Last night's game reminded me of the game the Flyers played against Washington last month at the Wells Fargo Center, only with direr consequences for losing. The Flyers now face the prospect of having to win two games against Ryan Miller and the Sabres with no margin for error. It's not impossible, but the odds work against the Flyers from here on out.

There is no doubt that the Flyers have the weapons -- even without Jeff Carter and Chris Pronger -- to force a Game 7 and go on to win the series. James van Riemsdyk in particular has stepped up in a big way. Danny Briere is always a threat to score a clutch goal. Kris Versteeg is coming off his best game as a Flyer, and Nikolay Zherdev played well last night as well. The team needs a little more out of Mike Richards, Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell and needs to continue making Andrej Meszaros' heavy shot into an asset as they did in the second period of last night's game.

It was a shame to see Brian Boucher utterly collapse in goal last night. He's a player who is easy to root for, but there has always been a Jeckyl-and-Hyde quality to his game. When Boosh is on, he can compete against any goalie in the NHL. When he's off, things can get very, very ugly. I'm at a loss to explain what happened to him last night when he had been so sharp in Games 2-4.

When your goalie allows two hideous goals early in a game -- and then a third one where he gave up way too much net -- it digs a hole from which it's almost impossible to climb out. To their credit, the Flyers found a way to come all the way back from the 3-0 deficit and force overtime. But their continued ineptitude on the power play and inability to elevate the puck on close-range chances came back to bite them.

The Flyers have had success against Miller in this series when they can get points shots through (and on net) with traffic in front. That's the most effective way to beat any goalie. The Sabres have blocked a lot of shots in this series, and the Flyers have often been guilty of holding onto the puck too long. The three Flyers goals last night once again were evidence of the fact that the Flyers can't try to look for perfect plays. Rather they need to execute simple ones -- outwork the Sabres, get shots on net and people stationed in front.

The Sabres have been opportunistic offensively in this series. If you look at the goals Buffalo has scored, most have either been directly off rebounds or sharp angle shots that find their way through.

Michael Leighton did fine in relief of Boucher last night, but I'm not sure if I would start him in Game 6 if I were Peter Laviolette. He is every bit as capable as Boucher of imploding, and Boosh did an excellent job in the previous games in Buffalo.

I do know this: No matter who is in goal, the Flyers can ill-afford to spend Game 6 chasing the game. They can't spot the Sabres any more soft goals. Also, another game of power play futility likely means a handshake line on Easter Sunday.

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