I honestly don't think they'll continue this awesome 30% clip they've been on, because if they did they would indeed slip out of the playoffs.
Ire is exacerbated by the completely tiresome ways they continue to find ways to lose against NYR, a team that is playing over their heads in that their offense needs continuous support from seamless defense and all-world goaltending every night and it hard to imagine them getting by a series needing to win 2-1 or 1-0 every night. Yet there the Flyers are, a turnover machine for the ages and an overpaid goaltender that never seems to figure it out no matter which thousandth chance he is on, choking up goal after goal.
At the start of the year I expected to make the playoffs when they were saying we'd score no goals. After a couple months I was saying they'd finish ahead of NYR when they were being hailed as the Gods of hockey.
It is only natural for people to start flipping "out" when we see three straight losses in the division.
Hey, the Giants won with 9-7. The Flyers went to game 6 overtime Stanley Cup Finals from a Fairy Dance win on the last day. Stuff can happen.
The road immediately ahead is a tough one. It goes in cycles. If they run the table with Tor, NYR, and Det the voices that elate will ring louder than those who depress. As always, the median between the expressed extremes will be closest to reality.
It is distressing not to see routine saves and basic defensive zone coverage. One can excuse rookies for hitting the wall but veterans like Carle and Coburn, for two examples, are playing pretty crappy lately and there is no excuse for them or Breezebyov.
As far as the bottom line goes, I think what we are seeing now just underscores there is no point ripping the team up to get one more D at this stage. If you can't even get a save a team is going nowhere. I'm just waiting for the final nail in Breezebyov and we'll see what Bobrovsky can do. Maybe we'll get lucky and Breezebyov will get offended and go home to Russia...
Posted on Feb 9, 2012, 12:12 AM from IP address 165.154.20.5