Inspired play keeping Flyers in playoff picture

If you remember my column from last week, then you remember the task I said was at hand for the Flyers – in the next three games, all against current playoff teams, the Flyers needed two wins.

They did not succeed in this test, winning only the must-win game on Sunday in regulation. But the Flyers did add the additional two points for a second win.

In both cases, the Flyers had the second point for the taking. That's the part that stings. The Flyers could be that much closer to the final playoff spot. Despite that, the Flyers are eight points out of the final playoff spot on this Wednesday morning. The race is not over just yet.

In the last week, the Flyers chances of making the playoffs rose from 3.6 percent to 6.8 percent. It's still among the slimmest of margins but it is certainly a vital sign.

Keep in mind that the Flyers managed four points in the three games in the last week against the Islanders, Capitals and Canadiens without getting much production from Claude Giroux or Jake Voracek. The two All-Stars have struggled since coming back from the break. Soon enough, their play will turn around again. 

Now comes the next crucial stretch. If the first three games of February served as a test of playoff vitality, the next week serves as the grind that will get the Flyers back in the race.

Starting on Friday, the Flyers play their next four games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres. A loss to the Sabres would be embarrassing. And the Flyers should at the very least win one of the two games against Columbus.

That takes the Flyers into next Saturday when they host Nashville before the crucial game against the Capitals that sandwiches this stretch. By that time, the Flyers could have gained another eight points in the standings.

What is encouraging is that the Flyers appear to be playing their most inspired hockey. Sunday's game against Washington was their best win of the season. A win on Tuesday would have matched that, but instead the Flyers sat back and nearly survived anyway.

Even in defeat on Tuesday, the Flyers were laying it all on the line, sacrificing the body to block shots. The 2-1 overtime loss was not the result the defense deserved. It was one of the few times this season that the offense was the let-down.

There can be no let-downs, as there was last time, in this four-game stretch for the Flyers. There are wins for the taking in the week ahead, and the Flyers have to take them if they believe they are going to make the playoffs.

This much can be said: while the Flyers have life and a pulse, it will just as easily be gone if they don't come away with six or seven points before playing Nashville next Saturday. This strange schedule, which has featured three long-term breaks, has offered the Flyers a chance, giving them four straight games against inferior teams.

Recently inspired play is what has kept the Flyers in the discussion to this point, with only seven points and two teams separating the Flyers from the playoffs. That desire, determination and desperation is what it will take to keep the push going.

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