 The second seeded Philadelphia Flyers enter the playoffs as the NHL's defending Eastern Conference Champions. The Flyers three-headed monster at center, Danny Briere, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, has been the key component to the Flyers' offensive attack all season. Coupled with the team's leading overall scorer in winger Claude Giroux the offense could have fans in the City of Brotherly Love buying Philadelphia Flyers tickets all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Three Questions for the Philadelphia Flyers Entering the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs Was the Flyers' last season swoon a preview of things to come? While they did finish second in the conference, the Flyers did everything they could to drop down in the standings. In their last 11 games of the regular season they limped to a 3-8 record and almost gave away the division and the second seed to the Penguins. In four regular season games against their first round opponent, the Buffalo Sabres, the Flyers were 2-2, outscoring them by a marginal 17-14 difference. Winning games 1 and 2 at the Verizon Center could be just the medicine that the Flyers' need. A split or going down 0-2 could spell doom for the men in Orange and Black. Will Chris Pronger be a factor in the playoffs? When the Flyers went out and acquired Pronger, it was to neutralize the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evegeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin of the Washington Capitals. Luckily for the Flyers, Malkin is out for the season, Crosby's return from a concussion is up in the air and if they see Ovechkin and Semin it won't be until the Eastern Conference Finals. Unluckily, Pronger, who was limited to 50 games this season, is out with and injured wrist and his return is as uncertain as Crosby's. If the Flyers want to be playing into June, Pronger will need to get healthy in a hurry or the Flyers' may be spending more time at Independence Hall than on the ice. Can the Flyers' overcome last year's Stanley Cup hangover? More often than not in professional sports, the losing team in a championship game and or series struggles to overcome their previous season's failures. The one thing that works in the Flyers' favor is that the rest of the Eastern Conference is either struck majorly by the injury bug and or lacks real playoff experience. Their fiercest challenge to return to the Stanley Cup looks to be the Capitals. However, given Washington's struggles in the post-season, an early upset could make the Flyers the odds on favorite to represent the Eastern Conference again in 2011. Final Thoughts Other than Pronger, the Flyers aren't missing any key pieces to their roster. With Geroux, Briere, Richards and Carter, goals will be a plenty in Philadelphia. If their defense can hold the fort until Pronger returns, fans will be buying their Philadelphia Flyers tickets in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second straight year.
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