Well you can cue the bugles and the military personell and let the "TAPS" music start to play. The Flyers and thier season have officialy been killed, and the New York Islanders of all teams did what the Flyers never do. They put thier foot on the floundering Flyers throat and crushed it like a little bug. Not that the Flyers had much confidence coming into this game as the Isles were on fire and the Flyers we coming off that horrible loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
The Flyers had their first shot 30 seconds into the game, but then immediatly began to flounder. The problem is after they had that first shot thier newxt one didn't come until almost 14 minutes later. The Flyers spent some time in thier zone chasing the Isles around and for the most part they kept them to the outside but before ya know it the Flyers struck first blood. Jake Voracek took a pass from Claude Giroux up the middle, broke in from the blue line and scored on Evgeni Nabokov. The goal was reviewed because it appeared the puck was under the pads of Nabokov, but the defensemen that slid in after Jake pushed Nabby in the net, therefore good goal was the call. The Flyers were 12-5-2 when scoring the first goal.
The Flyers started freshly traded for goalie Steve Mason and he looked good for his debut, stopping Matt Moulson who stepped out in front eight minutes in to the game. He faced eight shots in the first period and looked pretty good in his start. He gave up some rebounds, but all in all he kept the Flyers in the game. The problem this game was the same problem the Flyers have had all season long. The players in front of the goalie. At 15:36 of the first period Matt Moulson carried the puck in and went 1on1 with Bruno Gervais, shot from the slot and scored. The replay showed the puck deflecting off Gervais stick and Mason did not have enough time to react as the shot came from between the circles in the slot. The first came to a close with the Flyers shots at 5 and the Isles at 8 and the score all notted up at 1.
The second period underway and it was back and forth and then Brayden Schenn and Matt Martin dropped the gloves and Schenn did not fair so well in the fight. Brayden fought him because Martin bumped Flyer goalie Steve Mason. The Flyers seemed to lose some of the luster after the fight, not getting in front of Nabokov and not crashing the net. The only one who wasn't was Mason who in the 2nd frame stopped Grabner on a partial breakaway, and made an incredibly huge glove save robbing Kyle Okposo who came in from the blue line on a full breakaway. Then after a full minute spent in thier own zone the tired Flyers iced the puck and it was thier undoing. The Flyers took the faceoff deep in their own zone and gathered the puck and failed to get it deep into the Islanders zone. This resulted in Michael Grabner taking a pass from Colin McDonald. He then snapped a shot through a screen to beat Mason, making it 2-1. The period ended the Isles up 2-1 and shot totals 19 for the Flyers and 21 for the Isles. The Flyers were 2-12-0 when trailing after 2 periods and the isles were 12-2-1 when leading after 2 periods.
The Flyers started out the third period the way the ended the second, dull, for lack of a better word. Wide open Islanders right next to the net and shots from the slot and wide open point men blasting it right in on Mason. It had the makings of an old fashioned Flyers disaster with too much opposition time attack, an opposition shooting gallery and not enough defensive awareness by the Flyers. The Flyers had their chances but they flubbed them. Scott Hartnell missed high and wide from the slot, Brayden Schenn almost missed high, and Bruno Gervais also missed an oppourtunity from the slot. The season is pretty much exactly that, a miss. The Isles just outworked the Flyers at the end. John Tavares scored and then Casey Cizikas sealed the Flyers fate with an empty net goal.
The Flyers season is game, set and match. The Flyers playoff hopes have been given a cease and desist order. With only 9 games to playm they need to win every single one, to get, and hold on to the 8th seed. The Flyers are mathematically still in the hunt but as even they admitted tonight in the postgame interviews, they are going to need a lot of help to even make the playoffs let alone contend in them.
