It's said that Wayne Gretzky, while playing in a hockey game, could view the game like he was looking at it from above the ice.
In other words, he saw plays a move or two ahead of everyone else.
Now, nobody's ready to label the Flyers a team of Gretzkys but they have a 3-0 lead in their series against the Penguins mainly because they have been the smarter team.
You could add quicker, too.
That was certainly the case in Game 2's 8-5 victory and was the case again in Sunday's 8-4 win at the Wells Fargo Center.
The playoffs usually produce low-scoring, tight-checking games. Not so in Games 2 and 3 of this series.
"Yeah it's been weird," said Flyer center Claude Giroux, who had a goal and an assist Sunday. "You look at the playoffs and everything's pretty close and there's not a lot of scoring. But guys are working hard, we're skating, and guys are putting pucks on net. We've got traffic so we've just got to keep playing that way and hopefully be successful at the end."
In this series, the Flyers have been able to drift into open spots in the offensive zone and have gotten quality shots from those spots. The smart part comes when the Flyer with the puck finds the open man.
Whether its part of a cycling sequence below the goal line, a cross-ice pass, or a drop pass, Flyers are getting open for scoring opportunities.
It's become a trend in the series, one that the Penguins have failed to halt after three games.
Of course, you have to possess the puck in order to find the open man. The Flyers have made a habit of this, too, forechecking with a vengeance, which has led to multiple scoring chances.
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma noticed this after the first game when he said that "the Flyers put 46 pucks behind our defense with a purpose."
So far, the Penguins have been unable to make the adjustments.
Could the Penguins' goaltending be better? Certainly. Marc-Andre Fleury is playing nowhere near the 2.36 goals-against average he carried during the regular season.
"Seems like every time they have a scoring chance, they bury it," Fleury said.
"We've put ourselves in tough situations," Bylsma said. "I know Marc-Andre will be in the net for the next four games."
Four games? Not if he doesn't get better and get some help.
The Penguins' defensemen have plainly struggled. Forechecking Flyers forwards win many races to loose pucks, which have set up Flyers' goals.
In Game 1, lazy play on the puck by Pittsburgh defenseman Paul Martin led to a Flyers goal. Late in the first period in Sunday's game, Danny Briere poked the puck off of Deryk Engelland's stick and fed Matt Read, who stepped to the front of the net and snapped the puck past Fleury.
"We're just putting pucks on net," said Flyers center Brayden Schenn. "That's a key. (Fleury's) a good goalie and he is usually going to make the first save and we are just trying to throw pucks on net."
And the Penguins' defensive lapses can't be solely heaped on the defensemen. The Pittsburgh forwards too often let Flyers shooters have open lanes from which to shoot.
"Nobody in here is pointing fingers," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. "We've made mistakes that have hurt us and there have been different reasons for that. Whether it's bounces or great plays that they have made, we know what we need to do. We've got to win a hockey game. That's really what it comes down to."
Most of the Pittsburgh problems have come while the teams skated at even-strength. In addition, the Flyers created problems for the Penguins while on the power play and are 5 for 15 in the series. In the first period, Briere easily got wide and behind the Penguins' defense en route to scoring his first of two goals.
Then there is the momentum factor.
The Penguins can't seem to hold on to it and must be adding to their frustration.
"The Flyers would score and we would come back with a big goal and think we have momentum on our side," said the Penguins' James Neal. "Then we turn around and it's in the back of our net. It's tough to have that happen and it takes the wind out of our sails. But the series isn't over. We've got to come back and try to win a game."
The Penguins have one more chance. They need to find answers. So far, the Flyers have cornered the market on answers.
