Quick Fixes: How the Flyers Can Bounce Back in Game 5

That’s where the Flyers can break them and take advantage of their mistakes, as long as Philadelphia does not break its structure.

Go up early and apply pressure. Make the Penguins take it from the Flyers. You don’t want to be chasing, not in that environment.

Shoot with bodies in front of the net

Artus Silovs is getting his second crack at the Flyers after winning Game 4 for the Penguins.

If you watched Game 4, or even just watched Silovs at all this season, you’d see he gives up a lot of rebound opportunities. He tends to stop pucks with his pads or blocker. There were a lot of hard rebounds. The Flyers did not capitalize.

I thought that would have been a good adjustment after the first period, but it did not seem like it really caught on. Tyson Foerster had a good chance off a rebound with Silovs well away from the right post, but Foerster went wide.

For Game 5, that should be the message from the start. Get bodies to the net, then shoot the puck. If you have guys around the paint waiting for a second chance instead of it just getting a lucky bounce, it’s much easier to make the play.

Of course, doing so would require sustaining possession and actually having guys get into position. That was a flaw in Game 4 as well. Too many one-and-done rushes or turnovers while trying to set up possession.

Target the blocker or go low when there are bodies in front. Do something to break through.

Get back to Flyers hockey played in Games 1, 2, & 3

The Flyers simply got away from the game that made them successful in the first three games. While the Flyers did seem to regain some of that edge in the second half, they still lacked the intensity they showed early.

Maybe the fact that they were no longer underdogs led to a sense of complacency. Though head coach Rick Tocchet got ahead of it and said it wasn’t that after Game 4. Still, there was something missing.

The Flyers have to find their swagger again. They were playing like a team on a mission in the first three games of the series, and seemed to have just taken their foot off the gas in Game 4. If they think the Penguins will let up after winning Game 4, that’s just wrong. They did not bring the series back to Pittsburgh to let it end there.

The Flyers have to get back to their heavy-hitting, strong-defending ways, taking the middle of the ice away from the Penguins, and getting back under their skin. If they can’t find that swagger that they had in the first 3 games, this series could be heading back to Philadelphia.

Read More: Flyers Practice: Lineup Changes Coming Soon?

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