Down the stretch

(photo courtesy of Getty Images)


By now, it's obvious that the Flyers need to win out the season. We're in a position where one bad game could allow someone like Washington or even Buffalo to take our spot in the playoffs. So naturally, I was more than a little nervous going into this weekend's back-to-back games against New Jersey and the Islanders. Fortunately, the boys got the job done, for the most part. The Flyers took 3 out of a possible 4 points, with both games going to the shootout. On Friday, the Flyers had to come back with a late goal by Mike Knuble to tie the score at 4-4, only to have Marty Biron fall apart in the unrecognized shootout, allowing the Devils to win the game 5-4. Seriously Marty, you let all three in? Against a team that historically cannot score? Yeesh.

Luckily, Long Island isn't too far from North Jersey (only about five hours with traffic), so travel wasn't an issue for last night's game. And, seeing as how the Flyers have mastered the art of the come-from-behind strategy lately, Mike Richards scored the tying goal with about five minutes left in the third to make it 3-3, and Antero Nittymaki stopped all three shots (see Biron, it CAN be done!), leaving Daniel Briere to score the game-winner on the final shot of the newly recognized shootout, giving the O&B the 4-3 win.

With Boston blanking the Senators and Washington beating Florida, the Flyers entered Sunday tied for sixth in the East. Pittsburgh beat New York earlier today, so the Flyers still have an outside shot of...brace yourselves...FOURTH PLACE in the Eastern conference providing everyone else takes the week off. Fourth friggin' place. Whodathunkit?? There's only three games left in the season, so I figure if we can get at least four points from them, we should be good. I think Washington will be the team on the outside looking in, which means no Ovechkin in the playoffs or the possibility of Cristobal Huet sticking it to his old team in the first round. If it all stands put, I do like our chances against Pittsburgh. Still, fourth place and home ice would be sweet.