The Philadelphia Flyers emerged from their eight-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. Although they didn’t get a ton of help around the league, the Orange and Black return home with a realistic path to the playoffs. Sure, it’s not probable, but it is possible.
The Flyers host the Devils on Saturday evening before closing the season out against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. Saturday will be a crucial day for the Flyers in the playoff race as all four teams ahead of them are playing tougher opponents while the Devils are in Philadelphia.
Let’s take a quick look at the current standings:
The Flyers are only a point back of a playoff spot, but they also only have two games remaining while the others have three.
Saturday will be an action-packed day of hockey and scoreboard watching for Flyers fans.
12:30 p.m. – Islanders at Rangers
The Islanders just need to win one of their final three games — or have the teams chasing them lose — to secure the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. Their playoff spot is all but secure, but a loss against the Rangers may open the door given their final games are in New Jersey and against the Devils.
5:00 p.m. – Flyers vs. Devils
This is a must-win game for the Flyers. The good news is that they’re slight favorites in the game, Devils star Jack Hughes is out for the season, and a pregame ceremony for Wayne Simmonds should fire up The Farg.
5:30 p.m. – Capitals vs. Lightning
The Capitals have faded fast with a 1-5-2 record in their last eight games, including a 4-2 loss in Buffalo on Thursday night. They’re currently tied with the Flyers with 85 points and host the Lightning and Bruins before coming up to Philadelphia to close out the season.
Unfortunately, the Lightning don’t exactly have much to play for as they’re fairly secure in the first wild card spot and five points back of the Maple Leafs for the third spot in the Atlantic Division. However, Nikita Kucherov is on a mission and the Bolts won’t take their foot off the gas heading into the playoffs.
Washington is nearly as unlikely to make the playoffs as the Flyers, but a Capitals loss in Tampa Bay would undoubtedly make things easier for Philadelphia.
7:00 p.m. – Red Wings at Maple Leafs
The Red Wings, like the Flyers and Capitals, are on the outside looking in after a strong surge by the Penguins. But this is their final game against a playoff team before a home-and-home with the Canadiens to close out the season.
As with Tampa Bay, Toronto is fairly secure in its playoff spot but Auston Matthews is just two goals away from 70 on the season. The Maple Leafs are fairly big favorites in this one with Detroit on a 2-4-3 stretch.
Detroit is also a much worse team on the road (16-19-4) than at home (22-13-5) this season.
8:00 p.m. – Penguins vs. Bruins
This is the game of the night on ABC, and for good reason. The Bruins are neck and neck with the Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, and the Penguins are making a late push to the playoffs with a nine-game point streak (7-0-2) on the back of Sidney Crosby.
The Flyers’ game should be over by this point, so it ultimately may not matter if they lose, but a Penguins loss in Boston would go a long way for Philadelphia’s playoff chances.
The Penguins are the favorites to make the playoffs out of the four teams vying for the final wild-card spot, but games against the Bruins, Predators, and Islanders to close out the season give the Flyers (and others) some hope.
So, if all goes well for the Flyers, they would have 87 points in 81 games to jump ahead of the Capitals, Red Wings, and Penguins, at least by total points. They would still need some help next week from the Predators in Pittsburgh and then the Islanders hosting the Penguins to close out the season on Wednesday night.
Hope is not lost for the Flyers, but having to rely on other teams to get into the playoffs is never a good thing; especially after an eight-game losing streak against some putrid opponents.
