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Gonna say something that will likely annoy lots of people on here but here goes: Nate Thompson has been fine for the Flyers in this series. And frankly, the numbers back that up. (thread)
At 5v5, he has 48.19% Corsi For and a 47.56% xG For Percentages (NST), despite the fact that he's spent 46.3% of his minutes head-to-head against Mat Barzal, and gotten 10 more d-zone starts than o-zone starts. He's been on the ice for just a single goal against (no goals for).
AV has basically asked Thompson to eat shifts against Barzal & not get crushed, with the goal of opening things up for his top guys. To be clear: I think that's a questionable & risky strategy. But it's basically worked! The problem is, the big guys haven't taken advantage of it.
I have my doubts Thompson will continue to be able to hold his own in the matchup, and think it's a risk every time it's done. But if we're running down the lists of "reasons the Flyers are losing this series," Thompson isn't even in the top-10, in my opinion.
