PHILADELPHIA	VS.	FLORIDA
42-32-6		39-31-10
90 Pts		88 Pts
4th in East		5th in East
REGULAR SEASON STATS TEAM STATS
14.5% (14th)	PP%	12.4% (24th)
85.6% (13th)	PK%	87.1% (7th)
11.5 (30th)	PIM/G	14.0 (25th)
3.18 (8th)	GF/G	2.98 (16th)
2.52 (5th)	GA/G	2.84 (15th)
28.1 (8th)	SF/G	27.7 (12th)
27.3 (19th)	SA/G	26.4 (8th)
TOP 3 POINT SCORERS
C Zhamnov (31-54-85)	1	LW Calder (18-45-63)
C Yashin (28-50-78)	2	C Jokinen (27-29-56)
LW McEachern (21-37-58)	3	RW Huselius (24-30-54)
TOP 3 GOAL SCORERS
C Zhamnov (31)	1	C Jokinen (27)
C Yashin (28)	2	LW Nagy (25)
RW Boguniecki (28)	3	RW Huselius (24)
TOP 3 PLUS/MINUS
D Sydor +30	1	RW Huselius +12
C Yashin +29	2	RW Dvorak +12
D Tarnstrom +25	3	C Primeau +12
TOP GOALTENDER
Roloson		Thibault
2.61	GAA	2.76
.905	SV%	.895
30-23-4	W-L-T	37-28-9
5	SO	6
SEASON SERIES STATS RESULTS
Florida Wins Series 2-1-1
PHI, 1	Game 1	FLA, 2
PHI, 4	Game 2	FLA, 3
PHI, 1	Game 3	FLA, 3
PHI, 2	Game 4	FLA, 2
TEAM STATS
10.5%	PP%	21.4%
79.6%	PK%	89.5%
13.75	PIM/G	12.25
2	GF/G	2.5
2.5	GA/G	2
27.25	SF/G	27.75
27.75	SA/G	27.25
TOP 3 POINT SCORERS
C Yashin (1-2-3)	1	C Jokinen (2-2-4)
RW Vyborny (1-2-3)	2	RW Dvorak (2-2-4)
C Zhamnov (0-2-2)	3	C Madden (0-3-3)
BREAKDOWN FORWARDS
While fairly strong up the middle, the Philadelphia Flyers don’t have much scoring on the wings where they really need it. Alexei Yashin and Alexei Zhamnov are fantastic players up the middle for this team. Shane Willis and Shawn McEachern are going to have to be productive players once again for the Flyers to make an immediate impact. This team also has an immense desire to establish some secondary scoring and it should be something that you see early and often with this group of forwards. If Philadelphia can get this group moving early, then we’re going to have a very interesting series on our hands. If they can’t, it could be pretty short.	WINNER	Florida is in the same situation that a lot of teams are in. The superstars in the CTCHL seem to all be on one of a few select teams, and their majority of scoring stars are the “second tier” players. Anson Carter, Ladislav Nagy, Kristian Huselius, and Radek Dvorak are all top-notch second line players, but none have the star power in order to lead a team by themselves. They employ more of a scoring by committee approach. While this is great for the regular season, the playoffs are where stars are made and the weak teams are exposed. While I like the depth that they have at the forward position, they are short one top-level player that can transcend the team itself and be a fantastic story. Also, scoring is going to be a concern for this group because they are razor thin up the middle of the ice.
DEFENSE
The Philadelphia defense is one of my biggest concerns about this team. They don’t appear to be built that well for the playoffs with a lot of undersized defenseman and the type of defenseman that try to avoid contact whenever possible. Sydor, Tverdovsky, Hedican, and Tarnstrom are all considered offensive defenseman and that is a thing that is going to bother Philadelphia if they plan to advance past this round, which I’m not sure if they will. A hard-nosed defense is crucial in the playoffs and this team doesn’t appear to have the right mix of defenseman to make an impact as far as I’m concerned. However, I’ve been wrong before and this wouldn’t be the first or last time, but this defense might cost Philadelphia the series.	WINNER	This Florida team is very weak on defense and that is going to hurt them in a grueling series. Alexei Yashin will more than likely be able to exploit the fact that this defense isn’t very physical and doesn’t have a very dominating presence on the ice. Sami Salo is a nice addition as well as Andy Delmore, but it still shouldn’t be enough to prevent this Philly attack from making a mockery of them. I’m going to have to say that this is the key match for Florida is how the defense handles the stronger forwards.
PHI PP vs. FLA PK
The Philadelphia power play has had trouble this season being productive against the elite penalty killing teams in this league and that trend should continue in this series. John Madden is going to cause tremendous headaches for this lack of elite talent on the power play. Yashin is going to have to be fantastic in order for this team to get much luck on the power play and I don’t think that he’s going to be able to raise his game high enough to compensate for the lack of offensive talent around him. Expect Florida to win this match up pretty handedly.	WINNER	John Madden is perhaps the best penalty killer in the entire world right now and he just happens to be a Florida Panther. This advantage alone is enough to push Florida ahead in my opinion, but they also have a decent set of defenseman that are capable of handling the play in the defensive zone and still being productive. Expect Florida to create problems for the Philly power play for the entire series. It just may be the difference in a good series and a great one.
FLA PP vs. PHI PK
Sadly enough, the Florida power play isn’t exactly a bevy of talent either. However, they do have productive players in a sense that they have Olli Jokinen and Ladislav Nagy, who should do their fair share of damage to this Philly penalty kill. However, Jim Dowd and Shawn Bates are two elite penalty killers on this Philly squad and both should earn their checks this series. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that this penalty kill is going to put Florida in their tracks on the power play and give them the edge in this department.		Florida has a nice set of power play players and it should be good enough to do some significant damage to this Philadelphia penalty killing squad. Olli Jokinen and Ladislav Nagy are going to have to lead the charge in this scenario and create chances for themselves while making sure they don’t neglect their five on five responsibilities. Shawn Bates for Philadelphia is going to have his hands full in this scenario dealing with a lot of these sniper type players and it should be worth noting that Florida has a pretty decent power play specialist in Andy Delmore, who is good for a few goals himself with the man advantage.
GOALTENDING
Dwayne Roloson is also an unproven commodity in this league and it is going to be up in the air at the goaltender position in this series. However, Roloson did perform at a high level this season for Philadelphia and it’s going to be great to watch him try to adjust his game to the rigors of playoff hockey. Does he have enough to go an entire series for this team? Nobody knows that for sure, but it’s going to be fun watching and seeing if he will or not. Bierk isn’t nearly ready, so it’s either Roloson or nothing at this point.	WINNER	Florida has a fantastic, but yet unproven, goaltender in Jocelyn Thibault. Thibault has had a pretty fantastic season so far, but I’m not sure if that success is going to correlate into playoff success. This is the biggest obstacle for the Florida Panthers aside from Primary scoring threats. If Philly can get to Thibault early and often, it’s going to be very tough for Florida to stay afloat. This is the match up to watch in this series.
COACHING
The legendary Herb Brooks has expressed that this could possibly be his last season and it will be interesting to see if he can pull a rabbit out of his hat once again. If there is one thing that Brooks knows how to do, it’s he knows how to win. Philadelphia should have a tough fight on their hands with this Florida squad, but if they lose it won’t be for lack of good coaching. Brooks is a legend behind the bench.	WINNER	Glen Sather knows what it takes to be a playoff team and he’s going to do his best to convey that to his troops in Florida. With such a storied history, it’s going to be great to watch Sather lead this Panthers team to a possible victory in this series. He knows how to get the most out of his players and is one of the elite coaches in the entire league for my money. Florida has a pretty well defined system and Sather knows what it takes to win.
	PREDICTION
	WINNER IN 7!