Bruins Best Flyers in Game Two: Is Philadelphia Burnt Out?

Heading into their round two series against the Boston Bruins, there were plenty of questions surrounding the Philadelphia Flyers.

With injuries to Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne coming towards the end of the Flyers series against the New Jersey Devils, an already depleted Flyers lineup was once again compromised.

The NHL playoffs are no easy road. In fact, many sports enthusiasts believe the Stanley Cup is the toughest trophy in all of sports to win.

The physical punishment players endure every night combined with the tough travel and short resting periods, combine to make the drive for the Stanley Cup a truly grueling endeavor.

Down by two goals with just over 13 minutes left to play in Game One, the Flyers dug deep to mount an incredible comeback, tying the game at four, rescuing the Flyers from a Game One disappointment, sending it to overtime.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, the taste of disappointment would come 13:52 into the first overtime period when Marc Savard (who had been out since early March with concussion issues) scored the game winner for the Bruins, making it a 5-4 final.

The Flyers were completely dominated in that overtime period, out-shot by the Bruins by a count of 15-4 and outplayed in very facet of the game.

Heading into Game Two of the series on Monday night everyone was asking the same question—have the Philadelphia Flyers finally hit the wall? Are they out of gas?

It would be unfair to suggest that the Flyers players are not giving 110 percent—they are. That said, the Flyers fore-check has been noticeably weak in their series against the Bruins, except for a few great battles from captain Mike Richards, who has been excellent throughout the entire playoffs.

Game Two of the Bruins/Flyers series saw the Flyers pretty much match the Bruins on the shot clock, which ended up 27-26 for the Bruins.

That said, most of the quality chances belonged to the Bruins, as they were able to penetrate the Flyers defense throughout the night, while the Flyers struggled to penetrate the Bruins defense.

To be fair, Daniel Briere managed a few shots down low on Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask, as did Aaron Asham, but the Flyers were unable to score down low in the trenches.

They simply did not win the battles in front of the net—quite the contrast to their series against the Devils.

Mike Richards scored the Flyers first goal of the game by coming off the far boards and firing a snap shot past Rask. Briere scored the second goal, letting a snap shot go from  the face-off circle—a lightning shot that Rask completely missed.

In the end, the efforts of Richards and Briere would not be enough as Bruins forward Milan Lucic (who has struggled with his fair share of injuries this season) scored the game-winner with 2:57 remaining in the third period, giving the Bruins the 3-2 victory and a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Are the Flyers getting completely outclassed? Far from it, in fact, one could say that, given the Flyers' injury woes, they are giving the Bruins a really good run for their money.

The trouble is the Flyers efforts have not translated to wins, something they now need desperately, given the fact they are down 2-0 in the series.

The sad reality is that the Flyers may have just simply run out of gas. They have been playing desperate hockey since before the Winter Classic in Boston on New Year's Day just to overcome the injuries to goaltender Ray Emery (remember him?) and others.

It was a huge accomplishment just to get into the playoffs for the Flyers, let alone upsetting the Devils in the first round. Now, having got this far on blood, sweat, tears and a lot of A5-35, the Flyers seem unable to roll enough healthy bodies over the boards to beat the Bruins.

A couple of key bodies for the Flyers look exhausted out on the ice. Defenseman Ryan Parent was pushed off the puck all night long and rookie forward James Van Reimsdyk seems to have lost a step, if not two.

Asking Chris Pronger to play upwards of 30 minutes a night isn’t helping matters either—he’s playing very well, but that kind of ice time will take it’s toll on anyone, let alone the aging/battle-tested Pronger.

As hard as he tries, Flyers forward Scott Hartnell has been ineffective, as has Claude Giroux who, despite his valiant efforts, has yet to register a point and has just four shots in the series against the Bruins.

The good news is that the series is heading back to Philadelphia, where the Flyers fans are bound to pump their home team up. The question is, will the enthusiastic Flyers fans be enough to catapult this tired squad past the confident Bruins?

The Flyers may very well be able to pull off a Game Three victory. Heck, given the Bruins' regular-season offensive struggles (which seem to have been cured once the playoffs rolled around), they could sweep the Bruins at the Wachovia Center—anything is possible.

In the end, the blood sweat and tears will only take you so far...it’s looking more and more like the Flyers have no more blood to give, and that is a low-down dirty shame.

Game Three will be played on Wednesday night in Philadelphia, 7:30 PM ET and will be broadcast on TSN (HD), Versus (HD) and RDS (HD)—don’t miss it!

Until next time,

Peace!