The Philadelphia Flyers are on the outside looking in with just nine regular season games remaining following Tuesday's action.
The Orange & Black are presently five points back of the New York Rangers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference following their 4-1 setback to the New York Islanders on Tuesday. What's worse, there are three other teams currently standing between Philly and the East's final playoff berth.
But there's still hope in the City of Brotherly Love as the Flyers rebounded from a four-game losing skid in late March by claiming four of their last six contests overall, including signature victories over Eastern Conference powers Boston and Montreal.
The math is still feasible but Philadelphia will need a number of things to go its way if the Flyers hope to play beyond April.
Claude Giroux has the tools and offensive abilities to take over a game. The entire hockey universe took note of that during last year's postseason.
If the Philadelphia captain is able to rediscover that dynamic form, he and the Flyers would become awfully dangerous as the season winds to a close.
It should come as no surprise that Giroux's best stretch of the season (nine points in six games) coincided with Philadelphia four victories over a six-game span.
It will be absolutely imperative for him to be the team's best player the rest of the way if Philadelphia is to find its way into the postseason.
Finally, Braydon Coburn, the longest tenured current Flyer, has missed six straight games and is out indefinitely with a left shoulder separation.
With that, Philadelphia has been forced to patrol depth defensemen like Bruno Gervais and Kent Huskins on a regular basis. Those aren't exactly names that strike fear into the heart of opposing offenses.
There isn't much optimism surrounding the return of either Meszaros or Coburn which means the Flyers are seemingly stuck on defense.
They can ill afford to suffer any more injuries or setbacks on the back end as this is already a team simply struggling to suit up the appropriate number of bodies on defense.
If the Flyers are to secure one of the final postseason berths in the East, their goaltending will need to be great the rest of the way.
Starter Ilya Bryzgalov has been his usual enigmatic self this season but has given his team a chance to win on most nights. His 2.88 goals-against average is good for a team as weak defensively as Philly is while his .896 save percentage isn't quite the 90 percent most coaches are looking for on a given night but it's close enough.
Bryzgalov's numbers to date are fine but not exceptional and certainly not good enough to propel a team riddled with defensive injuries into the playoffs.
And the organization's confidence in their mercurial starter certainly has to be called into question after recently acquired Steve Mason was given the nod in Tuesday's uber-critical matchup with the Islanders.
A razor sharp power play can salvage even the most laboring of offenses while a tenacious penalty kill can stall even the most vicious offensive attack.
The power play is currently ranked second in the league at just a shade over 23 percent on the year and has produced the third-most man-advantage markers (33) in the NHL. What's more, 11 of Philly's 17 wins this season have come when the team has generated a power play conversion.
On the other end, the penalty kill, which was absolutely abysmal in January, has found its footing and is now sixth in the league at 84.7 percent. Despite the third-most shorthanded situations (150), the Flyers have surrendered just 23 power play goals against and have allowed zero man-advantage markers in 22 of 39 games to date.
Special teams has given this team life so far. It will have to continue to be a major piece of the winning puzzle if the Flyers are to remain relevant in the Eastern Conference.
Tuesday's loss to the Islanders set the Flyers five points back of the Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East and makes this key that much more important the rest of the way.
In all reality, the Flyers must win all six of those head-to-head meetings if they are to have any hope of playing into May.
The final nine-game stretch begins and ends with showdowns against the sixth-place Ottawa Senators, who are presently seven points ahead of Philadelphia.
The Flyers also have critical showdowns in Buffalo (April 13) and home against the Rangers (April 16), both teams, like Philadelphia, presently on the outside looking in.
Throw in a couple of home contests with New Jersey (April 18) and the Islanders (April 25) and the road becomes an awfully tricky one for the Orange & Black to close the season.
See that opportunity slip through the cracks (as it did Tuesday on Long Island) and an uphill climb just became a lot steeper.
No comments:
Post a Comment