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Philadelphia Flyers must take advantage of struggling Metropolitan Division

By Dave Stevenson

PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 07: Jakub Voracek #93 of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrates a 3-2 overtime win with Joel Farabree #49 against the Montreal Canadiens on November 7, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 07: Jakub Voracek #93 of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrates a 3-2 overtime win with Joel Farabree #49 against the Montreal Canadiens on November 7, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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With the Pittsburgh Penguins losing Sidney Crosby for six weeks and the Carolina Hurricanes struggling, the Philadelphia Flyers must take advantage.

The Philadelphia Flyers got off to a pretty rough start to the 2019-20 season, but they’ve quietly climbed into the postseason race. A seven-game point streak has them in third place and in the thick of one of the most competitive divisional races in the NHL. However, the Pittsburgh Penguins are just one point behind them and the Carolina Hurricanes are just two.

Both teams are struggling and the Flyers need to jump all over that because it’s likely both won’t be struggling for long. The best teams are those that take advantage of weak teams. It’s obvious the Flyers are a good team, just as everyone expected. But are they a great team? If they are, they’ll pounce on their currently inferior opponents.

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Penguins

With Sidney Crosby out for at least six weeks and Kris Letang still missing games, the Pens are likely going to struggle a little bit. This gives Philly a chance to further cement themselves as a playoff contender. It’s an opportunity they cannot afford to pass up.

Once the Pens get healthy, they’re going to rack up points. As one of the greatest players in NHL history, Crosby’s fully capable of dragging his team for extended stretches. That’s why the Flyers have to create a bit of separation from their in-state rival.

Crosby will be out at least six weeks, so let’s assume he comes back in exactly six weeks. That would give him a return date of Dec. 26. From Thursday, Nov. 14 until then, the Broad Street Bullies will play 19 games. 11 of those games will come against teams who are currently not in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Of those 11 games, six of them will be at home. The Flyers have done a good job of taking advantage of the Penguins’ early struggles, but they need to continue to do it.

Hurricanes

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are still very much in the playoff race, but they’re lower than a lot of people expected. They’ve only won three games in regulation against current playoff teams. So far in November, the Canes have played six games with just two wins. Those two wins have come against the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators.

A large part of it has to do with their goaltending. The Canes are at worst average in just about every metric and very good in most. They’re 10th in goals scored per game, fifth in shots per game, first in fewest shots against per game, 15th in faceoff win percentage, 11th in power play percentage, and 14th in penalty kill percentage.

However, they have the ninth-worst team save percentage in the NHL at .899%. And if their goaltending gets back on track, the Canes are fully capable of going on a huge run, much like they did last season starting in January.

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To their credit, the Flyers have taken advantage of the struggling Pens and Canes so far. But they need to keep it up because both teams probably aren’t going to struggle for too much longer. At some point, at least one of them (and potentially both) is going to go on a huge run. The Flyers need to have as many points as possible in the bank to hold them off.

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