Flyers

2.94: Goals against per game for the Flyers in 2013. 141: Total goals allowed in 48 games. 10th: Rank in team defense in East. 2.83: Goals against per game for the Flyers in 2011-12. 46-40-52: Goals allowed by period for the Flyers, from first to third. The Flyers allowed the fifth-most goals league-wide in both the first and third periods, arguably the two biggest junctures of any hockey game. 68 percent: Goals the Flyers allowed at even strength, five-on-five play.

Third in a series THE ASSIGNMENT was a daunting one. Fix the Flyers' goaltending. How do you fix something that has been more or less broken since the 1987 Stanley Cup final? My opinion is not a popular one. Well, at least, judging by my inbox and Twitter feed. I would use one of the compliance buyouts on Ilya Bryzgalov this summer. Before firing off an email - obvious subject line: "Hey @$*#)$* stop running Bryzgalov out of town!" - hear me out. Part of the job requires me to be in the Flyers' locker room every day: training camp, practices, morning skates, home games and road trips.

The Flyers are not in the playoffs for the first time since 2007, but 10 of their players and prospects will be playing in the IIHF World Championships, which start Saturday. In Saturday's first game, Jake Voracek, who led the Flyers with 22 goals this year, will help lead the Czech Republic against Belarus. Defenseman Erik Gustafsson, who played well in the latter stages of the Flyers' season, will compete for Sweden on Saturday, and prospect Marcel Noebels will play for Germany.

The last time the Flyers won the Stanley Cup, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a box-office sensation, sentences were handed out for the Watergate cover-up, and gas was about 57 cents a gallon. Yeah, it's been a while. Thirty-eight years, to be exact. No one is more frustrated than Ed Snider, the Flyers' founder and chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, the team's parent company. The frustration grew this season. First there was the senseless lockout. Then the Flyers' head-scratching, inconsistent play caused them to miss the playoffs for just the second time in the last 18 years.

Ilya Bryzgalov, the wannabe cosmonaut who enjoys critiquing journalists in his spare time, cannot be blamed for the Flyers' failure to make the playoffs this season. The quirky Russian goalie was good, not great, and his overall numbers - a pedestrian 2.79 goals-against average and career-worst .900 save percentage - are somewhat misleading. Because of his team's poor defensive play, Bryzgalov faced an inordinate number of odd-man rushes and breakaways. Bryzgalov, who will turn 33 next month, was one of the league's true workhorses.

In a small sample - seven appearances, including six starts - goalie Steve Mason was lights-out after the Flyers acquired him from Columbus on April 3. Here are the numbers posted by Mason and starter Ilya Bryzgalov while they played for the Flyers this season, along with their career statistics: Ilya Bryzgalov       Goals   Save       W-L-OT   against   pct.    With Flyers this year   19-17-3   2.79   .900    ...

The NHL managed to start its postseason Tuesday night without any help from the Flyers for just the second time in the last 18 seasons. Everyone has a different theory as to why the local hockey team was so flatly mediocre this year, but almost all agree the problems were most apparent when both teams had five skaters on the ice. Unless the NHL significantly alters its rules, that will continue to put the Flyers at a severe disadvantage if not...