NHL Playoffs 2012: The 10 Biggest Liabilities on the Philadelphia Flyers

Tonight, the Philadelphia Flyers will fight for their playoff lives, trailing the New Jersey Devils 3-1 in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Flyers, who seemed heavily favored to win this series against a team that had struggled to eliminate the Florida Panthers, find themselves in a hole that is the result of a number of mistakes in this short series.

The team must turn it all around tonight, but the laundry list of problems may prove to be a Herculean chore for this proud franchise.

These are 10 major liabilities that have gotten the Flyers into this funk need to be addressed in tonight's game for the Flyers to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Dishonorable Mention: Looking Too Far Ahead

The Flyers may have been busted thinking about the New York Rangers.

Philadelphia had a relatively easy time handling the Cup-favorite Pittsburgh Penguins, while New Jersey needed seven games and a double overtime to eliminate the lowly Florida Panthers. Perhaps going into this series, the Flyers found themselves looking ahead to a potential matchup with the New York Rangers, a team who has beaten Philly in eight consecutive games.

The good news for the Flyers: It doesn’t look like they’ll have to worry about New York, after all.

Lack of Discipline

In Game 4, the Flyers had the game’s first two power plays. They would not get another one all game, while the Devils would get five consecutive man advantages.

New Jersey tightened up when it mattered most, while the Flyers lost their cool. If Philadelphia wants to rattle off the three straight wins it will take to steal this series, they need to take only the absolutely necessary penalties.

Playing panicked hockey will simply ensure the team's early tee times.

Giving Up Leads

In this series, the team scoring first is 0-4. Unfortunately for the Flyers, they have scored first in three of the series’ four games.

The Flyers possess a disturbing inability to crack down on opposing offenses when playing with the lead. Philly seemed to be giving itself momentum in Game 4 when Claude Giroux’s shorthanded goal put the team up 2-0 in the first.

Less than five minutes later, New Jersey had tied the game. The Flyers would go on to lose 4-2, rendering their fast start useless.

The Power Play

After a stellar first round against Pittsburgh, the Flyers have had no answer for the Devils’ penalty kill. They are 2-for-16 in the series on the power play and have allowed New Jersey to build momentum from consistently killing penalties.

When the man advantage is really no advantage at all, the power play becomes a major liability. Facing a Game 5 without Claude Giroux, the team will need to scramble to produce with the man advantage.

No Response to the Cycle

Even the most casual hockey fan can see that the Devils are outworking Philadelphia on both ends of the ice.

New Jersey’s defense gives Philadelphia little in the offensive zone, but the real success has been the cycle in the Flyers’ end.

The Flyers seem to be constantly one step behind New Jersey, trying to chase the puck carrier rather than anticipate puck movement. This game of keep-away allows the Devils to protect the puck until a quality scoring chance becomes available.

Lack of Offensive Pressure

In Game 2 of this series, the Flyers registered only two shots during the entire second period. In Game 4, it took them almost ten minutes to register their first shot of the second period.

These long stretches of no offense are a great way to lose a game. Not only are the Flyers failing to score, but they play significant portions of time in their own end. Even if Ilya Bryzgalov were playing like Jonathan Quick, the Flyers cannot win when possession is so lopsided.

Bryzgalov Can't Steal a Game

Ilya Bryzgalov has been good in this series. Should the Flyers be eliminated, Bryzgalov should be the last player blamed for the loss.

However, Bryz’s inability to steal a game has become a liability for the Flyers. When the team is playing poorly in front of him, a better netminder (like Washington’s Braden Holtby or LA’s Jonathan Quick) can be the last line of defense and win a game for a team who deserved to lose. This becomes momentum for the rest of the series.

Bryzgalov has shown no ability to be that difference-maker, and unless the Flyers quickly develop an answer for New Jersey’s domination, the team’s good-but-not-great goaltending is a liability.

The Rookies

For virtually the first time all season, the Flyers’ rookies have looked like rookies in this series.

Perhaps this is more a testament to the success of Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Erik Gustafsson, but the team has come to rely on production from these players, and it simply has not happened much this series.

Specifically, Schenn and Gustafsson were part of a terrible, risky line change in overtime of Game 4 that gave the Devils a three-on-one advantage and a 2-1 series lead.

Disappearing Veterans

For all the mistakes made by rookies this series, that disappointment pales in comparison to the absence of veteran leadership. Claude Giroux’s emotional cheap shot on Dainius Zubrus is just the beginning.

Seasoned vet Jaromir Jagr has been virtually invisible on the ice. The team leader in goals during the regular season, Scott Hartnell, has had trouble finding the back of the net. Defensive veterans like Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle and Braydon Coburn have struggled to contribute.

These are the players who must carry the team if the Flyers are to stay alive.

Giroux's Absence

Undoubtedly, the loss of the team’s emotional leader during this playoff run will affect the Flyers.

Giroux is serving a one-game suspension for a hit to the head of New Jersey’s Dainius Zubrus, which was seen as an act of frustration at an inopportune moment in the game. Giroux brought this problem upon his own team, and now the Flyers will be expected to stay alive without their best player.

Losing Giroux affects the power play, penalty kill and even strength strategies of the team. But if the Flyers can make it through Game 5, a more focused and driven Giroux will return for Game 6.

Total Defensive Breakdown

For all the others problems the Flyers have had, the most glaring issues come in the defensive end of the ice.

While other teams in the league are sacrificing the body to block shots and effectively breaking out of their own zones, the Flyers look more like a group of five-year-olds chasing a soccer ball than a professional hockey team.

The Devils are skating circles around Philly, outshooting them consistently and controlling the flow of play. The Flyers look lazy, slow and dangerously confused in their own zone. All other issues aside, if the Flyers do not improve this aspect of their game, there will be no parade on Broad Street this year.