolan on the shelf.

While I think we can take both teams, tonight I'll be saying...

GO LEAFS GO!