With Hart and heart, the Flyers forced a Game 7 | On the Fly
The Flyers had never won three overtime games in a playoff series before Thursday night.
The text message came in from an old buddy just after midnight, about an hour after Ivan Provorov’s game-winner. Has any team ever won four overtime games in a series? Yes. Just one.
Thursday night’s gripping win over the Islanders was the Flyers’ third of the series. Hence the inquiry from my friend.
This is the first time the Flyers have played three overtimes in a series since 2003, when they beat the Maple Leafs in seven games. Those three overtime contests, like the three here, all were played in Toronto.
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Oh, and the only team to win four overtime games in a seven-game series was the 1951 Maple Leafs, who won the Stanley Cup on Bill Barilko’s goal in Game 5. In Toronto.
— Ed Barkowitz (flyers@inquirer.com)
Game 7 anyone?
They were without their best skater.
Their power play can be declared legally missing anytime now.
They gave up 21 shots on goal to one Islanders line. ONE LINE!
And yet this hearty bunch put together by two general managers (past and present) is still breathing. Kind of fitting that the hero goaltender’s last name is Hart.
“If somebody were to ask me in the beginning of the series against such a strong opponent: one game, winner take all?” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. “I would have taken that.”
The Flyers had never won three overtime games in a series until last night. They hadn’t won back-to-back playoff overtime games since the five-OT game followed a single-OT win against Pittsburgh in 2000.
Sean Couturier couldn’t play last night, but Oskar Lindblom could.
“He played unbelievable, too,” Claude Giroux said. “He hasn’t played since I’m not even sure, but it’s been a long time. It’s been a long battle. This guy’s heart, you have to see it to believe it.”
But for Ivan Provorov’s Game 6-winning goal to etch its way into Flyers lore, they’ll need to grind out a win in Game 7.
“We can’t think about it like it’s a Game 7,” said Lindblom, who played 17 minutes, 30 seconds in his first game since Dec. 7. “It’s been a Game 7 for us for a long time here.”
Lindblom was referring to the Flyers’ staring at elimination since the Islanders grabbed a 3-1 series lead Sunday. What a difference a handful of days makes.
“I’ve been on a lot of tight teams with good chemistry,” said Giroux, who assisted on Scott Laughton’s game-tying, third-period goal. “This one here is very special. Before hockey stopped, we were very close, and then we get in the bubble. Spending a lot of time with the same guys. We have so much fun. We see each other every day. We just know how to play and stay loose, make sure we enjoy this bubble.”
Things to know
Six pack of stats to start the day
With Sean Couturier on the ice, Claude Giroux takes about 12 face-offs per game. They usually split the work. With no Couturier last night (and a game that went double overtime), Giroux took 39 draws.
More importantly, he won 24 of those face-offs, a 61.5% winning percentage that is the fifth highest in a playoff game since 2000 among players who’ve taken at least that many draws.
Ivan Provorov played a game-high 38 minutes, 15 seconds, besting his previous career high of 30:07. He probably would have played longer but, you know, he scored the game-winning goal. Provorov was +3 during the evening.
The Islanders spent a full 90 seconds in the Flyers zone during one sequence in the second period — and did not score.
Of the Flyers (gasp!) 30 giveaways in Game 6, Phil Myers had five and Travis Sanheim four. Yeah, it was a longer game, but THIRTY? The Flyers giveaways from the first five games were 15, 10, 9, 9 and 19.
And finally, Flyers media relations stats ace Brian Smith dug up this gem: James van Riemsdyk’s goal Thursday was just the fourth he ever scored on a slapshot in his whole career. We’re talking 267 goals between regular season and postseason. Of his 168 shots on goal this season entering Thursday, only three were slapshots.
Important dates
Friday, Game 7: Dallas at Colorado (at Edmonton), 4 p.m. (USA Network)
Friday, Game 7: Vancouver at Vegas (at Edmonton), 9 p.m. (NBCSN)
Saturday, Game 7: Islanders at Flyers (at Toronto), 7:30 p.m. (NBC)
Sunday, Game 1: Western Conference final (at Edmonton), 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Note: Eastern Conference finals schedule is TBA
Saturday night fever
Post time for the Kentucky Derby is 7:01 p.m Saturday., the sizzling Phillies are at 7:10, and the Flyers play at 7:30. As Bill Clement likes to say, put on your dancin’ shoes.