NHL Playoffs 2012: Ilya Bryzgalov Will Not Be Goaltender to Win Cup for Flyers

Ilya Bryzgalov's performances during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Game 2 of the Eastern Conference against the New Jersey Devils, are two huge, glaring reasons why the Philadelphia Flyers are not going to win the Stanley Cup.

Bryzgalov's struggles and inconsistencies are going to be too overbearing for the Flyers offense, which has constantly bailed out Bryz throughout the playoffs. There's going to be a time where those deficits are going to be too difficult to make up.

Had it not been for guys like Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Jakub Voracek, Jaromir Jagr and Scott Hartnell, the Flyers would probably be on the golf course right now.

Who knows if they would've been able to even make the playoffs?

Bryzgalov's problems didn't just surface out of nowhere—he's been an enigma in the net ever since the start of this season. 

He posted pretty pedestrian numbers throughout the season. His GAA of 2.48 during the regular season is not exactly what the Flyers paid him to bring to the team. 

In the playoffs, he has been horrendous. He had a GAA of over 4.00 in his first five games. The ugliest game was in Game 5 against Pittsburgh, when he was pulled after allowing five goals in less than two periods. 

After allowing seven goals in the next three games, it seemed like Bryzgalov had finally ironed out his kinks. However, just when everyone thought he had his mojo back, he allowed three goals in the third period of Game 2's loss against the New Jersey Devils.

And he doesn't have a mulligan anymore. This isn't the Penguins explosive offense anymore. It's a Devils offense that didn't even have Ilya Kovalchuk in the lineup.

The best Bryzgalov has been this postseason is average. His save percentage in the playoffs is well below .900, and his GAA is still hovering over 3.50. 

If his team wasn't providing amazing goal support for him, the fans of Philadelphia would've called for his head already. 

The Flyers can't rely on their scoring to bail Bryzgalov to a Stanley Cup title. The road's only going to get more difficult.

They had the benefit of playing against an emotionally crushed goaltender in Marc-Andre Fleury during the first round. 

Times are a bit tougher now that they're facing a Hall of Famer in Martin Brodeur. If they go to the conference finals, they may have the grand privilege of going up against Hart Trophy nominee Henrik Lundqvist. 

There's no way the Flyers will get past the New York Rangers if Bryzgalov continues to frequently allow goals. The Flyers aren't going to score eight goals twice in a series against Lundqvist. It's just not going to happen.

Because of these struggles, Bryzgalov is slowly turning into one of the most overrated goaltenders the league has ever seen. He has a huge, fat contract, but what has he really done in his career?

He couldn't get Phoenix past the first round for two consecutive seasons. Now, Mike Smith, the guy who replaced him in the desert, is two games away from leading the Coyotes to the conference finals. 

Even when he was with the Coyotes, he only really had one great season, and that was in 2009-10 when he won 42 games and had a stellar GAA of 2.29 along with eight shutouts. Other than that one season, he hasn't been anything special. Smith has had GAAs of 2.48 in his last two seasons, and it's fair to say that the Flyers aren't getting the bang for their buck. Those are average numbers.

The Coyotes, on the other hand, look extremely shrewd for letting him go, and they've shown that perhaps the reason why Bryz succeeded in the Desert was because of the system he played in. Phoenix has had a dominant defense for three consecutive seasons now. They don't have any elite scorers. They purely rely on stopping the puck from going in their own net, and now Mike Smith is reaping the benefits of playing in Phoenix, much like Bryzgalov did in the past. 

Finally, one has to wonder if Bryzgalov really has his heart set on hockey. That rant he gave about the size of the universe may have been funny (and this may be stretching it a bit), but he did say "we have some problems here on Earth we worry about? Compared to what?...Nothing."

Bryz is right. Hockey is not the most important thing in the universe—but while it's great to have perspective on life, you have to show up to work and excel, especially if you're getting paid $51 million to stop a puck.

I can't put off my articles for Bleacher Report and respond to my editors by saying, "Why you heff to be mad? It's only article. Universe is so huMANgous big."

With that kind of attitude, it's no wonder that Bryzgalov is struggling.

Until he focuses all of his energy on hockey and starts performing better in the playoffs, the Flyers are going to be in a heap load of trouble for a long, long time.