Philadelphia Flyers: Slim postseason chances are still alive
By Ant Barberio
Yogi Berra once famously said “it’s not over ’till it’s over” and that’s the exact attitude Philadelphia Flyers fans have going down the stretch. It’s a tough task, but their team is fighting for a late-season playoff push.
After a disastrous first half of this year, the second half of the Philadelphia Flyers season has been everything Philadelphia fans could have hoped for and more. Riding their young goalie Carter Hart back into NHL relevancy, the Flyers are flirting with a postseason spot. Had it not been for their slow start, they could be fighting for a top-three spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Just like a cheesesteak at Xfinity Live, the playoffs are so close Flyers fans can taste it. With ten games left in the season, they sit six points out of the second Wild Card and are 6-3-1 in their last ten. It’s a daunting, but not impossible, task.
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Believe it or not, the Flyers actually have a lot of factors they can’t control pulling in their favor right now. In the Metropolitan Division, the Islanders, Capitals, Penguins, and Hurricanes have each all but guaranteed themselves a playoff spot, although seeding and final standings might change. That leaves that last Wild Card spot to go to either the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Montreal Canadiens. They are the two teams separating Philadelphia from the playoffs.
Problem is, things haven’t been going right for Columbus, or Montreal. Columbus desperately needs to make the playoffs after going all in on trades for Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, and before stars Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin leave in the free agency, but they have been falling in and out of a playoff spot the past few weeks since the trade deadline. They’re 5-4-1 in their last ten, much too close for comfort for a team that bet their entire future on this season. Even worse, they’re not playing strong enough to prevent a first-round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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The Canadiens were thought to spend the year as a rebuilding team, but the strong play of a healthy Carey Price put them in a playoff spot comfortably for most of the season. At the worst time possible, Montreal has fallen out of a spot and went 4-6 in their last 10. Their late-season struggles might cost them the playoffs, as Columbus has a three-point advantage over them.
Philadelphia has been able to begin to catch up and makeup ground over Columbus and Montreal, and all three of those teams sit at 72 games. Assuming the teams repeat their respective records from the last ten games over the next ten games, Columbus would finish with 95 points, Montreal with 89 points, and Philadelphia with 91 points.
In that simulation, the Flyers would hypothetically fall just short at the playoffs, unless they improved their record to grab more than 13 of the last remaining 20 points. The next ten Flyers games are an even split between home and away, and seven against teams currently in the playoffs. Of the three that aren’t include an away game against the Chicago Blackhawks, who are still clinging to hope, and a game against the rival New York Rangers that would love to play spoiler.
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The only other non-playoff team they’ll face is a direct match-up with Montreal on Tuesday. With Montreal’s season at risk, they’ll go all out and put Price in net and hope he can pull off a heroic win. It is a home game for the Flyers, much to Montreal’s dismay. The outcome of this game will likely make or break Philadelphia’s playoff hopes, as a loss would push them closer away from the playoffs while pushing their main competitor so much closer.
Even with the emergence of Carter Hart, their moves at the deadline in shipping away pending free agent Wayne Simmonds and trading for Hart’s mentor in Cam Talbot suggested they were planning for the long haul future, not just this season. The impulsive change in direction to at least try for a postseason push is one you can’t fault for them for when there’s still a chance. According to the latest playoff odds, that chance is only sitting at 2.67%.
Yes, Flyers fans, it’s been an exciting last few months, but don’t cancel your plans to buy playoff tickets. Come April, the Flyers will be hitting the golf course while Columbus or Montreal have to face the daunting task of playing the cup favorite Lightning.
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Not all is lost, though. For the first time in a long time, the Flyers seem like they have a solid foundation to build around. Hart has enormous potential but would have been hung up and left out to dry in the playoffs. Next year is a new year, and if the Flyers can find a way to correct their miscues from the first few months of this season and play consistent hockey, they’ll be a playoff team no question.