Flyers on Brink of Elimination After Ugly Game 3 Loss

PHILADELPHIA — When the playoffs started, the Flyers sputtered past the finish line of the regular season, barely having made it.

Like a car out of gas, they were running on fumes and hoping that a postseason berth would provide a little punch against the NHL’s best regular-season team.

Three games into a series against the Washington Capitals and the engine needs repair, the transmission is shot and the tow truck is en route, but they don’t seem to feel that way.

“We put in a good push to get here, but we had a week off,” Ryan White said. “I feel pretty good to tell you the truth. It’s only Game 3. Ask me in Game 7 and we’ll see how I feel by then. We’re fine, just gotta be better.”

It’s been the same story in all three games, the latest a 6-1 loss to the Caps in Game 3 Monday night, and a Game 7 seems like a pipedream.

The power play, most teams’ engine in the playoffs, is now 0-for-13. The transmission — this team has been powered by rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere since he was recalled in November — is worn down after its busiest season to date and looks in need of repair.

It could all be over Wednesday, but Monday was a wreck.

The Flyers gave the Capitals nine power plays and they scored on five of them.

“I’ve got to be a bit more careful,” said Wayne Simmonds, who took a pair of penalties. “Obviously their power play has been deadly and I can’t be doing stupid things like that.”

Simmonds was hardly the stupidest one in the building. Tons of fans threw giveaway wristbands on the ice after a dangerous Pierre-Edouard Bellemare hit on Dmitry Orlov and ensuing scrum that resulted in 35 minutes of penalties.

“Have some class,” public-address announcer Lou Nolan pleaded to the crowd. “This is Philly, not some other place in the NHL.”