I am at a loss for words to describe what happened last night at the Wells Fargo Center. Well, not so much what happened but why it happened. High scoring, wide open games happen from time to time but last night was taken to the extreme. Even when the Flyers were leading, it wasn't much of a hockey game.

In the pre-game preview I wrote here at Hockeybuzz, I wrote that the biggest keys for the Flyers were the special teams battles (coming off a bad special teams night in the 3-0 loss to Montreal on Tuesday) and the club's ability to limit the damage done by Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. Needless to say, the club failed miserably on those fronts.

Last night was one of those games where goalies should get combat pay. None of the four goalies had much of a chance to do anything other that watch their GAA inflate and save percentage shrink. I felt especially bad for Brian Boucher, who was ineffective in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky in the second and third periods, but had also not seen a single minute of game action in weeks. Pretty tough for anyone to come in and look sharp under those circumstances. And, no, Michael Leighton would not have fared any better.

The immediate priority for the Flyers before they head to Washington to take on the red-hot Capitals on Saturday is to get their penalty killing and powerplay back on track. I suspect the team will recover its five-on-five commitment to two-way play but the Caps can also tear an opponent apart on special teams. The Flyers had been so good on special teams during their 10-game surge. Now they have to get back to the basics.

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