Postgame Perspective: Shootout loss to league’s worst ends frustrating stretch

Thursday night was filled with fanfare over the induction of Eric Desjardins into the Flyers Hall of Fame. 

It may have been the highlight of the night.

For whatever reason, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres – teams that will likely finish lower than the Flyers in the standings and pick higher in the Draft – have been thorns in the Flyers side all season.

The Sabres capped off a difficult season series – two one-goal losses to the Flyers earlier this season – with a 3-2 shootout win over the Flyers on Thursday for just their sixth road win of the season and third win since the end of December.

"We're definitely not happy about it," head coach Craig Berube said. "Tonight, we've got to find a way to score another goal. We didn't."

This was the Flyers chance – perhaps the best they had left – to try to make the playoffs. And during the week that was, the Boston Bruins, the team the Flyers are chasing, were doing everything they could to leave the door open.

Now, twice this week, the Flyers have pushed it shut in the Bruins favor.

"We're playing good hockey. We're playing as a team," Claude Giroux said. "Every game is tight at this time of year. We just need to play 60 minutes of it. The whole team together, we had good chemistry out there. We had a lot of good chances. It's obviously disappointing."

Giroux's belief that the Flyers are playing as a team is certainly faulty. For much of the game, the passing wasn't crisp, there were plenty of turnovers to go around and the Flyers couldn't score when they needed to.

Twice in the third, the Flyers were presented with power play chances. Buffalo has the league's worst penalty kill. The Flyers rank fourth in power play. It didn't matter.

"Anybody can lose to anybody in this league," Berube said. "I don't know what you want me to say. We didn't find a way to get that next goal tonight. That's what it boils down to."

Part of Giroux's sentiments has to stem from personal struggles. While Jake Voracek climbed out of a mild slump by scoring a power-play goal and netting the Flyers only shootout goal, Giroux remained off the scoresheet completely.

"For sure, he's frustrated," Berube said. "He wants to win. He's one of the guys that have to produce. I talk to him a lot about different things."

Part of the sloppiness of the game was the fact that the Flyers could have avoided the whole situation of a shootout. The chances were there to score and the two goals Buffalo scored in regulation weren't pretty.

Nicolas Deslauriers barely connected as he swung at a bouncing puck on a shot from the point by Rasmus Ristolainen. It still managed to beat Ray Emery.

Similarly, a long shot early in the second handcuffed Emery and Brian Gionta was there for the rebound.

"They get some weird bounces and the goalie makes some saves," Emery said, "and you end up in the position where you're in the shootout."

In a week where the Flyers faced two teams that were not only below them in the standings but also struggling mightily, they failed to gain any ground in the standings themselves, playing to a 1-1-2 record. Could the Flyers have overlooked the inferior teams for what's coming.

"I don't think they were thinking ahead at all," Berube said. "I don't believe that."

After the stretch of four games, the Flyers still sit six points back of the final playoff spot. What may be more telling about the Flyers playoff chase isn't the margin to the final spot but the other teams joining the race.

By this point, you would think the Flyers would be the first team out. That remains the Florida Panthers, who are now five points ahead of the Flyers after a shootout win of their own on Thursday.

And now, directly in the rear-view mirror is the Ottawa Senators – three points behind the Flyers – and the Blue Jackets – now four back of the Flyers. With the chance of separation from these other potential contenders, the Flyers chances may have died at the hands of the worst team in the NHL.  

On the plus side, it's just in time for the trade deadline – where the Flyers can still be sellers – and with other teams close enough that the Flyers could still slip back into lottery contention.

But to the Flyers, maybe some more difficult competition will bring out the best in them. It did during their nine-game points streak, and there's plenty of it coming. The NHL's best team, the Nashville Predators, come to town on Saturday afternoon followed by the red-hot Washington Capitals on Sunday.

The playoff discussion could be even more reasonable and exciting if the last two games would have gone as many feel they should. But what's done is done.

"It's over with," Berube said. "We've got to think about the next game and getting two points."

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.