The Flyers’ much-maligned penalty kill has kept the Penguins’ potent power play in check

PITTSBURGH ― The Penguins’ power play was expected to be one of their biggest advantages coming into the series. The Flyers’ penalty kill was inconsistent to close the regular season, allowing goals on eight of their last 23 kills.

In the regular season, the Penguins had the league’s seventh-ranked power play, with all-time greats Erik Karlsson and Sidney Crosby running it, so it’s only fitting that the Flyers’ penalty kill has actually managed to outscore it.

“Guys are making great reads, they’re being hard on pucks, and they’re bearing down, and that’s what the playoffs are all about,” said Garnet Hathaway, who scored a shorthanded goal and added an assist Monday.

» READ MORE: Dan Vladař, Flyers take commanding 2-0 series lead behind their first shutout of the season

On the Penguins’ first power play in the second period of Game 2, the Flyers nearly sprung Sean Couturier for a shorthanded breakaway, but the pass was too strong. Couturier recovered enough to give Noah Cates a scoring chance.

The following shift, Owen Tippett won a battle along the boards, deked Kris Letang out of his skates, and then found a wide-open Hathaway, who chipped the puck in behind Stuart Skinner to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead in what ultimately was a 3-0 shutout win in Pittsburgh.

“It bounced over their [defenseman]’s stick, and [Hathaway] was yelling that I had time, obviously I saw the double team and didn’t think I’d have that much time, and Hath was in the right spot,” Tippett said.

The Flyers haven’t conceded a power-play goal yet in the series, stopping all seven of the Penguins’ attempts and allowing just three shots total, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“They’re obviously a talented power play, really good power play,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said after Game 1. ”We got some good pressure on, just like their PK pressured us. It’s a game of pressure and it’s a game of getting the pucks down the ice when you get pressured.”

The Flyers’ basic penalty kill formation is a diamond, with one guy near the blue line, one by the net, and two on the sides. Most teams have their most dangerous players on the flanks, to set up for one-timers and feed open men in the slot. The Penguins are different, because Crosby is one of the best players in NHL history in front of the net, with Karlsson at the point.

» READ MORE: The inexperienced Flyers stole the Penguins’ will in their Game 2 victory. Now, the series shifts to Philly

Before the series, Tocchet made a few adjustments to better attack the Penguins’ power play structure.

“Our up-ice pressure’s been better, some of our clears have been better,” Tocchet said. “It’s tough with a team like that, they get their looks, and when they did, we had [goaltender Dan Vladař], but there’s some good adjustments that we made that helped us.”

The Flyers ended the Game 2 victory with more shots (three) with the Penguins on the power play than Pittsburgh had, including two high-danger chances and a goal, according to Natural Stat Trick.

In the third period, the Flyers, who were getting caved in for most of the frame, generated as many high-danger chances with their penalty kill as they did at five-on-five, including a Couturier and Glendening two-on-zero that ended in a strong Skinner pad save.

That’s not necessarily built into the Flyers’ penalty kill strategy, but, especially in Game 1, the Flyers generated a lot of odd-man rushes and breakaway chances. Despite failing to finish on those chances, it pointed to the speed advantage the Flyers have been able to unlock against the Penguins thus far, which they leveraged on the penalty kill on Monday night.

“[Shorthanded chances are] just something that pops up,” Tippett said. “In these games, if you’re too aggressive it can sometimes come back at you. If there’s a chance to go, we’re going to go, we’ve gone all year. We’re not looking for that, but if it’s there, we’re going to take it.”