Power Rankings: Sinking Flyers open playoff possibilities for others

Updated March 17

W.C Fields once famously proposed as his epitaph, "I'd rather be in Philadelphia," but these days, several teams in the Eastern Conference probably just want to thank the city, or at least its struggling hockey team.

Martin Biron, half of Philly's goalie-tandem, has struggled lately, as has his fellow netminder. (US Presswire)

The Flyers, who appeared to be the new model for quick turnarounds under the NHL's salary cap system and were so promising early in the season, have all but collapsed in the past six weeks, and in the process, they have re-opened the door to a potential playoff berth for a number of teams.

Philadelphia still holds down the eighth and final spot in the East with 80 points, but since being comfortably ensconced in the playoff picture at the end of January, the Flyers have dropped 16 of their past 21 games, a freefall that included a 10-game losing streak.

The upshot is that Philadelphia now has the Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers breathing hard down their necks. A fourth team, the Maple Leafs, saw their outside chance dwindle over the weekend with a loss, but Toronto might have helped turned the tide for everyone with back-to-back wins over the Flyers last week.

One came after the Leafs erased a three-goal deficit and showed as much as anything the problems Philadelphia has had lately. Philadelphia's goaltending tandem of Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki has been questionable at best during the slide, but they aren't getting much help from the defensemen or an offense that hasn't produced much lately either.

Together, it has put the Flyers in a vulnerable position while they are being chased by three desperate teams. But it has made the race for the playoffs in the East a lot more interesting over the final three weeks.

This week's rankings:

Power Rankings
Current		Team	Previous
	1	Bruins · Trends	1
	Boston hit its stride early and rarely stumbled under the smart coaching of Claude Julien. The Bruins can score and enter the playoffs as the only team with fewer than 200 goals allowed.
	2	Sharks · Trends	2
	A first Presidents' Trophy will only mean something to the league's best home team if it turns out to be a stepping stone for a first deep playoff run.
	3	Red Wings · Trends	3
	Detroit often looked like the reigning Cup champs this season, but not lately. Maybe they can flip the switch, but both goalies have sub-.900 save percentages.
	4	Penguins · Trends	7
	Everything about Pittsburgh's season before the coaching change and the deadline acquisitions is irrelevant. These Penguins are a fine-tuned version of last spring's Stanley Cup finalists.
	5	Capitals · Trends	4
	Ovechkin and company will have to provide enough fireworks to overcome a defense that is vulnerable. Can a team run and gun its way to a Stanley Cup in this day and age?
	6	Canucks · Trends	10
	No one out West has played better over the past few months than the Canucks, who will ride a very hot Roberto Luongo into the playoffs. Vancouver won the Northwest after being 13 points back in January.
	7	Blackhawks · Trends	8
	Nikolai Khabibulin is playing like someone in his contract year should and the kids are alright again after going through a rough stretch last month. Starting the playoffs at home is a bonus.
	8	Ducks · Trends	6
	A strong finish got them to the playoffs, and with Francois Beauchemin back, they've got the best blue line in the business. This is the dark-horse team in the West.
	9	Hurricanes · Trends	5
	A sloppy finish cost Carolina a shot at the fourth seed, but the Hurricanes' late-season surge wasn't a fluke and Cam Ward is playing like a Conn Smythe winner again.
	10	Flyers · Trends	11
	At one point this season, the Flyers had a 13-1-3 stretch, but they've been a .500 team since the trade deadline. So they're an enigma heading to the playoffs, a team that could get to the Finals or get bounced in Round 1.
	11	Devils · Trends	9
	The wheels seemed to come off after Martin Brodeur set his wins record in March. A couple of meaningless late wins won't convince anyone the Devils have fixed things.
	12	Blue Jackets · Trends	14
	They have the league's worst power play and allowed more goals than they scored, yet the Jackets still found a way into the playoffs because rookie sensation Steve Mason always gives them a chance to win.
	13	Rangers · Trends	18
	The Rangers earned their playoff spot by winning the games they had to, mainly because Henrik Lundqvist came up very big. But he'll need help for New York to make any kind of run.
	14	Blues · Trends	15
	The Blues officially claimed the feel-good story of the year title last week by grabbing a playoff spot with their roster full of fuzzy-faced kids. St. Louis could be dangerous playing without the pressure of expectations.
	15	Flames · Trends	13
	The impact of Calgary's implosion hasn't muted because the Flames are in the playoffs. But the Flames have been borderline awful for the past six weeks and they are pretty banged up heading into the playoffs.
	16	Canadiens · Trends	12
	Montreal backed into the playoffs last week, which temporarily saved the organization from another major embarrassment in a season that has already gone down in flames.
	17	Sabres · Trends	19
	A second consecutive season without the playoffs. Buffalo was competitive but was done in by Ryan Miller's untimely injury.
	18	Panthers · Trends	17
	Much progress this season under rookie coach Peter DeBoer, but not enough to overcome a punchless offense and too many bad goals against Tomas Vokoun.
	19	Wild · Trends	20
	Things would have probably been different had Marian Gaborik been there all season. At least Minnesota got an idea about what it will be like next season.
	20	Predators · Trends	16
	The Predators stayed in the playoff race longer than they should have and seemed to have set themselves up in goal for the next few seasons with Pekka Rinne.
	21	Oilers · Trends	21
	Edmonton placed a lot of hope -- probably too much -- on several young players and it backfired this season. Long-time coach Craig MacTavish could pay the price.
	22	Senators · Trends	23
	Here is a microcosm of how Ottawa's season went: Sniper Dany Heatley scored four times in his first three games, stayed healthy and still finished one shy of a fourth straight 40-goal season.
	23	Thrashers · Trends	22
	A strong finish and some good young pieces give the Thrashers some hope, although that's getting a bid old for a franchise that has been in only four playoff games.
	24	Kings · Trends	25
	Their development process got a lot further than expected this season and the Kings have the cap space to add big pieces over this summer. They could produce a quick turnaround next year.
	25	Coyotes · Trends	26
	Can we say Phoenix took a step forward this season? Not really, but the bigger concern surrounds the team's future in the desert.
	26	Stars · Trends	24
	Too many key injuries to deal with, especially in a season that had off-ice distractions and Marty Turco far from his best.
	27	Maple Leafs · Trends	27
	Now that the season is over the Brian Burke era will really begin.
	28	Lightning · Trends	28
	All kinds of questions for the Bolts heading into the summer, but the biggest is whether Vincent Lecavalier will be back.
	29	Avalanche · Trends	29
	All signs are pointing to Patrick Roy becoming coach of the Avs after their worst season in Colorado.
	30	Islanders · Trends	30
	The prize for an awful season will come at the draft when New York gets either John Tavares or Victor Hedman.