The Flyers entered Tuesday night within four points of the Boston Bruins in the race for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and hey, good news!
Even though the Flyers dropped an ugly one to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Boston Bruins also fell to the Vancouver Canucks, meaning that the gap still remains just four points. The bad news? Chicago is useless. After losing 6-2 to the Bruins on Sunday afternoon, the Blackhawks couldn’t hold on to a third period lead against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. They ultimately did win in a shootout, but the Panthers got the Bettman Point — which hurts the Flyers.
Here’s where things sit Wednesday morning.
| Metropolitan Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | ROW | |
| 1 | New York Islanders | 62 | 40 | 20 | 2 | 82 | 33 |
| 2 | New York Rangers | 59 | 37 | 16 | 6 | 80 | 34 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 60 | 34 | 17 | 9 | 77 | 31 |
| Wild Card | GP | W | L | T | Pts | ROW | |
| 1 | Washington Capitals | 61 | 33 | 18 | 10 | 76 | 30 |
| 2 | Boston Bruins | 60 | 29 | 22 | 9 | 67 | 27 |
| * * * | |||||||
| 3 | Florida Panthers | 60 | 26 | 21 | 13 | 65 | 20 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Flyers | 61 | 26 | 24 | 11 | 63 | 23 |
Not only are the Bruins four points ahead and now the Panthers are two ahead, but each team has a game in hand over the Flyers as well. Here’s what the upcoming schedule looks like for all three teams:
| Date | Philadelphia Flyers | Florida Panthers | Boston Bruins |
| Wed, Feb 25 | |||
| Thu, Feb 26 | at Toronto | vs Chicago | |
| Fri, Feb 27 | at New Jersey | ||
| Sat, Feb 28 | vs NY Rangers | vs Buffalo | vs Arizona |
| Sun, Mar 1 | vs Tampa Bay | ||
| Mon, Mar 2 | |||
| Tue, Mar 3 | vs Calgary | vs Toronto | |
| Wed, Mar 4 | |||
| Thu, Mar 5 | vs St. Louis | vs Dallas | vs Calgary |
| Fri, Mar 6 | |||
| Sat, Mar 7 | at Boston | vs NY Islanders | vs Philadelphia |
By the time the Flyers are in Boston 11 days from now, the Bruins will have two whole games in hand. That makes these next four even more important, and specifically makes that one game all the more important … assuming the Flyers are still in the race by then.
