(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Fortier, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Don’t look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers are in possession of a playoff spot and not just a wild card slot.
The Flyers are now in third place in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, only 2 points behind the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins who are tied for first with 37 points. The Flyers currently are only four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the most points in the league.
Yes, this is the same team that finished the month of October with just a 4-5-1 record. The same Flyers team that had nine wins and 13 losses, three in overtime, prior to the start of their seven-game winning streak after losing to the Rangers on Black Friday. They had 21 points going into the Sunday game against Calgary on Nov. 27.
Now, the Flyers have 35 points with the streak at seven, adding 14 points to their total. Coach Dave Hakstol said that just before the current win streak, the team was playing well in losses to Toronto and New York. But with losses piling up, moral victories weren't cutting it for Flyers fans. The team had definitely turned a corner he felt and was playing a more complete game, competing for the entire 60 minutes, but didn't have anything to show for it in those losses.
While Hakstol still sees areas where the team can continue to improve upon, he believes the team as a unit has raised their compete level and has contributed to the winning streak and credits the improved play of goaltender Steve Mason as a significant factor in the winning streak.
Mason has started six of the seven games on the Flyers winning streak. Anthony Stolarz got the streak going with the win over Calgary seven games ago. Mason has started every game since.
Including Thursday's game against the Edmonton Oilers, who tallied for five goals, Mason has a 2.26 goals against average and a .926 save percentage over those six wins, a substantial turnaround from the first 17 games he played in where he amassed a goals against of 3.04 with a save percentage of only .892.
If you remove the Edmonton game, Mason had recorded an outstanding goals against average of 1.74 with a similarly impressive save percentage of .947 over the first five wins of the streak.
It has not been just the play in the net that has driven the current successful play of the Flyers though. The Flyers had struggled to register goals at even strength prior to their recent success. They were in the bottom-third of the league at even strength. That has changed dramatically of late. Five of their six goals on Thursday were at even strength.
As a matter of fact, their power play is the most noticeable areas of struggle during this run. The Flyers converted on only 1-of-5 power-play chances Thursday. Over the seven-game span, the Flyers are 6-for-32 on the power play, a success rate of 18.75 percent, well below their overall rate of 23.8 percent.
The Flyers blueline has continued to contribute to the offense at a high rate. They still lead the league in scoring from the blueline, well ahead of the Rangers for second place.
Individual defensemen are also playing better of late as well. Ivan Provorov has really come into his own of late. This was so clearly highlighted by his outstanding play against Florida and Jaromir Jagr specifically. The 19-year-old rookie was able to get under Jagr’s skin and drew the elder statesman into a penalty and losing his cool with Provorov.
Overall, the Flyers play has come together despite the injuries to key players such as Sean Couturier and Michal Neuvirth; neither of whom have appeared in any of the last seven games for the Flyers.
Additionally, Matt Read has missed nearly the entire last three games since getting injured in the first period of the Nashville game on Sunday. Radko Gudas also missed three games with the flu. Still, the Flyers kept finding a way to win in their absences.
This team has shown pride and resilience in finding a way to win night after night. They climbed their way from near the bottom of the division and to within two points of the top and four points of the top spot in the Eastern Conference. If they can continue to fine tune their game and receive high-level contributions in net and from the blueline, to complement the performance from their top-line stars, the Flyers could be a formidable opponent come playoff time.
