After their big win against the New York Islanders on Monday night, the Flyers have firmly bounced back from Saturday’s frustrating loss to the Penguins. And as a result, the playoffs are still within their control — in fact, they have higher odds than the team currently ahead of them in the Eastern Conference Wild Card standings.
Here’s a full rundown of the outlook as of Tuesday morning:
| (Standing) Team | Points | Games Remaining | ROW | Remaining Strength of Schedule (Points %) | Current Playoff Teams Left On Schedule | Back-To-Backs Left On Schedule | Odds (SportsClubStats) | Odds (Hockeyviz.com) |
| (M3) Pittsburgh | 88 | 10 | 37 | 58.0% | 5 | 2 | 98.3% | 98% |
| (A3) Boston | 86 | 9 | 35 | 56.4% | 5 | 1 | 88.9% | 78% |
| (W1) NY Islanders | 85 | 11 | 34 | 56.9% | 5 | 3 | 93.7% | 91% |
| (W2) Detroit | 83 | 10 | 34 | 54.3% | 5 | 3 | 59.6% | 66% |
| (W3) Philadelphia | 82 | 11 | 33 | 54.9% | 5 | 4 | 61.0% | 72% |
Games that matter tonight:
- The Flyers, obviously. They are in Columbus.
- Detroit’s got a big game down in Tampa against the Lightning. Decent chance for the Flyers to jump them if Tampa can give them some help.
- Nobody else mentioned above plays tonight./
How much do tonight’s games matter?
This much! Here’s how each game could swing the Flyers’ current playoff hopes, according to the same two sites used above:
| PHI @ CBJ | PHI Reg W | PHI OT W | PHI SO W | CBJ Reg W | CBJ OT W | CBJ SO W |
| Sportsclubstats | +8.8% | +8.8% | +6.6% | -11.7% | -2.5% | -2.5% |
| Hockeyviz | +8% | +8% | +6% | -12% | -2% | -2% |
| DET @ TB | DET Reg W | DET OT W | DET SO W | TB Reg W | TB OT W | TB SO W |
| Sportsclubstats | -5.5% | -6.1% | -4.5% | +4.3% | -0.4% | -0.4% |
| Hockeyviz | -3% | -4% | -3% | +3% | 0% | 0% |
So if the Flyers beat Columbus in regulation, Philadelphia’s playoff chances will jump as high as 80 percent — which would be the highest their chances have been all year. The best case scenario would also be a Red Wings regulation loss, which would see the Flyers chances jump another 3 percent.
