March 13th 2024 the Philadelphia Flyers currently sit Third in the Metropolitan division having played 66 games on the season amassing 76 points total. The playoffs are rapidly approaching following the trade deadline’s passing. It’s a tight race in the Metro down the stretch for Philadelphia’s final remaining 16 games. By record, the Flyers have one of the hardest remaining schedules of any playoff hopeful. If the playoffs started today, 9 of their last 16 games are against currently seeded playoff teams. The next seven games start a gauntlet of acting playoff teams in a row, if the quest to bring playoff hockey back to Philadelphia is to be completed, it will largely rest on the results of these next 7 games. The teams chasing the Flyers are within arms length of them in the standings, the 4 closest teams all additionally have games in hand. These next 7 games could see the Flyers fall out of the third spot in the Metro and leave them tangled in the wild card race, do or die time.
Games 1 and 3 of the next 7 they see Toronto. The first game of this stretch is Thursday the 14th as the Flyers take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto took the first game of their season series in Overtime back in February. A game in which the Flyers erased a 3 goal deficit to even force overtime. Twice in a week is a fun start to this gauntlet, as Auston Matthews continues his pace towards 70 goals on the season. The Flyers only hope here is to out goalie the Leafs with Ersson, and to stay off the penalty kill. The latter being an extremely tall task given the recent events behind the bench. Tortorella’s two-game suspension and rightful berating of the referees should go over well for the remainder of the season. Expect the Flyers calls to dry up immediately, anytime these things happen watch as the whistles are put away.
Games 2 and 5 bring the Boston Bruins the second ranked team in the Eastern conference sitting pretty with 91 points on the season. In their last 10 the Bruins have dropped 4 games in overtime. In a bizarre stretch where 3 games in a row were decided by overtime losses. Boston will look to shore up any remaining playoff points as they battle Florida for the top seed in the Atlantic division. While Boston has shown to be beatable in their last 10, the Bruins are a task few teams ever want on their list. Unfortunate reminder, Boston killed the Flyers 6-2 in Philly on January 27th. Here’s hoping the next 2 games go a bit more smoothly for the fly guys.
Game 4 of this 7 game stretch brings our current playoff opponents the Carolina Hurricanes who sit with 84 points atop the 2nd spot in the Metro division. The season series against Carolina sits at 2 games to 1 in favor of the Hurricanes. The two teams last met November 28th where the Hurricanes toppled the Flyers 4-1 at home. This game to me proves to be the ultimate marker of what we’re made of in Philly as it could possibly serve as a playoff preview. Carolina boasts the 4th ranked powerplay, the 2nd best penalty kill, and the most physically fit coach in the NHL. On paper, this is not a team the current state of the Flyers should be able to advance past in the 1st round if it were to play out that way. Even making the Playoffs this year is a gift to the fans during a rebuild, stranger things have happened though as we will wait and see what happens.
Game 6 the Florida Panthers come to town a week after falling to the Flyers 2-1. Of the 7 games on this list, all of these teams have had recent and enduring success against Philadelphia in this season and the recent few except Florida. Florida has lost both games against the Flyers this year oddly enough by a score of 2-1. To me, this is a real head scratcher considering this team has been nearly perfect since the start of the new year. The Flyers are responsible for 2 of the Panthers 7 TOTAL losses since January 1. The Panthers team has gone on a run of 23 wins and 7 losses from the start of the new year. (counted both regulation and overtime). Yet somehow the scrappy rebuilding Flyers beat them twice??? Both games were decided by a master class in net from Sam Ersson nearly earning a shut out in both games. If the Flyers are to steal another from the Panthers a little help from the offense would go a long way, Ersson has done his part for certain.
Game 7 and the final match of this ruthless stretch brings the top seeded New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden. The season series stands with the Rangers winning both games in Philadelphia and them looking to continue their sweep at home. The Rangers have been the most dominant team in the East the entire season, taking first seed and never looking back. They stand tall defying the rules of aging as they own the best 2 goalie tandem in the league this season. Johnathan Quick has played like it’s the 2014 playoffs all over again ten years later having one of his best seasons to date posting a .917 SV% in 21 starts. The Flyers will play the Rangers on March 26th, by this point they stand a good chance of being the first team to clinch a playoff spot if their run goes well. It will be interesting to see how they take this match up against Philly. Personally I see this as the last serious game on the Rangers part against Philly. The 4th game of their season series takes place April 11th and will likely consist of several starting Rangers resting by that point.
I eagerly anticipate the results of the next 2 weeks to see if the Flyers can come out still in a playoff spot. It will be the toughest stretch of their entire season in my opinion and the most accurate marker for how good they really are. Tortorella will be back behind the bench for the game against Boston on the 16th. The team has been super tight knit all year long, i’m hoping their bench boss wrongfully getting ejected can spark a run here during this stretch. Once this is said and done I will do a follow up piece going over their results. In the mean time, here are some fun final notes regarding the teams chasing the Flyers for the Metropolitan 3rd seed or Wildcard spots 1 or 2. (I truthfully can not stand the playoff format and long for 1v8 style to return. Maybe someday….)
The Detroit Red Wings have lost 6 straight games and played themselves out of a very secure playoff spot in Wildcard 1 as of this post. The Buffalo Sabres have secured 13 out of 20 points in their last 10 games and sit quite far back but not going away quietly just yet. The Washington Capitals after 63 games sit 3 points out of a wildcard spot and have 1-3 games in hand on all teams fighting for that last spot. The New York Islanders are 7-3 in their last 10 and have played themselves into a playoff spot during Detroit’s downfall. Tampa Bay sits only 2 points ahead of Detroit despite the Red Wings 6 game losing streak and still have to claw for every point as this continues. The Metropolitan division is quite possibly anyone’s game down the stretch with the only 5 of the 8 playoff spots looking all but finalized. Looking at the Rangers, Panthers, Bruins, Hurricanes, and Maple Leafs. Anything can happen, if Toronto were to go on a losing streak in their last 18 games it’s possible for Tampa Bay or Detroit to still catch them and push them to a wild card spot.
Written by: Anthony Spotts @spottsongoal
Photo credit: nhl.com
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