A Guide to the Flyers Final 5 Games

On Saturday night, the slim remains of the Flyers playoff hopes came to an end with a 3-2 loss to Montreal. It marks the fifth straight season the Flyers will miss the playoffs, matching their longest drought in franchise history.

Despite the disappointment of another 82 games ending without playoff hockey, there may be something to show for it all in the offseason. The loss to Montreal helped drop the Flyers back into the Top 5 in the draft lottery odds, setting the stage for the final five games.

Here’s a look at the standings from the bottom 10 teams in the NHL:

The Flyers start the final five on Wednesday night against the New York Rangers, then have two more days off from game action before playing out the final four games in six days. The Flyers remaining schedule is below:

• Wednesday, April 9 at NY Rangers
• Saturday, April 12 vs. NY Islanders
• Sunday, April 13 at Ottawa
• Tuesday, April 15 vs. Columbus
• Thursday, April 17 at Buffalo

The Flyers five remaining games feature just one team in the playoffs, the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. As of Wednesday, the Rangers, Islanders, and Blue Jackets are clinging to playoff hopes. That will certainly help the Rangers as they face off against the Flyers immediately, but there’s a good chance both the Islanders and Columbus are officially eliminated by the upcoming matchups.

Only the final game of the season, when the Flyers play Buffalo, could have significant impact on the draft lottery odds from a head-to-head standpoint. The Flyers will play the Islanders, 11th from the bottom, on Saturday, but the Islanders hold an eight-point margin that appears to be insurmountable at this point. Columbus, sitting 10th from the bottom, is also eight points ahead.

It’s also very likely that the lowest the Flyers could finish is fourth from the bottom. In addition to their own head-to-head win over Nashville, the Predators have fallen far enough that they essentially cannot be caught, seven points behind the Flyers with only four games left. The top two spots, occupied by Chicago and San Jose, have been solidified for most of the season.

It’s also important to remember that ties in the standings don’t benefit – or do, depending on your perspective – the Flyers. The first tiebreaker in the standings is regulation wins. The Flyers have just 20 this season. Seattle and Buffalo are already out of reach, each with 28. Boston sits at 25 regulation wins. Anaheim has 24 regulation wins. The closest team to the Flyers in this category is Pittsburgh at 22 regulation wins.

You saw the Flyers deliver the exact type of result that many desire in Montreal on Saturday, a competitive 3-2 loss to a team that desperately needs points in the playoff race while gaining no points to improve their draft lottery odds. They face a similar opponent in the Rangers on Wednesday. Ottawa, who has already locked up a playoff spot, could still be in a battle for improved standings position to finish in the Top 3 in the Atlantic Division on Sunday. 

It could mean that the one head-to-head with Buffalo, the season finale for both teams, could be completely meaningless. The Flyers may even be able to win that game without altering their standings position.

The one thing to watch for is that the Flyers will go into the final week of the season with games in hand. When play begins on Saturday, the Flyers will have four games remaining. Boston, Pittsburgh, and Seattle will have just two games remaining. Anaheim will have three. Buffalo will also have four games remaining. That would mean that a lot of the fate of the Flyers draft lottery position would fall back into their hands.

Things have drastically changed for the Flyers in just a short period. On Dec. 1, they actually held a wildcard spot. Over the months, they slowly slipped back in the standings, but even on March 1, after a shootout win over Winnipeg and less than a week until the trade deadline, they were 9th from the bottom. Now, a shot at a Top-5 pick, and better odds to move into the Top 2, is very much within their reach.