There is no easy explanation as to why the Flyers, who have been locked into the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference nearly all season, are now closer to sixth than first.
The Rangers are skating away with the East.
It would take a major miracle for the struggling Flyers to overcome a 10-point margin given they havent been able to close a far lesser gap since the Rangers overtook them on Dec. 27.
I dont ever talk about the Rangers, 10 pointsthat never comes up, coach Peter Laviolette said. We talk about winning the next hockey game. We talk about winning all of our hockey games and doing the best we can on a nightly basis.
Weve got short-term goals and weve got segment goals and weve got long-term goals. The objective is to win as many games as you can. Nothing changes for us. Theres nothing we can do about the weekend that just happened. Were disappointed. We would have liked to have won some games and we didnt.
Everything that was working in the Flyers favor at the midpoint of the season on Jan. 10 has turned around on them since:
Most of their rookies, except Brayden Schenn, have hit a wall.
Team scoring depth has dried up while every line is struggling for consistency.
The defense has begun to show cracks and lacks any kind of physical presence
The goaltending has been wildly up and down. Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky play a string of good games then give up five.
Special teams have gone from very good to very poor: the power play is 0 for 13 while the penalty kill has yielded nine goals in six games.
NHL
Its February and the Flyers have flat-lined throughout the roster.
We want to bring back our swagger, Max Talbot said.
Indeed, the Flyers had it October through the new year for the most part, despite their inability to beat the Rangers (0-5), who now own them and Boston.
The silver lining is, theres enough time to right themselves and clinch fourth. The dirty little secret is that the Flyers might be much better off finishing sixth and playing the third seed, which figures to be Florida.
Why? Because unless the Flyers defense and goaltending improves several notches, theyre not going to be in position to beat some of the clubs right with them, such as Pittsburgh.
The Flyers are just 15-12-3 against all clubs currently in the playoff picture (seeds 1-8) in the NHL. Thats .500. And thats not good enough.
You go through stretches during the season where things dont go quite as well, Danny Briere said. Were hitting that patch right now. Its important to realize things are not going well and fix them. Weve been doing a lot of video. Its not the time to panic. Its a time to buckle down and try to play harder.
When youre in a slump, the tendency is to squeeze your stick and get more nervous. The way you get out of it is working harder, getting closer to the net. Its kind of the same thing with the team. We cant get away from the plan. Its a long process and right now, its tough.
I look at last year. We played well until the stretch and we came into the playoffs on a downswing. We still have a little bit of time, but we want to secure a good spot for the playoffs. Come into the playoffs on an upswing. Im not saying this is a good thing, but its better to happen now than at the end of the regular season.
Briere has no goals in 11 games. Jaromir Jagr has one goal in 16. Matt Read has one goal in 10. Sean Couturier has no goals in 12. Scott Hartnell has one goal in nine.
You get the pictureand thats just team scoring.
Its a little bit of everything, Briere said. Not one guy, not one particular thing, its a bit of everything.
Special teams usually pull teams up and become the great leverage factor in a slump. Yet the Flyers special teams arent getting it done and its losing games for them, such as giving up three goals on the power play to New Jersey and the Rangers on consecutive weekends.
Weve got to be better in a lot of different areas, Laviolette said. I dont necessarily know that theres one thing you can point to. We lost a couple of big games and thats disappointing. The good news is weve got a good week of work in here and look forward to playing the next game.
On Wednesday, players talked about two up-tempo practices in succession to get their blood flowing again and trying to find a positive swagger against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
Winning takes care of everything, said Jody Shelley, the resident philosopher, who sat five of the last six games.
We know were not playing the right way as a group. We are not happy with last two weeks, maybe the month. Its time to get back to basics, put the work boots back on, win and have fun. Everything else takes care of itself in its own way. Its about the Stanley Cup and going into the playoffs feeling great as a group.
Like going into a third period being down and nothing needs to be said. You just know youre going to win. Weve had that feeling in the room.
A couple wins will get that back and everyone rolling and everyone good. Right now, no one feels good about what is going on but were excited about tomorrow.
While the Rangers have extinguished the Flyers flame in their season-series, the mood in the dressing room has been rather upbeat, nonetheless.
Im not ready to paint such a negative picture as everybody else is, Laviolette said. Through the course of a long season, there are going to be ups and downs. That happens and weve talked about it. Certainly we would rather have won the two games that didnt go our way.
Theres things that we can do better. We acknowledge that. We look at it. We work at it. We look to get better. This teams had a lot of success month-to-month so far and we had a little bit of a road block this weekend to winning games and well get back on track.
It begins with the Sabres and carries through to the weekend against the Penguins, who now have Kris Letang back in their lineup. He didnt play in either game against the Flyers this season.
We need more urgency, but not panic, Briere said. You dont want guys squeezing the stick harder. You want to go have fun and play hard. You shouldnt be afraid to go out and play or be afraid that youre slipping close to the ninth spot and out of the playoffs.
Thats not how you play. You should think we still have a chance to catch the Rangers. Thats what were playing for. We need to get that attitude back. Its how we react, how urgent our play is come next game. Thats what matters now.
Loose pucks
Jakub Voracek (upper body) wore a non-contract jersey and remains questionable for the Sabres. ... The Flyers announced after practice that defenseman Andrej Meszaros is day to day with an upper-body injury.Given Zac Rinaldos two-game suspension, the Flyers may need to call up another player from the Phantomseither Eric Wellwood or Harry Zolnierczyk, because Shelley will now go back in the lineup for Rinaldo. ... James van Riemsdyk (concussion) is out.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net