Exactly one month from today, the Flyers will likely take the ice for the final time in the 2014-15 season. It will be remembered as a season of missed opportunities.
Honestly, it should be considered a minor miracle that it took until the beginning of this week to eliminate the notion of the Flyers and the playoffs. But that has finally come to pass.
The Flyers took a slow start to the season and managed to give their playoff hopes life. Talks constantly shifted between the draft lottery and the ever-diminishing hope of making the playoffs. The shame is at the end of the season, the Flyers probably should have made it.
It took until Oct. 18 for the Flyers to pick up their first win of the season, a trying, marathon game against the Dallas Stars that ended in a 6-5 final in overtime.
By mid-November, the Flyers held the third spot in the Metropolitan Division, the last secure playoff position for the division.
The season may be defined by the massive slumps the Flyers had. From Nov. 8 to Dec. 6, the Flyers went 1-8-2 in 11 games. After opening an eight-game road trip with three straight wins, the Flyers went on to lose the next five games, netting only one point for a New Year's Eve overtime loss in Colorado.
Combined, it was a 1-12-3 record for the Flyers, which could not be countered by a 9-5-6 record following the All-Star break.
The magic number in all of this is six – six games lost in overtime or a shootout that could have easily gone the other way, or shouldn't have ended as they did.
The first of these losses was on Feb. 5. Late in the second period, the Flyers had a 2-0 lead on the New York Islanders. Two goals in 1:59 erased the lead and would eventually force overtime and the shootout, which went in favor of the Islanders. Point lost.
On Feb. 10, the Flyers scored in the first minute of the game before playing the third period completely on their heels. If they had scored just one goal in the 40 minutes leading to the third, perhaps the result would have been different. Instead, the Flyers sat back, allowing the Montreal Canadiens to tie the game and a costly turnover in overtime led to the game-winning goal. Point lost.
Three days later, on Feb. 13, the Flyers held a 3-1 lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third. Columbus struck for two goals in the final 12 minutes before finishing their comeback with a goal in overtime. Lead blown, point lost.
Six days after that, on Feb. 19, the Flyers had to grind out a game against the lowly Buffalo Sabres. They allowed the first goal of the game and a second goal early in the second. They would rally to tie the game twice, but lost in a shootout to the last-place team in the league. Point lost.
After two crucial home wins against Nashville and Washington seemed to put the Flyers back on the map, all momentum was lost with lackluster performances in Carolina and Toronto, games that the Flyers appeared poised to win. But momentum was gained back by a key home win against the Rangers.
That brings us to March 3. As the Flyers frantically try to rally back against the Calgary Flames, a potential game-tying goal is disallowed by the officials. The Flyers eventually do tie the game, but that goal would have been the difference in regulation. The Flyers lose in overtime. Point lost.
And finally, this past weekend – the Flyers are 18 seconds away from scoring the victory of the season in Boston, while spending the final two minutes of the game short-handed, when a lost face-off helps the Bruins capitalize. Boston grabs the extra point moments later in overtime. Two points lost.
The weekend concluded with the Flyers most horrendous effort since the All-Star break, a 5-2 loss to the Devils where they never stood a chance, never fought for the redemption and couldn't keep the playoff door open.
Add up all of the points counted above and the total is seven, the deficit the Flyers face now.
I said after Saturday's heartbreaking loss that it is the little battles within games that can define a team. This could have been a playoff team.
The big picture says this team wasn't good enough over the course of an 82-game season. The last month tells you that with the proper amount of care and diligence in creating their own bounces and finding ways to win over the course of the whole season, the Flyers would have made the playoffs.
Those two lengthy losing streaks be the reason the Flyers don't make the playoffs and why this recent run filled with success, heartbreak and struggle shouldn't define this team. If only the proper amount of urgency would have been there all season.
The Flyers may be learning the lesson the hard way by not making the playoffs.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
