Why the Flyers can't score: It's about shot quality, not quantity

Remember goals, Philadelphia? Goals were nice, they were fun.

Unfortunately, the Flyers don't score often anymore. An excruciating 2-1 loss to the Bruins on Saturday - in which Philly defender Brandon Manning tipped in Boston's winner with 5.6 seconds left in the third period - means the Flyers have scored one goal or less in seven of their last 10 defeats, going back to the start of February.

A simple look at the shot clock in those seven losses suggests the Flyers have seriously angered the hockey gods. Philadelphia and Boston finished Saturday's game with 27 shots apiece, but in the Flyers' six other losses we're highlighting here, they outshot the opposition in five of those games.

But both the puck and the shot clock lie, it seems. The Flyers are excellent at putting the disc on net, but not from quality scoring areas. Check out this image from Hockey Viz, which shows where Philadelphia is shooting from at even strength:

(Image courtesy: hockeyviz.com)

The Flyers are far below average at shooting the puck from in front of the net and from the circles. In other words, the more dangerous areas of the ice in terms of scoring opportunities. Instead, they're chucking the puck from the blue line, and considering how perfect goalies are these days, it's no surprise the puck isn't going in.

Playoffs!?

The past six weeks have been frustrating for Philadelphia and its supporters. The Flyers need a miracle run like they had last year in order to make the playoffs, but it's looking less and less likely they'll be able to pull off an encore.

Thanks to a dominant Metropolitan Division, there's essentially only one wild-card spot available in the Eastern Conference. Before the majority of play gets underway on Saturday night, it belongs to the New York Islanders, but it's tight. Five teams are separated by six points, and the Flyers are one of th.

Philly has 70 points to the Islanders' 75, and both clubs will have played 67 games as of Sunday morning. However, of the five teams in contention for that last playoff spot, the Flyers have the worst goal differential, at minus-26.

Because they can't score.