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Flyers Limp To The Finish

The trials and tribulations of the Philadelphia Flyers are pretty well known at this point, but exactly how bad is the end of their season? SBN’s Bird Watchers Anonymous took a deeper look at how the Eastern Conference playoff race is wrapping up and one of the most startling things to read is about the Flyers.

In MOST years, the playoff bubble teams up the ante and earn points at a slightly higher rate than they did before the trade deadline. It makes sense that the playoff bubble teams have the most to play for and they usually elevate their performance.

PHI has been terrible, slumping from a 93 point pace to 67 point pace that would put them in draft lottery land over a full season.

That kind of points drop-off is dramatic, to say the least, and it’s pretty easy to point fingers at goaltending for a brutal finish as Philadelphia has been
Antti Miettinen, Johan Backlund

Minnesota Wild’s Antti Miettinen (20) scores against Philadelphia Flyers goalie Johan Backlund during the shootout in a preseason NHL hockey game Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, in Philadelphia. The Wild won 5-4. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr.)

AP

, that brings their goalie total to seven players who have suited up to play this year alone and they’re still looking around for help from the college ranks according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

It’s safe to say that Flyers GM Paul Holmgren, or any GM for that matter, can’t aptly prepare for such an injury fiasco at one position. That said, opportunities were reportedly there for Philly at the trade deadline and Holmgren opted to stand pat during the trade deadline. Clearly, there’s not a lot that can be done now and the Flyers are doing as best as they can to fill holes, but you can’t help but figure that a lot of questions will be asked and answers are going to be demanded in Philadelphia should the Flyers come up short of the playoffs.