Brian Boucher

The shopping spree for goalies and defensemen was fast and furious as soon as the free-agent stores were open for business. 

Last Friday marked the kick off of NHL Free Agency 2011.

As some teams opened up their checkbooks and started signing free agents, people began to raise eye brows at some of the length and dollar figures of some of the contracts that were signed.

As a Red Wings fan, I was most unimpressed with the signing of Jonathan Ericsson for $3.25 million a year for three years. I cannot strongly say that he will be worth it in the long run, but hey, I'm not Ken Holland.

The Philadelphia Flyers are looking to make another appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, vying for the Cup.

They dominated the East this past season, being just edged out by the Washington Capitals for the top spot in the East.

Now they'll have to get past the Buffalo Sabres to advance and bring themselves closer to the Cup.

There are quite a few obstacles in their way though: some internal and some external.

Here are the players that the will be the biggest threats to the Flyers' repeating in the Stanley Cup Finals.

In every playoff series in any sport, there's always one defining moment that turns the series for better or worse.  That "moment" in the series between the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres occurred on Monday night in the third period at HSBC Arena.  

There's a Brian Boucher mask video making the rounds today, after the Flyers goalie caused a bit of controversy with a hardware malfunction during Monday's Game 3 clash with the Buffalo Sabres. 

The physicality of this series between the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers has been the definition of playoff hockey.

The 2011 NHL Playoffs are at hand and the Philadelphia Flyers are not exactly playing at 100 percent.

While many picked them to be a contender for the Stanley Cup, the Flyers are playing more like they backed into the playoffs then won the second seed.

The Flyers are still one of the deepest teams in the NHL and that will start to come into play as the postseason drags on.

Two games have been branded into the historical playoff books so far and players like Carey Price, Alexander Ovechkin, and Pavel Datsyuk are earning their pay.  Meanwhile, other teams are already in a full blown battle for playoff survival. 

With the 2011 NHL playoffs field set and all of the focus directed on the teams, the matchups and the series, a lot of postseason-bound players need to improve their play during their team's stay in the playoffs and really make a difference if they want to be re-signed.

If not, they'll be dumped off to a lesser role in a lesser team for a lesser salary, and they certainly don't want that.

From now until the end of the regular season you are going to effortlessly witness sports writers across the country—but particularly in Philly—doubting the Flyers as they get ready to make a Stanley Cup run.

You’re going to hear everything from “Bob and Boosh can’t stand on their heads in big games” to “Flyers can’t score like they did in the past.”

I’m here to tell you that that’s all a bunch of BS.