Punchless Flyers face elimination as Bruins roll

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

With the Flyers/Bruins series returning to Philadelphia, it was supposed to be different. While the Flyers had played hard in stretches, the puck just wasn't bouncing their way in the first two games and the team seemed to run out of gas. Coming to Philly, the Flyers were supposed to get re-energized by the home crowd and work their way back into the series. Unfortunately, Game 3 turned out to be more of the same as the Bruins won 4-1 and grabbed a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Flyers.

Things sure started well enough as Arron Asham gave the Flyers their first lead of the entire series by scoring a goal early in the first period. The goal sent an already pumped crowd into a frenzy, at least for a whole minute and a half before the Bruins scored a goal of their own to tie the game. Then, just to completely kill any possible momentum by the home team, Flyer-killer Miroslav Satan added another goal another minute and a half later.

From that point on, nothing seemed to go the Flyers way. They had 4 power play chances and failed to punch one in. They out-hit and out shot the Bruins. They stayed out of the penalty box. None of that seemed to matter, though, as whatever good offensive chances the Flyers mustered up were quickly squashed by Tuukka Rask and the team got more and more frustrated.

The Flyers simply look like a group that has run out of gas and hasn't gotten enough rewards for their efforts. As I've discussed before, with Mike Richards, Claude Giroux and Danny Briere forced into more critical minutes on the ice, they are completely burdened from trying to carry the team on their backs. Since the depth forwards haven't contributed much of anything, one of those three had to be the one that triggers the offense or nothing was going to happen.

While this series isn't over until the Flyers lose another game, unless the team finds another gear or all of the injured forwards miraculously heal, the run is going to end here. The Bruins are simply the harder-working team that wants it more and has the horses to get it done. We should all hold out hope that the Flyers can turn it around and pull of a miracle but none of us should be holding our breath waiting for it to happen. Just keep things in perspective, Flyers fans, and remember that this team really wasn't supposed to do anything when the playoffs started. Too bad that's really not that comforting when your team is one loss away from getting ousted.