It ended 2:33 into overtime, poignantly, with what was supposed to be a routine glove save for Brian Boucher on a shot by Kyle Brodziak. The puck bounced off Boucher's glove and into the air. By the time Boucher could spin around and track the puck, he already had kicked it into his own net - and dealt the Flyers yet another crushing blow in their chase for the top eight in the Eastern Conference.
Last night's 4-3 overtime loss, never should have come down to a do-or-die save in overtime. Much like their playoff chances never should have come down to the final eight games of the 82-game march.
The Flyers carried a 3-1 lead into the third period. They were 27-1-2 when leading after two periods this season.
"That game should be locked down at 3-1,'' Pronger said. "This late in the season, that's just unacceptable. [It's] a lack of focus, a lack of concentration, a lack of desire."
With the loss, the Flyers not only kept Minnesota's slim playoff hopes alive, they only increased their lead on eighth-place Boston and ninth-place Atlanta - both losers last night - by one point.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said all he had stressed to his players during the second intermission was making sure they were ready to "dig in'' and hold the lead.
"The focus, the intensity . . . it's the only thing we talked about going into that period,'' Laviolette said. "It was flat, flat, flat, goal, timeout, goal. Then you're in a ballgame.''
It started when Dan Carcillo lazily had his pocket picked by Guillame Latendresse at the top of the circle inside the Flyers' zone. Latendresse fed the puck to Martin Havlat, whose one-timer beat Boucher 6:37 into the third period.
Havlat's goal cut the deficit to one. An incensed Laviolette called a timeout. And just 7 minutes later, Andrew Brunette tipped in the dagger that knotted the game with 6:37 to play.
Minnesota almost won it in the closing seconds of regulation.
