The Flyers played their biggest game of the season last night at the Wachovia Center. The men in orange came up on the losing end of a 3-1 game, not the outcome Philly fans had in mind.
The series will head back to Pittsburgh on Thursday night and the Flyers have no more wiggle room. They must either win or get out their golf clubs for a long, bitter off-season.
The Fly Guys have outplayed the Penguins the last three outings, but have only won one of those games.
So what’s stopping them from winning? Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
And if the Flyers hope to move on in the playoffs, they have to find an answer for Fleury.
Coming off of a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Fly Guys came into this season with Stanley Cup aspirations. They are now one game away from being eliminated in the first round by the same team that put a halt on last year’s playoff run.
Although they are down 3-1 in the series, teams have come back from this deficit. In fact, it has happened 20 times in NHL history.
The last time it happened was in the 2004 season when the Montreal Canadians came back and beat the Boston Bruins. There is still hope for the orange crush.
The Flyers will enter a tough environment at the Igloo with Pittsburgh fans smelling blood. It will be difficult to overcome, but coach John Stevens will do his best to make sure his team stays focused and keeps playing the way they have the last three games.
If the Flyers continue to outplay the Penguins tomorrow in Pittsburgh, one would hope the puck would start bouncing their way.
Come on! It's do or die time. How will the Flyers deal with adversity? We’ll have to wait until Thursday night to find out.
