Siberia goaltender Matt Murray has been the star of the series thus far, stopping 62 out of the 65 shots faced in the final. The Falcons have only been able to score with any consistency on the man advantage as their five-on-five offence has disappeared.
Heading back to the Corfield Conference final, Fort Erie has only won once in their past five games and is playing the worst hockey of their entire season; despite being very much in both games.
Morgan Reilly has certainly been on the hot seat in Fort Erie throughout the playoffs as his -9 rating has really hurt the team, despite the contribution of 10 points in 11 games played.
Some feel like Reilly has been nursing an injury throughout the playoffs and that might be the case as he was forced to miss time in the Conference final and very limited in the opening game of the Kehler Cup final. If the Falcons are going to turn things around, Reilly will need to be much better defensively in his own zone.
Another player having a quiet final thus far is Alexander Ovechkin who has yet to contribute a point in the series. Ovechkin had nine points in 11 games coming into the final but has not had the impact on the series thus far that many had hoped.
Fort Erie formed a super line with Ovechkin, Marner and MacKinnon in the opening game to try to counter the McDavid line in Siberia but that failed miserably. Ovechkin found himself back with familiar line mates Pavelski and DeBrincat in game two.
While the line generated six shots on Murray, the trio were all minus one on the night and were absolutely victimized by the play of the Bergeron line in Siberia.
Things do not look good for Fort Erie to capture their first Kehler Cup at this point. Having said that, there is still a lot of hockey to be played and Fort Erie’s top offensive talent may still break out at five-on-five in Siberia. It’s unlikely but you can’t count out any team that has won 60 games in the regular season.
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