from Kent Youngblood at Russo's Rants,
Game 5 of the series, led 3-1 by Dallas, is Friday night in Texas.
Of course, most of the talk was about how, down three games to on in this best-of-seven series, the Wild was going to stave off elimination.
“Hey, I like the way we’re playing,” Torchetti said. “We just have to find a way to get back home. That’s the bottom line. We have to find a way to get back home. As a coach, we deserve a chance to get back home. We need to keep playing the same way, have the same mindset, keep playing for each other, just push each other a little more. Because I know there is another level this team can get.’’
How is he so sure? “Oh, you can see it,’’ Torchetti said. “I don’t know the exact shot count, but we held them to what, 22 shots last night? And what was it the game before, 17? Then in their building, Game 2, 25? (Actually 28). That’s pretty good. I think our team is doing a good job defensively, structure-wise, competing. I think we’ve done a good job. We just have to keep improving. Again, you have to win the game. We’re in the results business, you have to win the game.’’
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Below, reports on the Kings and Flyers...
from Elliott Teaford of the OC Register,
“It’s not time to panic, it’s time to focus on (Friday’s) game,” said Lecavalier, who plans to retire at season’s end, after joining the NHL as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 draft by Tampa Bay. He’s played with the Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and now the Kings after being acquired in a Jan.6 trade.
Lecavalier hasn’t spoken about the end, preferring to concentrate on the present.
Confidence remains high, despite the Kings’ deficit.
“Of course,” said Lecavalier, who celebrated his 36th birthday Thursday. “In any series, if you win one game, you’re in the series. Win a big game (Friday), and all of a sudden, we’re down 3-2, but we win the next one and it’s 3-3. Games are so tight, you have to push yourself.”
No question, the Kings pushed back hard in the third period in Game4, but they couldn’t complete their rally from a three-goal deficit and fell, 3-2. The final period Wednesday served as a teachable moment, however.
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from Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post,
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH
- It took until the team's final breath for Dave Hakstol to make some changes...and not just his goaltender. Switching up the top line was one that seemed to pay dividends in Game 4 and it allowed the Flyers to see another day. Jake Voracek moving down and Brayden Schenn moving up spreads the wealth a bit.
“They’ve got some good chemistry,” Hakstol said of the swaps. “I thought both of the combinations worked well. The (Michael) Raffl line was good last night, and I thought Brayden immediately brought some physicality and sustained his play through the 60 minutes.”
- Tom Wilson is 6-foot-4 and Alex Ovechkin is 239 pounds. There's not much of a doubt that the Capitals are bigger than the Flyers and most of their prospects are undersized also. While the Flyers may make a move to get bigger in the offseason, they'll try to use speed to combat size in the meantime.
“Speed is huge and I think they obviously have a big team over there,” Simmonds said. “They’re physical and they’re fast as well to go along with their size. We’ve got to keep our feet moving at all times. That’s it. We’ve just got to make sure that our feet are moving. The minute we stop our feet, they’ve got guys that can just fly by you.”
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