Penguins Crush Flyers

Embarrassing. There is really no other word for it. The Penguins, on national television, embarrassed the Flyers 7-1 on Sunday afternoon. The Penguins, who played without their best player Sidney Crosby, beat the Flyers at every facet of the game, and played with more intensity, more skill and more heart. Five different players scored goals for the Penguins, who were barely even challenged to play defense. Marc-Andre Fleury only saw 25 Flyers shots, most of them of the "easy save" variety. The lone Flyers goal was scored by Mike Knuble, and was created by great hustle by Patrick Thoreson, who made a diving play to slide the puck toward Knuble who tapped it into the net.

The Flyers are picking the wrong time to go in the tank again. They haven't won in four games, and that has allowed teams to creep up behind them in the standings. They are barely holding on to the 8th seed in the East, with Buffalo 1 point behind and Washington 2 points out. This team was so bad last year, and it looked as though they made immense strides this season as they challenged for the top of the Eastern Conference back in January. Maybe it's injuries, or maybe they just haven't come as far as we thought, but something isn't working right now for the Flyers. It's not one players fault, it's a total team effort that is lacking.

The Flyers have tomorrow off, and then they look to rebound against the Thrashers on Tuesday. Following that game, the Flyers final 8 games are against division rivals the Rangers, Devils, Penguins and Islanders. There is still a chance the Flyers can right the ship, but if they can't improve their play, their rivals are going to enjoy knocking them out of the playoffs.