Lightning Figure Flyers Will Get Physical Rangers, Canadiens To Resume One Of Nhl’s Oldest Rivalries
The Philadelphia Flyers pick up where they left off - sort of - when the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs begin tonight.
The Flyers ended the season as Eastern Conference champions with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in St. Petersburg, Fla., Sunday night. They begin the playoffs tonight against the Lightning, only this time it’s in Philadelphia.
“It will be especially tough to open in their building,” Lightning captain Paul Ysebaert said. “If you can last the first 10 minutes of the game, you can stay in it. I look for it to be a physical series.”
The other best-of-seven first-round playoffs starting tonight have Montreal at the New York Rangers, Vancouver at Colorado and St. Louis at Toronto. The other four series begin Wednesday night with Washington at Pittsburgh, Boston at Florida, Winnipeg at Detroit and Calgary at Chicago.
Lightning center John Cullen agrees it will be a physical series, and that’s a problem, especially since the Flyers “average height and weight is 7-foot and about 300 pounds.”
“We had an inkling we might play those guys. You can’t intimidate a team like that,” Cullen said. “It’s the team that plays the smartest that wins in the playoffs.”
Eric Lindros is one of those physical Philadelphia players. He had his 47th goal of the season and added an assist against Tampa Bay in the season finale, which put the Flyers one point ahead of Pittsburgh for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Dale Hawerchuk, who had the assist on Lindros’ goal, called Tampa Bay “a hard-working team, and they’ve been one of the better teams in hockey the last couple months. They scratched and clawed their way into the playoffs.”
Tampa Bay earned its first playoff berth in only its fourth season. The Lightning edged the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils by two points for the final Eastern Conference spot.
The Rangers enter the playoffs against Montreal in a horrible slump. They haven’t won since April 5 and have lost six of their last seven.
“We can’t come out like we have in the last five games,” said forward Jari Kurri, whose Rangers have been outscored 11-1 in their last five periods. “We should be a team that gets the first goal. We should not be a team that’s chasing from behind.”
The Rangers-Canadiens rivalry has been a big part of NHL history. Two of the original six teams, they have met 13 times in the playoffs, Montreal winning seven.
The Canadiens lead the all-time series 293-166-89, including 17-1-3 in the last 21 games in Montreal.
The Avalanche, on the other hand, go into their series with Vancouver on a bit of a run. Before they lost 5-4 in overtime to Los Angeles in their season finale, the Avalanche won four in a row.
“This was one of those games we need to put behind us,” Joe Sakic said. “It didn’t mean anything. Getting ready for the playoffs won’t be a problem.”
When the Blues-Maple Leafs series begins, it marks Wayne Gretzky’s return to the playoffs for the first time in three years. It could be a tough one for St. Louis, despite having Gretzky. Toronto won the season series 4-1-1.
The Blues ended the season in a 1-7-4 skid and were 6-10-5 after acquiring Gretzky.