As the final horn sounded, Jake Voracek slammed his stick against the boards, breaking it. Steve Mason threw the word embarrassing out again.
After being 15 seconds away from their biggest win of the season on Saturday, the frustration of the heartbreaking loss that day has brought about three straight losses for the Flyers. In the process, they have watched their playoff hopes vanish.
The frustration falls on the three players that have carried the team for much of the season. Offensively, it was Claude Giroux and Voracek that couldn't miss when it came to scoring goals and piling on the points. They have gone cold lately, with no assistance from teammates whatsoever.
"We've obviously lacked scoring of late," head coach Craig Berube said. "Guys get frustrated. I think you start squeezing the stick – missed opportunities, shooting the puck over the net, missing the net. You've got to hit the net to score."
Mason is the other factor. Once again on Tuesday, as he has on numerous occasions this season, Mason kept the Flyers in the game the whole way. In the third, one goal could have made the Flyers victors. When Dallas scored, one goal could have evened the score.
Mason's 15th loss of the season does not fall on his shoulders.
"There's no desperation," Mason said. "It's tough to come into the room after games like that where we needed to have a better effort and it wasn't there.
"I'm embarrassed and I hope everyone else is embarrassed too because after an effort like that, at home, in a situation where we have to come up big and you come up empty like that, we got to be a lot better."
The Stars also did a good job taking away shooting lanes for the Flyers. In addition to Kari Lehtonen's 25 saves – good enough for his 27th win of the season and first career win against the Flyers – the Stars blocked 17 shots in addition to 14 more missed shots by the Flyers.
Far too many times, the Flyers have been in this situation, left searching for answers after another game that seemed to get away.
Mason is very forward and honest. So is Voracek. Giroux tries to keep things in perspective, but that is certainly difficult.
The answers are often times the same, as the little flaws that consistently plaque the Flyers are the only thing consistent about this team it seems.
At the very least, the Flyers fate is now fully decided. That one game, those final seconds on Saturday, set the tone for the week ahead which will officially derail the Flyers and end everything.
"We have to improve in all areas," Mason said. "Right where we're at now, we're not cutting it. We're not in the playoff picture."
It is certainly a shame for Voracek, Giroux and Mason, the three players that carried the weight of this team for most of the season, only to watch it slip when they needed to be carried by the rest of their teammates.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
