Can Flyers put some sizzle into flat series?
The Flyers have not been sharp, have not had as much offensive-zone time as the New York Rangers in the first five games of the teams' opening-round series.
A series that, quite frankly, has been kind of flat.
Maybe that will change when the teams meet in Game 6 Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, with the Rangers holding a three-games-to-two series lead and trying to eliminate the Flyers on their own ice.
All the pressure is on the Flyers, unless they take the lead _ and that has been rare in this series.
In the first five games, the Flyers have led for just 64 minutes, 45 seconds, while the Rangers have held a lead for 141:44.
The Flyers' goal is to get an early lead, get the crowd involved, and ride the momentum to a series-tying victory.
No easy task. The Rangers have scored the first goal in four of the first five games, and they have had 2-0 leads in three of the games.
The longer this game goes without the Flyers leading, the more pressure they will feel. They need to come out with desperation from the first shift _ something that was missing in Game 5, especially on their early power plays _and never relinquish that style.
In short, they need to make Rangers goalie Henrik Lundquist (1.81 GAA) work much harder than he has in the first five games, during which the Flyers have averaged 24.6 shots per game, the lowest total among this year's playoff teams.
Breakaways. The Flyers have won 53.4 percent of the faceoffs in the series, third-best among playoff teams….The Flyers are averaging just two goals per game, 15th out of the 16 playoff teams…..Claude Giroux (plus-2) and Luke Schenn (plus-1) are the Flyers' only "plus" players in the series; the Rangers have 15 "plus" players, led by Marc Staal at plus-6….. New York's Martin St. Louis has a series-high six points….The winner of this series will face the Penguins in the Metropolitan Division finals.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.