Senators by the Numbers:
Points Leader: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (82)
Goals Leader: Derek Stepan (34)
Goalie: Braden Holtby (43 W, 0.918 PCT, 2.25 GAA)

Flyers by the Numbers:

Points Leader: P.K. Subban (64)
Goals Leader: Kyle Okposo (25)
Goalie: Brian Elliott (42 W, 0.925 PCT, 1.89 GAA)

Regular Season Head to Head: Ottawa (2-1-0-0)


Playoffs By the Numbers:

Ottawa:
Points Leader: Joe Pavelski (11)
Goals Leader: Joe Pavelski (5)
Goalie: Braden Holtby (8-5, 0.901 PCT, 2.73 GAA)

Philadelphia:

Points Leader: Anze Kopitar (12)
Goals Leader: Anze Kopitar (5)
Goalie: Brian Elliott (8-4, 0.951 PCT, 1.36 GAA)

Analysis:
This series will be fun to watch. It’s like who would win if the Odd Couple got into a fist fight – Oscar or Felix. On one end of the rink you have the high octane Ottawa Senators who has enough firepower to make the militaries of some countries jealous; but puts up as much defense as a two-dollar whore with a $100 bill shoved in her face. On the other end of the rink you have the Philadelphia Flyers that has all of the goods to score, but is playing tighter D than a virgin ewe on Rex’s farm on a Saturday night.

The Sens are proving in these playoffs is that a strong offence can overcome terrible - and we mean absolutely shitty - goaltending. In the two series and 14 games they’ve played so far, the Senators have lit the lamp a whopping 42 times; that’s an average of 3 goals per game. In their second round series against the Montreal Canadiens alone they potted 21 goals!

Unfortunately as proficient as the Ottawa has been at scoring goals, they have almost been as equally bad in having goals scored against them as the biscuit has found its way behind netminder Brayden Holtby 39 times so far. Just one look at Holtby’s numbers tells the tale of just how horrible the Ottawa defense in general and Holtby in particular have been so far in the playoffs – 0.901 sv% and a 2.73 GAA; that’s like girls that Rumpy goes after ugly.

As for Philly, their success so far in the playoffs can all be summed up by one stat line: Brian Elliott G, 8 wins, 4 losses, 0.951 PCT, 1.36 GAA, 3 shut outs. Wow.

But while the Flyers have allowed the fewest goals against so far in the playoffs, they’ve also scored the fewest goals so far in the playoffs. This obviously hasn’t been an issue thus far, but the Senators are a totally different animal offensively than the Islanders and Tampa Bay and they may not be able to lean as heavily on Elliot as they have in their previous two series.

Ottawa took their regular season match up with two wins and one loss in the three games that they did play each other but the one key thing to note was that one of those losses came A.E. – After Elliott.

Prediction:
The Senators are playing with fire. Both of their first round series went the full 7 games and they had to come back in both series after dropping 3-2 in their series against the Capitals and then dropping the first two games in their series against the Habs. But as they proved in both series, you can never count them out, especially with the amount of offensive talent they have on their roster.

The Flyers, on the other hand have been coasting; which is both a good and bad thing. It’s good in the sense that while they have bonafide goal scorers in Taylor Hall and Kopitar and Okposo, they haven’t had to rely on their scoring to get the job done with Elliott shutting the door game in and game out. It’s bad in the sense that Philly can’t expect Elliott to maintain his play to the level that it’s been so far; especially in the face of an offensive juggernaut in the Senators. The question is whether or not the Flyers’s guns will be able to wake up if Elliott starts to falter.

As for the outcome of this series, we said it before and we’ll say it again, Holtby needs to wake the fuck up. While it can’t be expected that Elliott will keep up his superhuman play, the same can be said of the Sens offence in that it can’t be expected that they’ll continue pump in 3 goals a game, especially against the Flyers. So once again, this series will be decided by the goalies – whether Elliot can continue to play the way he has been so far, and whether Holtby can stop playing like the dumpster fire he has been so far. And if that’s the that case, third time’s the charm. Philadelphia in 7.