Flyers vs. Islanders: A blown lead, an injured defenseman and another defeat

After the Flyers loss to the Rangers the other night, we made a lot of jokes about how "effort" and "heart" were being cited as the difference in the game. No, we said, that doesn't matter. It is secondary. The Flyers are losing hockey games because they're not a good team, not because they're not trying.

Well, yeah, that still holds true after their 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders tonight. The Flyers aren't good, but it's also pretty clear at this point that they've just utterly checked out and are ready for the offseason. After a strong first period tonight in which they jumped out to a 2-0 lead, they sat back for much of the latter two periods, letting the Islanders back into the game and ultimately falling behind 3-2.

Scott Hartnell tied it up on a 6-on-4 opportunity in the final minute, and hey, that's great and all. It meant the game went to the shootout and we got to see an amazing Claude Giroux goal, and that was a lot of fun. But of course the Flyers lost the shootout, and thus lost the hockey game, and in the process they were both really bad again and they looked like they generally didn't give much of a shit.

The most obvious example came in the third when Giroux, their captain and best player, was hit illegally by Lubomir Visnovsky and the Flyers did nothing about it. That's just one example. They've seemed to check out for the year already, and that's only exacerbating the fact that they're a bad team. A bad team that's down yet another defenseman thanks to Braydon Coburn's injury tonight. Get ready for Andreas Lilja!

Oh well. 15 games left.

Comment of the Night

Your 2013 Philadelphia Flyers: More Cirrhosis For Our Friends!

>> mikefive