Game Four Tonight in Philly

[IE]

Game four kicks off tonight in Philly at 8 PM ET in what may very well be the biggest game of the series. If Chicago wins, they head back to home ice with a commanding 3-1 lead and a chance to clinch in front of the home fans. If Philly wins, they skate back to the United Center in Chicago tied at two a piece in a best of three series.

* * *

I'm not one for making predictions, but I think Philly is taking this one on home ice. The Flyers have skated with the Blackhawks every single game. They are not being overtaken as many suspected they would be. All three games of the series have been decided by one goal. Chicago is not dismantling the Flyers and Philly is not bowing down to the Blackhawks' high-scoring offense.

With said, you can't take anything away from the Blackhawks. They are finding ways to win and making the most of opportunities - ie., Kane's breakaway goal the other night.

Coming into this series a lot of people expected a low-scoring affair. The prevailing thought was that Chicago's offense would be stopped by Philly's defense and the Flyers' offense would try and score a few goals to match the Blackhawks. So far, if you haven't noticed, that is not the case at all. Both teams are playing shootout hockey (minus game two) and making it pretty exciting to watch. I can live with that.

--Pittsburgh Penguins blog

 

[IE]

McClure says you lot are jumping off the walls in the threads today, so we'll get this up a little earlier than usual. Obviously, the big one is tonight. As you've seen elsewhere, 24 of the previous 27 Stanley Cup champs have won Game 4. There is a large difference between coming home 3-1 with the man in the black hood warming up his shoulders and coming back 2-2 with the Flyers having all the momentum. I know which I'd prefer.

First things first, on the Hawks side Andrew "Mountain" Ladd is a gametime decision (aren't we all?). He didn't skate with any particular line during the morning skate, but don't read too much into that. I expect Ladd to be in the lineup, and back on Bolland's and Versteeg's wing. If I have to guess, I'd imagine Burish sits and Kopecky moves to the 4th line, but I don't want to put myself on a ledge when it comes to guessing what Coach Q is going to do. For the Flyers, CarBomb is sitting, big shock I know. Are you surprised that in a game where the refs may be tightening things up that the biggest doofus on either team is in the pressbox?

We've been speculating on what Q might do to unlock Toews and Byfuglien. I get the feeling there's a shuffle in our future. Perhaps Brouwer's greater mobility would be an asset on the top line, making Pronger move far more than he has with Buff. Maybe you reunite the Hammer of Thor line with Hossa, Toews, and Sharp, and thus make Laviolette decide which of Toews and Kane he wants to let roam free in a Pronger-less ice. Or maybe you just leave it as it is, and decide that you're the better team, and it doesn't matter.

What I'd like to see, and know I won't, is less adherence to all the matchy-uppy Q tendencies. Make your lineup changes however you want, but then ice the team and make the Flyers adjust to you. Honestly, what line match against the Flyers is so scary? Who of Briere, Richards, and Giroux can Toews not handle (the answer so far is Briere, but that won't last). Sharp? Bolland? Whatever. We're going to go do our thing, you try and stop it. Another thing that has to happen is Brian Campbell's icetime must be greater than Brent Sopel's. 51 Phantom was having a great game in Game 3 in the first two, and then had to watch Sopes stumble and crawl around the ice, which is bringing down Hammer as GMH mentioned. If Campbell gets past the first forechecker, he will exploit the oodles of space behind it.

I know some of you are jittery. Don't be. We'd have taken 2-1 in the Cup Final in October. We have the better team. We haven't played our best in this series yet, and the Flyers have. They still needed at OT to scratch out a win. It's coming tonight. Tonight we see that effort and determination that no team has ever been able to live with.

Cheesesteaks approaching...

--Second City Hockey