Flyers

Brad Marsh says that even though the tide already has begun to turn, plenty of seats on the Flyers' bandwagon still are available. "I think most people in Canada are rooting for us," the Flyers' defenseman said. "The Oilers are looked at kind of like the Dallas Cowboys. People root for them to lose. " But the Flyers, the People's Team? What kind of people? The Palestine Liberation Front? In light of Ron Hextall's whack of Kent Nilsson, the pregame Montreal brawl and Mike Keenan's less-than-subtle use of his heavyweights when his team has fallen behind, Flyer hating and baiting is back almost to 1974-75 levels.

PETER LAVIOLETTE loved his team's jump in the first period. Jaromir Jagr said the Flyers played the way they wanted. Rookie Eric Wellwood said they generated enough quality chances to win the game. Last night, the Flyers' locker room seemed to admire their shot total (36) and total attempts at the net (68) more than the final score. Unfortunately, the Flyers didn't really make Panthers backup goalie Scott Clemmensen sweat until Ilya Bryzgalov was safely on the bench in the final minute.

The Boston Bruins, winners over the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night in the NHL's Eastern Conference quarterfinals, will be a tough test for the Flyers in their semifinal series slated to start Saturday. Of course, revenge will be part of the mix. It was the Bruins who dropped four straight games to the Flyers in last year's conference semifinals as the Flyers became just the third team in NHL playoff history to win a series after losing the first three games. This season, the Flyers beat the Bruins just once in four games, a 2-1 overtime victory on Dec. 11. Boston outscored the Flyers, 13-8, in the four games, and no Flyer had more than one goal.

FORWARDS Flyers: The Flyers scored an incredible 30 goals in the first round. It would be a mistake to think scoring at that extraordinary clip will continue against a scrappy New Jersey team. The Flyers have the playoffs' top scorer in Claude Giroux (14 points), but their scoring production from secondary players such as Wayne Simmonds and Matt Read was relatively quiet. Devils: New Jersey has a lethal triumvirate of their own in Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, and Travis Zajac.

So, with the Flyers done for the season, who are the players fans can look to as the offensive stars of next season? James van Riemsdyk and Claude Giroux are the obvious answers. Here's why: Van Riemsdyk On Friday, he once again led the team in shots in the game, with five; had two hits; and played 25 shifts. He either led the Flyers or tied for the lead in shots in nine of the 11 playoff games. He finished the playoffs with a total of 70 shots over 11 games. He also had seven goals to rank among the playoff leaders.

O Pronger, where art thou? It is the question the Flyers will be asking themselves all offseason if Chris Pronger, their most intimidating player, does not swoop in from the injured list and lead the team to two wins against the Buffalo Sabres. Maybe the Flyers would be facing Easter elimination even if the 6-foot-6 defenseman had been available for the whole series. Maybe the Sabres would have been just as chippy, just as aggressive, with Pronger's sharp tongue and sharper elbows policing the ice. Maybe.

Here is a look ahead to Game 4 Friday night as the third-seeded Boston Bruins try to end the second-seeded Flyers' season at TD Garden. Maybe the pressure really is on the Bruins, despite their three-games-to-none lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. At least it seems that way in some media circles. Take the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy, who wrote that the Bruins "will be the first team in the history of sports to face a 'must win' situation with a 3-0 series lead.

The performances of the marquee players on the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night indicated that they plan to make life as miserable as possible for the Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals. It can't be a comforting thought for the Flyers, down by 1-0 in the best- of-seven series that resumes tomorrow night at Northlands Coliseum, that Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr all appeared to be near the top of their games in the Oilers' 4-2 victory.

Here is what Flyers goalie Brian Boucher had to say about allowing three goals in the first period Friday: "Well, the first one I was anticipating a pass, and he shot it on net. The second one, aside from maybe coming out and playing the puck before that, I don't know if I would've played that any differently. I mean the guy banked it off me. But the first one was me anticipating a pass, and he threw it on net. " "I take full responsibility for it. I put my team behind the eight ball.

Most of the present Flyers were on the team that in 1984-85 trailed first- place Washington by 11 points on Feb. 8 and still won the Patrick Division by 12 points. So there's lot of time left for a lot of things to happen, regardless of whether the Flyers complete a sweep of a home-and-home series with the division-leading Islanders tonight at the Nassau Coliseum (Channel 57, 7 o'clock). A victory would cut a lead that was 14 points on Nov. 22 to three. If the Islanders win, it's back to seven, with two games in hand.