Watching the Flyers this season basically had the feel of watching two entirely different teams. The Flyers of the beginning of the season made it seem as though the playoffs were a pipe dream, while the Flyers of March made October look like a distant ways away.
They rallied from a snowball's chance in Hell at a playoff spot, to securing the final spot on the season's penultimate day. Their first playoff test wouldn't be easy, but then again, "easy" and "Stanley Cup Playoffs" were never two phrases that belonged together.
In just a matter of weeks, the Flyers have gone from one of the league's hottest teams to one loss away from the end of their season. As they stare down a 3-0 series lead, their season could very well end tomorrow — though even if they can salvage a Game 4 win, it would just be delaying the inevitable.
As the regular-season portion of the Flyers' schedule began to wind down, the Orange and Black were looking more and more like a team that was running out of gas — that the run they went on in the latter half of the season was finally beginning to catch up to them. They looked sluggish in a 6-2 loss to Pittsburgh on April 3, a 3-0 loss to Detroit on April 6 and a 4-3 overtime loss to Toronto on April 7.
With the Flyers securing the final playoff spot, it was worth wondering if they'd be a team that was built to last. They had a significant test in the Presidents' Trophy-champion Washington Capitals, which would be a difficult test even if the Flyers weren't some scrappy, upstart team on the rise.
The Flyers-Capitals had potential to be one of the most grueling series in the Eastern Conference, and it's been entirely one-sided thus far. The series has seen the Flyers get torched on the penalty kill, come up dry on the power play and be outscored by a whopping 12-2 margin so far. It's evokes painful memories of the 2002 first round against Ottawa — a series that saw the Flyers score two goals in a five-game span, the fewest goals they ever scored in a playoff series.
Sure, they did play with some emotion when Michael Raffl opened the scoring 57 seconds into Game 3, but it was all downhill shortly thereafter. By the time the third period rolled along, the Flyers didn't look like a team that belonged on the same ice as the Capitals.
At some point, the Flyers were bound to run out of steam. The success that they accomplished to close out the regular season would not have been able to hold up, especially against a particularly difficult Capitals team. While they've showed plenty of resilience this season and have been a team that could not be counted out until the final buzzer, that momentum is running out, and it will bring about the end of their season sooner rather than later.
There's no doubt that the Flyers exceeded expectations for the 2015-16 campaign, and showed signs of a bright and promising future. But the fact of the matter is that their season is coming to a quick end, and unfortunatelty, it's ending on a deflating note.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
