They go through stretches where they can't buy a goal. The Flyers followed an 8-1-1 stretch (45 goals) with their current 5-6-0 run (24 goals). Pronger called it "streaky."

The issue, though, isn't streaky. Or mind-boggling. Or rocket science. It's simple: When the Flyers attack the net, they score - and win. When they don't, they lose. That's their one and only common thread through 56 games.

"We need more traffic," Pronger said yesterday. "The high-traffic scoring areas are where we need to bear down more and get more bodies. We need to get dirty in those areas. The rebounds are sitting there, we just need to get to them.

"You look at earlier parts of the season where we had trouble scoring and it was kind of the same thing. We weren't getting into those high traffic areas."

The "streakiness" carries over to the Flyers' top scorers. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are tied for the team lead with 22 goals. Richards has three goals in his last 13 games and Carter has six in the same stretch.

Ottawa is the only other team currently in the Eastern Conference playoff picture without a scorer in the NHL's top 30.

"We are a streaky team," Richards admitted. "It's something we have to put a focus on. It seems like right now we have to work hard for a goal or two."

Neither the defense nor goaltending can be blamed. They've allowed three goals in their last two games.

The Flyers squandered at least two points on their road trip, scoring just once in the last two contests of their three-game trip to Calgary, Edmonton and Minnesota. The Flames and Oilers had won just once in 22 games before they played the Flyers.

After last Monday's 3-0 win in Calgary, the Flyers held a three-point edge in sixth place. Today, they are in a three-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot with 26 games to go.

"I think we have to do a better job on the second effort on the puck and getting to the front of their net, our competitiveness in front of their net," coach Peter Laviolette said. "We had lots of shots [in Saturday's 2-1 loss at Minnesota], but a lot of them weren't very good scoring opportunities. We need to generate more by putting more people in front of their net."

Said Pronger: "We have to have the mentality that we are not going to be stopped."

Whatever mentality it requires for the Flyers to be hungry around the net, it's been far too easy to turn on and off this season.

Leino in a new light

 

The list of names of hotshot European prospects who have failed in the NHL is endless. Flyers fans need to recall just one name - Jiri Dopita - as a reminder. Ville Leino's name was about to be added to that list in Detroit. The Red Wings' patience had clearly run thin with Leino, who was about to hit the waiver wire, with the team up against the salary cap. Leino had been a healthy scratch in six straight games.

It was hard for Detroit to justify an $800,000 cap hit on Leino's seven points in 42 games. He was signed after a 77-point, MVP outburst in the relatively low-scoring Finnish Elite League 2 years ago.

The Flyers acquired Leino on Saturday for Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a fifth-round pick in the 2011 draft. Leino was supposed to challenge for the Calder Trophy this season. Instead, he needed a change of scenery halfway through.