(2) Philadelphia Flyers
(7) Buffalo Sabres
The Flyers came out of the gate flying this season and were in contention for the Presidents trophy for the majority of the season before sputtering down the stretch and finishing 11 points back of the Canucks. The Flyers went (9-9-7) down the stretch, winning only 9 of their last 25 games. Chris Pronger has been out of the lineup since March 15th, but he is expected to play in this series, whether it be in game number of or shortly thereafter. The Flyers will have to find their game quickly because unlike them the Sabres excelled at the end of the season.
Buffalo started the season off slowly, but finished strong winning their last 4 games and going (9-1-2) in their last 12 games. So it took the Sabres 12 games to win 9, while taking the Flyers 25. The Sabres clearly have the momentum, but the experienced lineup and home ice advantage still make the Flyers the favourites in the oddsmakers eyes. Ryan Miller is back healthy and should allow the Sabres every chance they need to win games against the Flyers.
Keys To The Series
- Flyers need to regain confidence. The Flyers have been struggling of late and they need to regain their early season swagger to win this series.
- Special Teams. The Flyers special teams have also struggled down the stretch. They finished 19th and 15th in power play and penalty kill percentages respectively for the season, while the Sabres power play came in 9th and the pk 13th. Add the fact that the Flyers special teams numbers have been dropping while the Sabres have been increasing and this could pose a serious problem for the Flyers. Especially since they are known for being a physical team (7th most PIM this season, compared to the Sabres 16th most)
- Goaltending. You can expect Ryan Miller to be on top of his game during the playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky on the other hand is a wild card. If he stands on his head the Flyers should be able to battle to a series win, but if he struggles at all the Sabres will jump all over him.
- Momentum. Can the Sabres continue their stellar play from the final part of the regular season.
This is going to be one of my favourites series’ to follow this first round. I can see the series going either way and it really depends on which Flyers team shows up to play. It is very difficult for a team to just turn it on after having struggled to finish the regular season. For this reason I like the Sabres as the dogs.
My Pick: Buffalo Sabres +135
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