For the first time in nearly three months, the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in a playoff spot. And they hold the cards regarding what happens next. Meaning that, with five games remaining in their season, they have put themselves in a spot where they don't necessarily have to worry about what other teams do.
By moving into third in the division, the Flyers should only have to worry about three teams: the New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Washington Capitals. Barring a collapse, they won't need to worry about the wild card. The Islanders sit at 89 points, the Blue Jackets have 88, and the Capitals have 87. Columbus has played the same number of games (77) as Philadelphia, while the other two have played one more game.
The helpful part for the Flyers is that they can earn more points than all of the teams chasing them. If all goes perfectly and they win out their final five games, that's 10 points they can add to their total, meaning they can max out at 100 points. Since the Islanders have played one more game, they can only get to 97 points. The Capitals are in a worse position, as they can only reach 95 points.
Columbus, while having the same number of games left, can only reach 98 points. Now, it's unlikely any of these teams will win out their final set of games. It's not impossible, but it should only take a few wins for the Flyers to lock up their playoff spot. The important factor here is that they cannot finish tied in points with anyone. Every team they are fighting for has them beat in the first tiebreaker of regulation only wins.
Flyers have their playoff hopes in their own hands
Out of their remaining five games, only two teams they're facing have locked up a playoff spot. That means that the majority of these games won't come easily. The Devils are next on the schedule and, while they aren't eliminated yet, it's a long shot for them to make it. 93 is their max, so three more points by almost anyone in front of them, and they are out. But that doesn't mean they won't want to play spoiler to the teams above them.
Detroit is after that, and they desperately need the points. Ottawa earned a huge win over the Hurricanes to stake a claim on the second wild card spot. That is the Red Wings' only hope of making the playoffs. They are going to throw everything they have at the Flyers to earn those much-needed two points, especially if they don't beat the Blue Jackets in their next game.
And in the Pacific Division, upwards of five teams are fighting for one wild-card spot. Winnipeg is one of them and will be the Flyers' opponent later in the week. Things could be drastically different by then, but that wild card spot will likely go down to the final games of the season. So don't expect an easy game from a Jets team that looked down and out before.
Those three games have become the most important for the Flyers. They can likely get away with not winning every game, but there's a good chance they'll need to take at least two out of three to put themselves in a really good spot heading into the last two games of the year. It would be nice not to go into those with as much pressure on their shoulders.
This team has crumbled under that pressure before. But if they want to keep proving everyone was wrong to not believe in them, they have to keep rising to the occasion. They weren't supposed to be here yet. But they have delivered and springboarded themselves into the conversation. They've gotten help from some young faces in Alex Bump and Porter Martone. Tyson Foerster has returned with a bang. And Dan Vladar has been one of the biggest reasons the Flyers are where they are.
Anything can happen once the playoffs begin. It's up to the Flyers to handle their business and not force themselves to scoreboard watch and hope others do it for them.