When Montreal Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier was let go earlier this week, it was maybe at least a reminder to Toronto GM Brian Burke that you can't wait around forever and expect to be given a long leash to build a hockey club. After a 7-1 drubbing by the Flyers over Burke's Maple Leafs Thursday night at Air Canada Centre, Burke should at least be thinking about trying to speed up the rebuilding process this coming off-season. Right now, his team could not be further from contending in the Eastern Conference.
The Flyers, on the other hand, after dealing Mike Richards and Jeff Carter this off-season and suffering a major injury to Chris Pronger early in the campaign, are on their way to the playoffs and just two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 4th seed in the East. To say the least, their performance against the Maple Leafs was dominating, with strong offense and goaltending that gave Toronto little chance.
Sergei Bobrovsky, starting for the injured Ilya Bryzgalov, played well and earned the victory by stopping 16 of 17 Toronto shots. Truth be told, he wasn't tested much by the Leafs.
Danny Briere is coming alive for the Flyers, which is a good sign heading into the post-season. Briere posted a four-point night with four assists. The line of Briere, Brayden Schenn, and Wayne Simmonds was clearly the best on the ice for either team, with Simmons putting up a three-point night and Schenn scoring two goals in the first period. If this line is clicking heading into the playoffs, they may step up as the Flyers' second-best line for Peter Laviolette in April.
Toronto only had one shot in the first 13 and a half minutes of game action, and looked like a disjointed and confused team for most of the night. Their first goal came at the 14:16 mark of the first on a breakaway by Mikhail Grabovski, but the rest of the night was an offensive disaster for Toronto. They went 0 for 3 on the power play, and allowed a short-handed goal by Matt Read in the second period. That gave the Flyers a 4-1 lead, and they did not look back. Toronto was simply unable to cycle the puck at all on the power play, and had a tough time breaking out of their own end at times on the man advantage.
Despite leading just 2-1 after the first period, the Flyers made things look easy in the second and third periods, and kept Toronto netminder Jussi Rynnas' head spinning throughout the rest of the night. The Flyers simply outworked the Maple Leafs in every aspect of the game. Despite still being in the playoff picture a few weeks ago, the Maple Leafs have completely fallen apart and now find themselves with the third fewest points in the NHL, second to last in the Eastern Conference and already looking towards the draft in June.
Meanwhile, the Flyers have an interesting conundrum ahead: do they go full steam ahead and try to get the fourth seed from the Penguins, with five games left to play for both teams? The Flyers rested Kimmo Timonen last night, and Ilya Bryzgalov is not expected to play Saturday against Ottawa, in order to get some more time off. He could return Sunday against Pittsburgh.
The Flyers should absolutely be trying to get home ice in the first round. They are essentially locked into a four-five match-up with the Penguins, but home ice would be a nice get for the Flyers. They could certainly use a rabid crowd to their advantage, as they did against the Penguins a couple of weeks ago in a rally-style victory. Either way, the first round series between the two teams will be interesting should the standings remain the way they are now. But for this moment, the Flyers can only play one game at a time. They certainly did that last night against the Maple Leafs.
Victor Filoromo is a born and bred Philadelphia sports fan, and has been through the best and worst of Philadelphia sports. He is a regular contributor to the Yahoo! Contributor Network's NHL and MLB coverage.
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