NEWARK, N.J. — You don’t have to remind the Flyers that they are in a precarious position.
They check the league scoreboards. They keep an eye on the standings. And they know exactly how precious points are this late in the season, especially when a playoff berth is at stake.
Which makes the Flyers’ 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils all the more maddening. They knew what they needed to do but still failed to execute.
So is this really a team that is capable of putting a run together?
"Yeah, I believe so," goalie Steve Mason said on Sunday. "That’s the frustrating thing because you can see what type of team we can be and it’s just not there on a consistent basis. That’s been a problem all year long: Consistency."
The Flyers entered this past weekend just four points out of the playoffs. They earned a point against Boston on Saturday, but gave up two in their overtime loss to the Bruins, whom the Flyers are trying to catch in the wild-card race.
The Bruins then extended their lead on the Flyers to seven points with a 5-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. At this point, it looks like Ottawa and Florida will give Boston more trouble in the closing weeks of the 2014-15 season than the Flyers, who have continually played down to weaker opponents, such as the Devils, over the past month.
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"We had a lot of chances at winning games and we didn’t do that," team captain Claude Giroux said. "When we play as a team and play smart and compete the right way, I think we’re a dangerous team."
To recap, the Flyers dropped very winnable games to Columbus (twice), Buffalo, Carolina and Toronto in February. In the past week, they were bested in overtime by Calgary and Boston. There have been plenty of opportunities for the Flyers to gain ground, but they just can’t seem to make things easy on themselves.
"It’s a bad feeling obviously," Wayne Simmonds said. "It's definitely not the way we envisioned it."
Some games it’s a lack of secondary scoring that hurts the Flyers. In others, it’s poor penalty killing. Sometimes they’re strong at even-strength. Other times they have to rely on their power-play units to squeak out a win. There’s no in between. It all goes back to consistency.
"Nobody to blame but ourselves," Mason said.
The blame certainly can’t be placed on Mason. The 26-year-old netminder has been the Flyers’ rock all season long, posting a .922 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against average in 40 appearances. Goaltending is one aspect of the game the Flyers haven’t had to worry about.
After an emotionally-draining weekend, climbing back into the playoff race appears to be a daunting task for the Flyers. They have little room for error with just 15 games remaining.
"We probably have to run the table, win every game and get some help," Simmonds said.
He’s not kidding. The Flyers (69 points) have played two more games than eight-place Boston (76 points). Ninth-place Florida (72 points) has 16 games remaining. Tenth-place Ottawa (71 points) is 8-1-1 in its last 10 and has a game in hand on Bruins.
The odds are not in the Flyers’ favor, that’s for sure. But that’s not something they can control. For now, they’re trying to stay focused, no matter how big the hurdle.
"We just need to breathe here," Giroux said. "Just start playing the game."