Claude Giroux

DEAD ON Tuesday. Kidding themselves on Thursday. Rallying on Saturday. Two points out of a playoff spot on Sunday. With that, welcome to the Flyers' week that was. The ride is now officially absurd. It was certified as such on Sunday night when the Flyers came back from a 4-2 deficit in the middle of the third period and stunned the Washington Capitals, tying the game with just under 10 seconds remaining in regulation and winning the game in overtime, 5-4. Seven teams are now fighting for the final playoff spot in the NHL Eastern Conference.

PITTSBURGH - About 7 minutes. That's all the Flyers needed to hang on. Clinging to a 1-0 lead, the Flyers were 7 minutes away from kicking off their playoff push with an important two points. Seven minutes away from ending Pittsburgh's precious 11-game winning streak for the third season in a row. Seven minutes away from surviving a hellacious third-period onslaught against a team that is now tied for the league lead in wins when trailing after two periods this season.

PITTSBURGH - The last time the Flyers took the ice at Consol Energy Center, Matt Read skated to the left of Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek to form one of the hottest lines in hockey. Read helped ignite a spark in Giroux that had been missing for a good portion of the season. The trio combined for 17 points in their four games together, including a 10-point outburst on Long Island on Feb. 18. The only problem was that Read didn't make it out of his Feb. 20 appearance here healthy.

PITTSBURGH - During each of the previous two seasons, the Flyers ended long winning streaks by the Pittsburgh Penguins. On Sunday night, however, they couldn't complete the trifecta. Tyler Kennedy, who had missed the previous game because of an illness, scored on a tracer from the left circle with 2 minutes, 27 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting the Penguins to their 12th consecutive victory, a 2-1 win over the Flyers at Consol Energy Center. Kennedy fired his shot high and to the short side as goalie Ilya Bryzgalov appeared to be screened.

The Flyers' puzzling road adventures continue Sunday night in Pittsburgh, one of the few areas outside of South Philly where they have managed to win this year. For the Flyers, a team fighting for its playoff lives, the good news is this: After Sunday, they play five straight games at the Wells Fargo Center. The bad news: Including the one in Pittsburgh, they have eight more games on the road, where they are an unthinkable 4-12. That's the most road losses in the NHL. And that follows a season in which they went 25-13-3 on the road.

Other than Claude Giroux, the Flyers have not received much production from their centers this season. That will have to change or they will miss the playoffs for just the second time in the last 18 seasons. The Flyers, who are finishing a five-day break in the schedule, return to the ice Sunday night in Pittsburgh, where they emerged with a wild 6-5 victory last month. They need to get their struggling centers untracked. Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn, who have alternated between center and wing, are in goal-scoring droughts.

This is a post on Daily News staff writer Frank Seravalli's Frequent Flyers blog on philly.com. WHILE THE NHL'S general managers convened for their annual meeting in Toronto on Wednesday, the most interesting thing is not that they are discussing the state of the game, and perhaps the possibility of adding a coach's challenge. It's the fact that all 30 of them are crammed into one boardroom 2 weeks before the trade deadline. The Flyers are likely not considering any foundation-shaking trades - such as moving a key, young piece - before the April 3 deadline, but a minor move may be in order.

TAMPA, Fla. - The Flyers' latest loss - a 4-2 defeat to the scuffling Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday - was a microcosm of their forgettable season. They fell behind early and it proved fatal. They again came up short in a decisive third period. They continued to struggle on the road, dropping to a head-scratching 4-12 this season. The Flyers entered a quirky five-day schedule break after Monday's loss, a defeat that pushed them into 12th place in the Eastern Conference and further behind in the playoff race.

FOR THIS ONE night, no rah-rah, Herb Brooks, win-one-for-the-gipper speech was necessary. The standings are plastered on the wall in the Flyers' locker room - and their position was clear. A loss against the 14th-place Buffalo Sabres would have landed them in 14th place. "We all can read," Ilya Bryzgalov said. "We all can count. " You could count the ways the Flyers were different on Sunday night, from Claude Giroux's inspired first shift to Max Talbot's determined penalty-killing to Brayden Schenn's game-saving backchecking in the third period.

The Flyers held a lengthy team meeting after another loss Saturday, and no more discussion was required before Sunday's 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at the Wells Fargo Center. "We all can read, and we all can count," goalie Ilya Bryzgalov said. They certainly could count to three, which was the length of the team's losing streak entering Sunday's game. In a condensed season, the last-place Flyers needed a victory in the worst way. They had not won since last Saturday. Coach Peter Laviolette stayed with Bryzgalov in goal on the second night of back-to-back games.