In the Crease: Flyers Weekly 3/25

By John Casey

With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, there is still a chance the Flyers will not make the playoffs. Coming into this season, if someone would have said that, people would have thought they were nuts. Then, that same person explains that the Flyers would lose Ray Emery and their other starter (Leighton) for the season. They would also talk about lack of production from guys like Hartnell, Briere and Giroux. After hearing all of this, it would start to make perfect sense.

Anyone who has watched this team all season should not be surprised. The Flyers are fortunate this season that the majority of the teams in the Eastern Conference are playing mediocre hockey as well.

Since the last edition of Flyers Weekly, the Flyers played five games with a chance to pick up ten points. Of the ten, the team was only able to get three. They finished the last week going 1-3-1. That is not the kind of week the Flyers hoped to have. They are now starting to fight for their playoff lives. Two of the losses came at the hands of the Atlanta Thrashers. It just so happens the Thrashers are now right back in the playoff race thanks to the four points they took from the Flyers over the weekend.

The third loss came Tuesday night in a bad effort by the Flyers. They went into Ottawa needing to play good hockey. They left without scoring a goal losing to the Senators 2-0.

The Flyers did beat the Stars for their only win in the past week. The other point came from the game tonight against the Wild at the Center. The Flyers came out on fire scoring two early goals. They held a 3-1 lead heading into third period and things were looking good. A lackluster third period resulted in two Wild goals to send it to overtime. In the extra session, Brian Boucher was not able to handle a shot down the wing and the Flyers blew a golden opportunity at two points.

Monday morning the Flyers found out Jeff Carter will miss the next three to four weeks. Carter took a puck to the foot in the game Sunday night against the Thrashers. He is having surgery on his foot but it should not affect the three to four week timetable. With Carter out, the Flyers are losing their leading scorer. That is a huge blow to a team that is already struggling offensively. In order for the Flyers to survive the loss, other players in the lineup must step up. The three players that come to mind are Giroux, Briere and Hartnell. There was a ton of expectation this season for these three guys in particular and not one has lived up to it. All three have to start putting the puck in the net.

Brian Boucher did not play terrible this week. He was solid. There are two problems though when Boucher plays.

One, Boosh is good for one bad goal per game, sometimes more. A perfect example is the Thrashers game this past Sunday. The Flyers trailed by a goal in the third when Boucher gave up a short side goal from the wing. It was an awful goal and one that the Flyers could not afford at that point. It sealed the game.

The second problem is that this team does not perform in front of him. There is no reason why, but all you have to do is look at the games he has started. Boucher does a good job for the most part holding teams to low goal totals. It just seems when he is in the net, the Flyers offense goes away. Some games you feel bad for Boosh because he deserves a better fate, but other games you cannot help but think if he made that one save, the team might have won the game.

Jeremy Duchesne was sent back to the Phantoms since Johan Backlund is healthy again. Backlund backed up Boucher tonight against the Wild.

I think it is time to give Backlund a shot. At this point the Flyers have absolutely nothing to lose. They are not winning games with Boucher in net. Give Backlund a chance and see what happens. I have heard a couple people say lately that Backlund is not the answer with this team. Has anyone seen him play in person? I watched him play two games with the Phantoms this season. It was only two games but I did not see one thing that would make me think he would be awful if given a chance. The guy has not even played a full season on North American ice. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I think it is safe to say the Flyers are starting to get desperate.

***The Week Ahead***

The Flyers will only play two games in the next week. Both of them take place this weekend and both are against playoff teams in the Flyers division. On Saturday the Flyers travel to Pittsburgh for their last regular season game at the Igloo. On Sunday the team is back home to play the Devils. The Flyers cannot afford to come out of the weekend without a point. They need to start playing their best hockey of the season immediately. They might make the playoffs but playing the way they are, a first round exit seems likely. I am not sure if you play Backlund Saturday against Pittsburgh. It may be smarter to wait until Sunday against the Devils. That being said, they really have nothing to lose Saturday putting Backlund in there.