I think I can speak for most people who've followed the Flyers all season in saying that the biggest frustration with the team this season is that everyone knows what the team is capable of doing when it sets its mind to working for it.

The single biggest problem has not been goaltending (despite scores of articles on the subject) and it hasn't even been the club's offensive inconsistency. It's been the fact that it often seemed like only five or six players would give a focused, determined two-way effort for 60 minutes, and important wins would often be followed up with several lackluster games. Goaltending had only really been an issue recently, because Brian Boucher was not inspiring much confidence in his ability either to make clutch saves at key times or to avoid preventable goals that put the team in a hole. As far as playoff goaltending goes, well, you have to make the playoffs first for that to even be an issue. The Flyers will cross that bridge when they come to it.

Over the course of the last three games, the club has put together the type of sustained team-wide effort that is necessary to get into the playoffs. The 1-0 loss to Montreal was one of those cases in which an opposing goaltender (Jaroslav Halak) legitimately stole the game with his performance. The two subsequent wins were built off that game.

Last night's win in Toronto wasn't perfect. The team took too many penalties and the power play continued to scuffle. But Boucher was outstanding in net and the penalty kill continued its recent stretch of excellence.

These Flyers often make life difficult on themselves but are now in the driver's seat. In order for Philly to miss the playoffs, the Rangers would have to win tonight in Toronto and then sweep the home-and-home over the weekend with at least one of New York's wins coming in regulation. That's because wins are the first tiebreaker for the playoffs. The Rangers, at maximum, can finish with 39 wins and 87 points. The Flyers already have 40 wins regardless of what happens this weekend, so they just need one point to wrap up a playoff spot.

****

Speaking of the Rangers, today's Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at the Rangers' 5-2 loss to the Sabres last night, and John Tortorella's decision to pull Henrik Lundqvist with New York trailing 3-2 in the second period.

Today's Across the Pond at NHL.com will look at the Asia League championships. South Korean team Anyang Halla recently became the first non-Japanese club to win the championship in the league's seven-season history.

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