The Philadelphia Flyers did all they could to overcome the NY Rangers, but came up short in the fateful Game 7. The team had a roller coaster season and now it is time to look at the highs and lows of the 2013-14 Philadelphia Flyers.

Highs

The Flyers bounced back from a poor 2012-13 season and managed to make the playoffs. However, the most important development for the team this season was that it finally solved its goaltending situation. Since 2008-09, this team has played 10 different goals and seemingly tried out a new starter every season in hopes of landing a keeper. The team previously signed Ilya Bryzgalov to a massive contract with the hopes of solving the net minding issue but had to buy him out last summer and move on. Steve Mason was acquired from Columbus last season and many wondered why the team would try out an enigma that had struggled to recapture his form from 2008-09. Mason did just that with a solid year as Philadelphia's number one keeper. Of course, he will have to replicate that form in 2014-15, but for the moment the Flyers look like they have a netminder to pin their hopes on.

Lows

It is impossible to imagine that this playoff team, which finished with 94 points, actually started the season with seven losses in its first eight games. That was the lowest point that this team endured all year.

Of course, something must be said about the defense that general manager Paul Holmgren compiled; his trade for Andrew MacDonald from the NY Islanders, despite some previous warnings, was a huge gamble; the ensuing contract that he handed the defender was highly questionable and will likely be scrutinized for years to come.

Ray Emery's attack on Washington's Braden Holtby also deserves some mention. Take a look for yourself:

Of course Emery's season in Philly was far from exemplary. He only stopped 90.3 percent of the shots he faced in the regular season.

Season MVP

It is hard to pick this one. On one hand, Steve Mason came in and proved himself capable of being a top netminder in the NHL with a solid .917 save percentage in 61 games; he eclipsed the .916 save percentage that won him the Calder Trophy back in 2008-09.

At the same time it is impossible to overlook Claude Giroux's promise back in the fall when the team was struggling and coach Peter Laviolette lost his job.

"When you have the record we have right now, you're a little frustrated and you try to figure out what's going on but everybody came to the rink and we know there's a lot of hockey left to play here," said captain Claude Giroux. "We're not far at all. How many points are we off, six? To think that with the start we had, we're that close. We've never thought that we're not going to make the playoffs," he said back in October when the team had a record of 1-7-0. "We'll take it here game-by-game and we will make the playoffs."

He put up 28 goals and 86 points and made good on that promise.

Elimination Scapegoat

Mason performed admirably in the playoffs for the team and stopped 93.9 percentage of the shots he faced in five games; his save percentage only dipped below .939 on one occasion in the entire postseason. The top forward scored; Claude Giroux had six points while Wayne Simmonds had four goals in seven games. Their penalty kill and power play were second and third best in the playoffs respectively. So what went wrong for Philly?

The defenders were never considered an elite group and their performance in the series showed why this team was so beatable. Aside from Mark Streit and Nicklas Grossman, every other defender was a negative possession player throughout the series, meaning that the team was allowing more scoring chances while they were on the ice than they were obtaining. Inversely, the Rangers' Dan Girardi was the only defender with a negative Corsi, the statistic used to measure the difference between shots allowed versus shots taken by a team with a particular player on the ice. Philadelphia's Andrew MacDonald (who recently received a huge 6-year, $30 million contract) was the worst of the Flyers' possession defenders. These comparisons alone indicate that the Rangers had minor difficulties possessing the puck in the offensive zone and it was only natural that this not only protected goalie Henrik Lundqvist, but also put more pressure on both Philadelphia goalies; Lundqvist only faced 30 shots or more in one of the seven games throughout the series while Mason had to deal with 30 or more shots in three of his four starts. Possession does indeed matter.