Photo credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Just a brutal, brutal loss by the Flyers last night that should’ve cost them more than it did.
As we explained last week, every point is crucial at this juncture, and even better than two points is two points in a regulation or overtime victory. The Flyers let both careen off their sticks last night.
They allowed 53 shots(!) and yet somehow still led 2-0 with around 1:00 to play.
They lost in a shootout.
The two regulation points were there for the taking, which would’ve netted them roughly an 8-point increase in their playoff chances, sending them up to nearly 80%, using HockeyViz.com…
… but by allowing the Blue Jackets to score twice in the span of about a minute, and by Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds not being able to convert excellent scoring chances in overtime, and by turning out one of the most pathetic shootout efforts you’ll ever see, they netted just a slight increase thanks to a Red Wings loss to the Lightning, according to SportsClubStats.com calculations:
Talk about being lucky. Thankfully the Red Wings shit the bed. The Flyers are now tied with them for the final Wild Card spot, with a game in-hand.
This play by Ghost is one of the best hockey instinct plays I’ve ever seen, and it reeks of Chase Utley-ness in that it flashed the sort of innate ability to do something that you just can’t coach. Utley’s World Series Game 5 pump-fake comes to mind, not in weight or magnitude, but as the sort of thing you just shake your head and say, “This guy is unreal.” The fact that Ghost resembled Utley going to his right in the hole is just a bonus:
Ghost’s play didn’t lead to a goal – it should’ve, Wayne – but still, I’ve never seen anything like this.
Just embarrassing. Showing yet again that the Flyers lack natural scoring ability, they managed no goals on five shootout shots, including a missed net…
… another missed net, a lame wrister, this…
… and Sean Couturier getting stuffed on the final attempt against Sergei Bobrovsky.
Next up: Avalanche, Thursday at 9 p.m.