Missed Opportunities: Flyers Can't Draw Even, Trail Pens Three Games to One

The effort was there.

The chances were there.

Unfortunately so was Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Flyers hurled plenty of rubber right at him, but rarely around him. He made some great saves, but more often he made easy ones. The point is he made them, and in the process he stole the Flyers' opportunity to even the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

I had to work tonight and couldn't watch parts of this debacle, but knowing the outcome I'm not that disappointed in what I missed.

Now facing a 3-1 deficit, the Flyers have long odds against them as the series shifts back to Pittsburgh for game five.

Game four started out promising for the orange and black. They were being physical, creating scoring chances, they actually got a couple power plays and they even had a timely bounce go in their favor.

That bounce was Petr Sykora's shot bouncing off the crossbar, then ricocheting between Randy Jones' arm and the left post and out. It would be one of the last bounces to go the Flyers way.

After a scoreless but action-filled first period, the Flyers were given an early second period power play. Unfortunately, they couldn't get much going, and a neutral zone turnover found the puck on Matt Cooke's stick as he exited the penalty box.

Cooke touch-passed the puck to Chris Kunitz, who carried it up the left side with speed while Sidney Crosby cut to the net. Kunitz threw it towards the crease, Crosby slid and through an act of pure luck had it bounce off his groin and into the goal.

An ugly goal no doubt, and it made me as mad as anyone, but a goal is a goal no matter how you score it. Some claim that luck doesn't win playoff games, but I beg to differ. Anyway, give Crosby credit for doing whatever it takes.

If the Flyers really wanted to win this game, their desperation would have shown at this very moment and they would have gotten one back.

Instead, they allowed another goal minutes later when Tyler Kennedy backhanded the disc over Marty Biron's blocker to put the Pens up by two. That's all they needed.

The first goal is one of those fluky things about hockey that you can't control. The second one, Marty should have had. But he still doesn't deserve all the blame. Both opportunities were created by defensive mistakes.

The Penguins made plenty of their own defensive mistakes, but when given the chance, the Flyers threw the puck right into Fleury's gut.

By some act of sheer dumb luck Dan Carcillo got a goal (I didn't see it) to bring the Flyers to within one, but Max Talbot added an empty netter to ice the Penguins victory. I'd still take Scottie Upshall any day.

This has been the Flyers' problem all season long. They came out in game three and played brilliantly. Save for about four minutes after the first intermission, Pittsburgh was never in that game.

So what do the Flyers do next time out? They lay an egg. Horrendous.

If there's one thing the playoffs have always shown, it's that average teams don't make it very far. At times this year, the Flyers played well above average hockey. Unfortunately for them, none of those times have been in the stretch run or here in these playoffs.

Me calling their play below average would be generous. They went 0-for-8 on the Power Play! That is unacceptable in a playoff game. They didn't allow one, but they didn't score one either, and that's the most important side of special teams.

Just to illustrate how ridiculously bad the Flyers played, they actually held the series' leading scorer Evgeni Malkin off the score sheet for the first time in the series, and they still lost.

From what I've seen in this series I think it's fair to say that except in game one, the Penguins have only done "just enough" to beat the Flyers. They haven't been blowing them out or playing exceptionally well, but they've found ways to win.

While their brand of hockey has been fairly average, when the opposition plays well below average, average becomes good enough.

No notes this time. We all know the Flyers played terribly and the Penguins deserved to win.

See you in game five, and let's hope the Flyers can channel Keith Primeau.