Over the last two months, the Flyers have frequently gotten away with playing only 20-30 minutes of their best hockey. It has started to catch up with the club a bit since the All-Star break. The team finished its February schedule last night with a 7-4-1 record, and that record is actually a little better than the club deserved.

Last night's game in Ottawa (coupled with the Flyers third-period collapse against the Islanders on Thursday) hopefully served as a reminder to the Flyers that nobody is going to simply roll over for them.

The Flyers played well in the first period, outshooting Ottawa by a 15-3 margin and grabbing the game's first goal on a Scott Hartnell tally off the rush late in the period. But Craig Anderson kept his team in the game -- starting right off the bat by denying Nikolay Zherdev on an early-game breakaway. After taking the lead, Philadelphia took its foot off the gas pedal for too much of remaining 40 minutes. The Senators deserved their 4-1 victory.

One of the most frustrating aspects of last night's game from a Flyers standpoint was watching Philadelphia try to carry the puck into the zone and refusing to adjust when the Senators started to take away their skating room. As the game progressed, the Senators won the majority of the puck battles, and were simply the hungrier team.

Some other observations:

* Since the All-Star break, Danny Briere has hit his first real slump of the season. Last night, he had one of his most ineffective games of the season and finished the month of February with just 2 goals and 4 assists in 12 games.

* A big part of the reason why Briere is struggling is that his linemate, Ville Leino, is clearly laboring with his hip problem. Last night, Leino must have fallen four or five times and, in general, is having trouble generating any speed. He has become easy to take off the puck. With the playmaking Leino at less than his best, it becomes easier to defend the rest of the line.

* As much as Chris Pronger (bruised/swollen hand), last night's game showed how much the Flyers miss Blair Betts. With Darroll Powe centering the fourth line in place of Betts, the unit has been a mess the last couple games.

* Zherdev started out last night's game like he was a man on a mission. Even apart from his breakaway, he was working hard in all three zones. As the game progressed, however, he was as invisible as the rest of his teammates.

* Erik Gustafsson had a solid NHL debut in his 16:06 of ice time.

* Nick Boynton is a serviceable seventh defenseman for the stretch drive and playoff run. His stock has fallen precipitously in the last few years, but as long as he keeps his game simple and he isn't exposed by playing too many minutes, he should be OK. His experience can only help.

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