Flyers facing crossroads as season hits crucial point

They weren't making excuses, but they didn't have answers either.

The Flyers couldn't seem to find the reason for their lapses throughout the season, the way a three-game losing streak suddenly follows a three-game win streak.

The Flyers are riding one of those three-game streaks right now after winning their first two games out of the All-Star break and coming within 12 seconds of a fourth straight last Saturday.

That now has the Flyers at a crossroads, facing a stretch of four games in six days that will set their direction moving forward and likely define the season.

The Flyers are six points out of a playoff spot entering Thursday's game against the Buffalo Sabres. Making the playoffs remains a possibility for two reasons.

The Flyers trail five teams in the standings for the final playoff spot. The four in front of them also on the outside looking in have  at least two more games played than the Flyers.

In addition, the Flyers will get to play many of these teams more than once. The Flyers still have three games remaining against the Pittsburgh Penguins, currently holding the final wildcard spot. They have two against the New Jersey Devils. They have one against the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes. They also have two games against the New York Islanders, the team sitting in third in the Metropolitan Division.

Those 10 games account for 1/3 of the Flyers remaining schedule of 30 games. But it is the next four that are most important.

The Flyers tough loss to the Rangers on Saturday and hard-fought loss to the NHL-best Capitals on Sunday seem like a distant memory after a rather lackluster loss to the Ducks on Tuesday. This four-game stretch begins with another team that has troubled the Flyers this season.

The Buffalo Sabres are one of the few teams well behind the Flyers in the standings. Buffalo has two wins against the Sabres this season.

The distance between the two teams is currently seven points but another performance similar to Tuesday's for the Flyers will not only take away another opportunity for two points and continue to hurt their playoff chances, it will pull the Flyers a little closer to the bottom.

There's going to come a time in the season when the Flyers will have to evaluate where they are. Right now, that process can still happen. In another couple of weeks, as the trade deadline comes and goes, that time of defining where they stand will be gone.

The Flyers will certainly not be buyers this season, but these four games — Thursday against Buffalo, Saturday and next Tuesday against the Devils and Sunday night against the Rangers — can certainly help decide whether they will be sellers or stand pat at the deadline with a chance to still make a run.

The significance of those four games is that any stretch of continued losing will not only push the Flyers out of the playoff conversation and into selling mode, it will also draw them closer to the bottom of the standings.

Only eight points and three teams separate the Flyers from the bottom of the standings — Buffalo, Columbus and Toronto. In the West, the Flyers are ahead of just four teams and three of them — Arizona, Calgary and Winnipeg — are within four points of the Flyers. Only the Oilers are trailing by more, a total of eight points, but with Connor McDavid back, they have been much better of late.

So an extended losing streak could take the Flyers from wildcard contender to potential Top-5 pick. That's the fine line the Flyers are riding in terms of establishing an identity this season.

The Flyers managed to remain in the playoff race into March and still be sellers at the deadline last season, eventually ending the season on a rough note but with the seventh overall pick. One of their trades in selling helped them acquire a second first-round pick. Those two picks could become fruitful as soon as next season in terms of NHL production.

That said, for a team that just a few weeks ago closed the playoff gap to two and has looked like a far more consistent and energetic team this season, it would be disappointing to watch them fizzle into nothing and to start draft conversation so early in the year.

The next four games can change all that. And that fate rests in the Flyers hands now.

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.