Flyers v. Sabres Game 2: Lines and more

FLYERS

JVR/Nodl - Richards - Versteeg
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Nodl/JVR - Giroux - Carter
Carcillo - Betts - Powe

Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell
Carle - Syvret

Bobrovsky
[Boucher]


SABRES

Vanek - Connolly - Pominville
Ennis - Boyes - Stafford
Gerbe - Gaustad - Kaleta
Niedermayer - McCormick - Grier

Butler - Myers
Weber - Morrison (or Sekera)
Montador - Gragnani

Miller
[Enroth]

*According to Bill Meltzer (http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Bill-Meltzer/Flyers-Playoff-Gameday-Game-2-vs-Sabres/45/35273)

These are the lines as they stand right now. But with Laviolette and Lindy Ruff playing chess, you never know what will happen before game time. 

There is also the question of Morrison's health. It is believed Sekera may take his spot as Morrison had an upper body injury (possibly a concussion) in Game 1. I can not find any information on if Morrison is definitely out, but I think Sekera plays today and not him.

Pronger is still out today. I thought that he would be back in once the Flyers took the L in the series. But he has yet to resume shooting since he re-tweaked his hand a few weeks ago. This may be concerning to the Flyers if they fall to 2 games behind. Down by 2 without their veteran leader in Pronger may spell their end. 

Zherdev is not in the preliminary lineup, and hopefully that was just a typo. Zherdev could certainly help this Flyers team get more shots on net, and really help the powerplay which they went 0-5 on in Game 1.  According to a few people (Sam Carchidi's Twitter) Zherdev is a game time decision. I doubt Laviolette plays Z, for whatever reason all year he has been a fan of Carcillo and Nodl over Zherdev. Although Zherdev has better stats then both of them, in less games. 

I guess we will just have to wait and see how the lineups shake out. We are about 3 hours away from puck drop, right now and a lot can happen between now and then.

The Flyers need to generate more shots and traffic if they want to win. They played really solid defense in Game 1 and had good goal tending. Their problem was too much passing (that led to turnovers and mistakes) and not enough simple hockey. Shots to the net, bodies to the net. That's how you beat an Olympian goaltender.

Statistically Game 2 is more important than Game 1. The winner of Game 2 wins the series more often then the loser of Game 2, or even the winner of Game 1.

I predict a 3-2, hard fought win by the Flyers. Both teams throw a lot at each goalie and the goalies keep their teams in it, as much as they can. 

The game starts a 5pm tonight. zeleCHAT will be up and running. Last game we had a few people stop by and talk Flyers and it was a lot of fun. Stop in and root Flyers with us.

Or check out the Flyers v. Sabres forum for more conversation.