Kevin Durso

The Flyers have the chance to extend their winning streak to six games on Sunday afternoon, as they once again face the Rangers, this time on the road. 

In the middle of a game where the scoreboard showed 4-1 and 5-1 for most of the third period, it is the small defensive plays that will quickly be forgotten, but those little plays have the Flyers where they are. Where they are, on Saturday morning, is second in the Metropolitan Division and on a five-game winning streak.

Friday’s game doesn’t lock the Flyers into anything just yet, but it was another statement that this team continues to put together solid games within the division and draws closer to solidifying their spot. Giroux was a big player in that result again, scoring twice in the Flyers 5-2 win over the Rangers.

A recent surge has the Rangers just two points out of a playoff spot, while the Flyers, on a four-game winning streak of their own, look to maintain their place in third in the Metro with their sights now firmly set on taking another step and trying to catch the teams at the top.

For Nate Thompson and Derek Grant, who were literally dropped into a playoff race at the trade deadline, there should be some added motivation. They both had a front row seat as their next team continued to make that playoff push with another win on Tuesday.

Kevin Hayes scored two goals and had a three-point game as the Flyers extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.

Derek Grant and Nate Thompson make their Flyers debut as the team goes for a fourth straight win against the San Jose Sharks.

For the first time in a long time, the Flyers were in a position to be able to add at the trade deadline and Chuck Fletcher got active in trying to improve one area: experience.

The Flyers have acquired center Derek Grant from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for AHL forward Kyle Criscuolo and a 2020 fourth-round pick.

The Flyers acquired center Nate Thompson from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft on Monday prior to the trade deadline.

In years past, it was a statement of needing to be better and finding a way to lose. Now the Flyers are, in their eyes, still looking for the consistency in their play that will make them a true contender, and they are doing it while evolving into a contender in front of the eyes of everyone else.

The Flyers had not had a winning streak of three games or more since before the holiday break, but they extended their current run to three games with a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers next matchup comes on Saturday afternoon, when they face the Winnipeg Jets, as they look for a third straight win and another chance to continue their climb in the standings in the final game before Monday’s trade deadline.

That’s perhaps the biggest difference between the Flyers of this season and the Flyers of last season and years past. This team believes they are never out of a game. More times than not, they have risen to the occasion. There have been times when people want to pronounce them dead for a poor performance or a crushing loss, only to have them rise to the occasion the very next game.

In overtime, it was Kevin Hayes playing hero, scoring the game-winning goal with 1:09 remaining to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

Just as they did with Florida a week ago, the Flyers have a chance to create some separation with Columbus when they face each other again on Thursday night, as the Flyers look to complete a season sweep of the Blue Jackets on the road.

When the dust settled from Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the scoreboard read 5-1 in favor of the Flyers. It hardly felt like a game that the Flyers had won by four goals in rather convincing fashion. 

Claude Giroux became the Flyers all-time leader in power-play assists with 235, getting the record-breaker on a Jake Voracek power-play goal to cap the scoring in a 5-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Flyers currently hold the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with 71 points. That is just one point behind the opponent for the next two games, the Columbus Blue Jackets, who technically hold the first wildcard spot with 72 points though they are tied for third in the division with the Islanders.

In Saturday’s game against the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers fell behind early and fell into a 3-0 hole again. Instead of erasing the deficit, the Flyers were down by two in the third and challenging to cut into the deficit further before they made the one mistake that did them in. The Flyers got two goals in short order after falling behind 4-1 with under eight minutes to play in the third, but were not able to complete the comeback in a 5-3 loss to the Lightning.

The Flyers final game of a three-game road trip comes against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Much like the first meeting against the Lightning, Tampa enters as the hottest team in the league, currently on a nine-game winning streak, just as they were when they paid a visit to Philadelphia on Jan. 11.

Tyler Pitlick, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Scott Laughton all scored to help the Flyers to a 4-0 advantage. And while the Panthers managed to close the gap to two in relatively short order to start the third period, the damage had already been done by the Flyers.

It was the Flyers jumping out to a 3-0 first-period lead and extending it to 4-0 by the end of the second. Two quick Florida goals threatened the Flyers lead, but they added two late insurance goals to seal a 6-2 win over the Panthers.

The Flyers next opponent is one they defeated just days ago. The Flyers took care of the Florida Panthers in a 4-1 win on Monday night. Now the two teams meet again in Florida on Thursday night.

The Flyers loss to the Islanders on Tuesday will be remembered for a last-minute goal that took away the potential victory and at least a single point for reaching overtime. It should be another example of how slow starts to games can be detrimental to this team and their playoff hopes.

Less than a minute after tying the game to erase a 3-0 deficit, the Flyers surrendered the game-winning goal to Ryan Pulock with 38.9 seconds left in a 5-3 defeat to the New York Islanders.

Wins for both the Flyers and Islanders on Monday set the stage for a meeting between the two teams on Tuesday. The two teams are separated by one point in the standings.

In his return to the lineup on Monday, the first game in a stretch of six against teams right in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, the first shot Carter Hart faced found the net. Hart responded by stopping the next 30 that the Panthers took in the Flyers 4-1 win.

Carter Hart was solid in his return to the lineup and the Flyers picked up a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers to maintain their pace in the playoff race.