Another Missed Opportunity

There's been a lot of talk about the difficulty of the Flyers' remaining schedule, and the growing doubt about their playoff prospects.

It seems as though the Flyers have been listening.

The team with a propensity for blowing late leads did it again this afternoon, squandering a chance to leap-frog the Bruins in the standings and remove the bull's eye from their backs, at least temporarily.

The loss drops the Flyers' record to 25-1-3 when leading after two periods, with two of the three losses coming in the last five days.

A 3-0 third period lead over the Maple Leafs on Tuesday in Toronto wasn't big enough.

Today, they couldn't hold a 2-1 lead with :33 seconds to go.

In case you haven't been paying attention, the Flyers remain in eighth place in the East with 80 points, three clear of the Buffalo Sabres and four ahead of the surging Washington Capitals. They have ten games remaining and will need somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 points to qualify for the post-season.

Ten points in the remaining ten games? Doesn't sound too daunting...until you look at the schedule.

Two games left with the Devils, against whom the Flyers are 1-5.

Two more with the Rangers, whom the Flyers have only beaten once.

Three with the fourth-seeded Penguins, including tomorrow afternoon's tilt at the Igloo.

Suddenly, the two games against the Islanders and one versus the Thrashers are critical. Given their struggles with the Rangers and Devils, the Flyers need all six of those points.

If they're going to gain any points from the other seven, they'll need to play a lot better than they have of late.

And do so for a full sixty minutes.