The Flyers had a tough week, losing two out of three but being able to hang on to fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The team is down to seven games remaining before the race for the Stanley Cup begins.

After a huge weekend, the Flyers had 2 days off before their first home match-up with the Florida Panthers who are fighting for their playoff lives. Flyers winger Scott Hartnell has let his hair grow for over a year and a half and in honor of it, the Flyers held Scott Hartnell Wig Night giving out free wings to fans.

A big theme of this week for the team was that they had to play from behind in each game and that’s not something you want to do heading into the playoffs. The Panthers scored the only goal of the first period midway through when they beat Marty Biron.

It took the Flyers until there was less than six minutes left in the second period to score when Jeff Carter whipped home a wrist shot for his 41st of the season. However, the Panthers came right back after a rush by the Flyers and took the lead 23 seconds later off a rebound given up by Biron. Then with four seconds left in the period, Carter fed a pass in front and the honoree of the night, Hartnell, put home the puck to tie the game again.

In the third, the Flyers put 15 shots on net and could score after the Panthers scored the eventual game-winner early in the period. They added an empty-netter later after Danny Briere had trouble controlling the puck. The Panthers won 4-2. The Flyers set a season high in shots with 42.

On Saturday the Flyers faced the Islanders in New York. The Flyers looked for their 5th win in 5 tries against the Isles this year. I told you in my last article that the Flyers were home in this game. I am sorry for the mistake.

The Flyers played two entirely different games this night. The team seemed non-existent in the first two periods and the Islanders scored a goal in each but things changed in the third as John Stevens reunited some lines.

Jeff Carter was back with Scott Hartnell and Joffrey Lupul and it paid dividends quickly. The line combined for five points on three goals in less than four minutes that gave the Flyers the lead. Lupul had two goals while Hartnell picked up the other. But that lead was lost when New York tied the game 32 seconds later and it eventually went into a shootout.

In the shootout, Danny Briere and Mike Richards scored while Biron stopped all three shots and the Flyers secured the extra point. The final was 4-3. The Flyers continued to put pucks on net in this game with another 36 shots.

The season series with the East’s best, the Boston Bruins, concluded on Sunday at the Wachovia Center. Ironically, the Flyers won both games in Boston and the Bruins won the only game in Philly.

Having played well against Boston this season, Antero Nittymaki The Flyers came out great playing well in the first half of the period, including a goal by rookie Claude Giroux, his 6th of the season.

Then the tables turned and quickly. Midway through the stanza, Boston tied the game. And then some unfortunate penalty calls had the Flyers down two men and Boston cashed in again. Another late goal in the period gave the Bruins a 3-1 lead in about seven minutes.

The Flyers were throwing everything at the net in the second period. They had 16 shots in each period for another season high of 48 but the second period seemed to have the most scoring chances. They were able to get a goal late when Mike Richards deflected in a shot from Ryan Parent.

The Flyers hopes at a comeback took a quick hit when former Flyer and recently acquired Bruin, Mark Recchi beat Nittymaki off a rebound. He drew a penalty earlier in the game that helped lead to a Boston goal.

A late goal by Simon Gagne gave the Flyers some hope but they were turned away and dropped the game 4-3.

Entering Monday the Flyers held a one point advantage over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in sixth, trailing the Flyers by two points. Those two teams will clash this week.

The Flyers will travel to Toronto on Wednesday which will conclude on Friday. They will head back to Canada on Saturday for a date with the Ottawa Senators. Both of these teams have played well as spoilers lately.