Philadelphia Flyers Consistently Losing Big Games

The Philadelphia Flyers may have an outstanding record since the middle of January, but letting points slip away in the most important of games has been the team’s undoing in the second half of the season.

There’s been a lot to like about the Philadelphia Flyers season since the middle of January. The team rattled off an eight-game winning streak, clawed its way back into a playoff run, and some of the disappointment from younger players has turned around.

But it hasn’t been all roses for the Flyers, not anywhere close.

While the team may have fought closer to a playoff spot, the fight seems to have come to an end with Philly’s 7-6 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. But it’s not just one loss of late that’s killed the miracle run. No, it’s a consistent failure by the team in its most important games in the last month.

The failure started when the Flyers threw everything at Matt Murray and the Penguins on Feb. 11 but walked away with a 4-1 defeat. The teams were separated by just six points at that time. Today, there are 11 points between them.

The Flyers were able to win three straight after the Penguins loss, though, before falling to the mighty Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 19. That would have been okay, except Philly lost two nights later to the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs have just five more points than the Flyers now.

On Feb. 28, seven nights after the Canadiens loss, Philadelphia forced overtime against the Blue Jackets after 1-0 and 2-1 leads were squandered by the Flyers and a comeback was necessary just to gain a single point. Columbus is in the final Wild Card spot with 13 games left.

The Flyers will take the 19-7-2 record they’ve accumulated since Jan. 10, but the lack of success in big games during that stretch has been their ultimate undoing. If they had a perfect record in the three games I detailed, they’d have 81 points — two ahead of the Canadiens and just one behind the Blue Jackets (with those teams losing the two points they gained over the Flyers). Even the Penguins would be in striking distance at 85.

Of course, it’s unrealistic to expect any team to win every game. But it’s the contenders that win the crucial “four-point” matchups.

In their recent stretch, the Flyers do have a win against the Penguins — at the Stadium Series — but two losses against the Capitals and last night’s self-destruction against the Maple Leafs show the team isn’t ready for a playoff spot yet. It’s easy to blame that on the start of the season, but the lack of success in the important games in the stretch-run is hurting the team just as much.

I wrote last week that the upcoming schedule would show what this Flyers team really is. Early on, the returns haven’t been good and playoffs no longer seem a possibility.