2007-08 Philadelphia Flyers' Season in Perspective

The "Vengeance Now" billboards and ad campaigns look foolish now.

After last night's crushing Game 6 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Flyers' magical season finally ended. 

The ad campaigns demonstrated a new attitude that this Flyers team would display this season. An attitude of toughness, and a show of vengeance.

What would be a better way to show this new attitude than losing five of their first eight, and in the process accumulating some impressive suspensions (Steve Downie and Jesse Boulerice) for rough play on the ice?

Both the physical step-up and the idea of vengeance were clearly apparent as the Flyers were solid against the New Jersey Devils on September 17 to win their inaugural game of the season. This was a road game against a Devils team that always seems to beat the Flyers when the game matters most.

It was after that game that the Flyers seemed to lack a true identity or presence on the ice, as they dropped five of their seven remaining games in the month of September.

However, the Flyers quickly rebounded to win seven of their 10 games in the month of October. This pulled their record to 10-15 at the end of two months, having accumulated 20 points.

Think about that for a second. 15 of the Flyers' 29 losses in regulation on the season occurred in the first 25 games of the season. So, mathematically speaking, they had over half of their regulation losses in their first 25 games of an 82-game regular season.

So clearly they turned things around, losing just 14 games in regulation over the next five-and-a-half months of the season. They also had 11 OTL, resulting in a 32-25 combined record for the remaining 57 games after the first 25.

So they had 75 of their 95 points in the 57 games after October.

If only they could have played like that for the entire season, then the season would truly be classified as special.

However, the season showed encouraging signs for the future, as R.J. Umberger showed some very good glimpses, as did Jeff Carter. In addition, everyone saw what the front office saw when they decided to give Mike Richards a 10-year contract.

Not to forget the play of goalie Martin Biron, who clearly showed that he can be a number one goalie in the NHL, and that he was the best option for the Flyers between the pipes.

But what really showed the true character of this team was the playoff run the players enjoyed until meeting the Penguins.

In their matchups against Washington and Montreal, the Flyers looked good when it mattered most, usually when they were trailing by a goal or two and needed a pick-me-up.

It was when they were killing penalties or trying to protect a one-goal lead that they looked rather lackluster.

And the Penguins exploited these two weaknesses in their five-game annihilation of the Flyers.

Despite all this, the Flyers have an encouraging future ahead in the next few years. If they had not run into the Penguins they would most likely be in the Stanley Cup Finals against, most likely, the Detroit Red Wings. 

As a Flyers fan, I do not look at the loss entirely as a disappointment, but as an encouraging sign for next season. Then these Flyers can hopefully bloom to their fullest, led by Umberger, Carter, and Mike Richards.

Until then, the only thing I can ask for is this: please, do not create a slogan for next year's team. There is no way it could truly capture what this season was all about.