The Flyers current homestand may be their last chance to back up any talk about the playoffs. And it couldn't have started any better when they won on Tuesday in a shootout and got the breaks needed to win in overtime on Thursday.
On Saturday, the Flyers faced the team they are truly chasing. The Boston Bruins held the final playoff spot, sitting nine points ahead of the Flyers.
Leading into the game, the Flyers had played the right way – rallying for the win on Thursday – and backing it up with talk. Steve Mason referred to Thursday's game and said Saturday was the same – a must win. Head coach Craig Berube said he liked the mental state of the team after Thursday's win.
But the Flyers appeared to revert back to the ways that helped them create such a deficit, and widened it in the process, falling to Boston, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon.
"It's disappointing for sure, but we're going to stay positive," Berube said. "We play like that we'll win a lot of games."
"I think we played a good game," Claude Giroux said. "We kept it tight and played the way we wanted."
The loss was insult to injury as Mason was likely lost for a longer period after leaving with a lower-body injury.
For two periods, it was one of the Flyers stronger games of late. A defensive gaffe on a power play led to the Bruins only goal through two. But in the third, the Flyers struggled to contain the Bruins, and pressing to cut the lead to one, got caught in an odd-man rush and allowed a back-breaking short-handed goal.
The Flyers would go 1-for-6 on the power play, as Giroux scored with under six minutes to play to end the shutout bid for Tuukka Rask and the Bruins.
"We probably could have generated more on the power play," Berube said. "They did a good job killing, but even early in the game we didn't really create too much on the power play. That could have made the difference."
The Flyers claimed to being confident and positive. A loss like this doesn't bring about positive feelings. It signals the beginning of the end.
Sure, for now they are down 11 points. But after playing Tampa Bay, Vancouver, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh in the next 10 days, what will the deficit look like then?
Mathematically, the Flyers may have a shot going into April. But we all know better. The Flyers are past the point of no return. Saturday's loss confirmed it.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
