Flyers atop the NHL leaderboard

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – As of a 6-2 rout of the struggling Ottawa Senators, the Flyers hold the top spot in the NHL with 67 points.   They stand one point ahead of Western Conference leading Vancouver, and four points ahead of Tampa Bay, ranked second in the Eastern Conference.
It was a game full of goals as well as wild fights, and all but a two-minute blip in the second, the Flyers had firm control of the game.   However, one underlying issue still remains.   Late in the second period, the Flyers held a 3-0 lead over the Sens, a team that’s only won one game in their last eleven and has the second lowest goals for total in the league (105).   Between 17:56 and 19:14 of the second stanza, the visitors were allowed to shovel in two goals and cut the lead to one.
When asked about the two quick Ottawa goals in the second, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, said, “Well, teams are going to score goals against us.   I am pretty sure we are not going to go the rest of the year without giving up any [goals].”
However, two nights earlier against the Washington Capitals, the Flyers entered the third period with a solid 2-0 lead, appeared to have full control of the game, and poised to capture Sergei Bobrovsky, Flyers rookie goaltender, his first career NHL shutout.   But two quick goals by the Caps within 40 seconds of one another, and a shutout became an overtime scramble.   Luckily, star defenseman Andrej Meszaros, wristed in the winner in OT, but none of his heroics would have been necessary if the Flyers could have shut the game down.
The Flyers have one of the deepest offenses in the league and they’ve scored more goals than any other team this season (164) and have the best goal differential (plus-40).  
In the offseason, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren bolstered the team’s blueline by adding Meszaros and veteran Sean O’Donnell to a defense that already boasted Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen, arguably two of the best defensemen in the league.   Yet, they still haven’t registered a shutout this season.
At the end of the 2010 regular season, the Capitals took home the President’s Trophy as the league leader in points and they did it with the highest goals for total (318) and the best goal differential (plus-85).   They entered the playoffs looking like the team to beat, but wound up losing in the first round to the defensive style played by the underdog Montreal Canadiens.
The Caps finished last season with three shutouts, one by veteran netminder Jose Theodore and two by Russian rookie Semyon Varlamov—an arrangement that should look familiar to Flyers fans.
The Flyers have won eight of their last ten games, but in several of them they’ve allowed teams to score quick momentum changing goals, in which they appeared to have full control.  It usually came on excessive lackadaisical passing close to the blue-line or on a missed breakout.   A game against the Rangers, last Sunday, saw two goals off of turnovers right in front of seasoned goaltender, Brian Boucher.   The two goals were scored just over two minutes apart.
It’s not that the Flyers are playing badly.   They’re obviously playing extraordinarily well.   It’s no coincidence they sit atop the NHL standings and are on every teams watch list, but unless they can start cracking down on the late game slip-ups, it could mean an early playoff exit, where defense is key.
The Flyers have a chance to get right back at it Saturday afternoon against the deceiving New Jersey Devils, who’ve been winning of late, and again on Sunday in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Finals.   It’ll be the Flyers first visit to Chicago’s United Center, since game five of last season.
Contact Chuck.Tay@prohockeynews.com
Photographer Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com