Flyers Quick Hits: Week Ahead and More

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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (34-23-11) have 13 games remaining in their 2025-26 schedule. The club has returned home after completing a three-game sweep of their California road trip. Philadelphia prevailed, 3-2 in overtime, against Anaheim on Wednesday. The next night, Tocchet’s team earned a 4-3 (2-0) shootout victory against Los Angeles. Finally, on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers gutted out a 4-1 win in San Jose.

The team will practice on Monday at the FTC in Voorhees. The next night, the Columbus Blue Jacket pay a visit to Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Blue Jackets saw their 12-game point streak end with a 1-0 loss to the New York Islanders. Nevertheless, the Blue Jackets have been outstanding since the Olympic break. The Flyers need two points on Tuesday and they need them in regulation if at all possible.

Standings outlook

Currently, the Flyers have 80 points and a .580 points percentage through 69 games played. They are fifth in the race for a wildcard playoff spot and also fifth in the Metropolitan Division standings. Here is the breakdown:

Metro Division

In order to secure a top three spot in the Metro — a guaranteed playoff berth — the Flyers must leapfrog at least two of three teams among the Pittsburgh Penguins (86 points, .614 points percentage), Columbus (85 points, .607 points percentage through 70 games) and the Islanders (85 points, .599 points percentage through 71 games).

Eastern Conference wildcard

Currently, the Boston Bruins (86 points in 70 games, .614) holds the upper wildcard spot in the East. The Islanders sit in the lower wildcard position for the final playoff spot in the Conference. If Philly were to land a wildcard berth, they’d need first to bypass the Detroit Red Wings (84 points in 70 games, .600) and Ottawa Senators (81 points in 69 games, .597) in the final standings.

Tiebreaker problem

The Flyers have only 21 regulation wins on the season. They’re a significant disadvantage in case of a standings points tie with any of the competing teams in the playoff chase. Even during the first six games of Philly’s current seven-game road winning streak, the Flyers needed overtime or a shootout to prevail. The Flyers, in fact, are 14th regulation wins within the 16-team Eastern Conference.

Therefore, Philly would almost certainly have to win out on standings points. The tiebreaker is a detriment not a help. Phily is NOT five points out of a Metro spot or five points out of the final wildcard slot. They’re actually six points off the pace for either one.

Head to head

Philadelphia can only take care of its own business. They can’t worry about out-of-town scoreboard. Nevertheless, the team likely needs help from favorable outcomes in other games.

First let’s look at what is withing the Flyers’ control.

One head-to-head game with Columbus: Tomorrow (March 24) at home.
Three head-to-heads against Detroit. Due to a scheduling quirk, the Flyers still have their entire season series (road on March 28, home on April 2, road on April 9) left to play against the Red Wings.
Road match on April 3 against the Islanders in Elmont. It’s the latter game of home-road back-to-back. Consequently, Samuel Ersson will get the start in goal either in this game or versus the Red Wings the previous night.
One game left (March 31 in Washington) against the Capitals. Washington is only one point behind Philly right now. The Flyers hold two games in hand, however.
Three out-of-conference games: home vs. Chicago (March 26), home vs. Dallas (March 29) and road vs. Winnipeg (April 11).
One home game (April 13) against potential Eastern Conference champion Carolina. The Canes are all but a lock already to win the Metro Division. They are one point ahead of Buffalo in the overall Eastern Conference race.
Season finale at home on April 14 against Montreal.

Uncontrollable outcomes: Week ahead

Philadelphia may not control the outcomes of these outside games but that doesn’t mean they have stake in them. Over the next five nights, keep an eye on how these games turn out.

Monday: Ottawa @ Rangers
Tuesday: Boston vs. Toronto, Detroit vs. Ottawa, Islanders vs. Chicago, Penguins @ Colorado, Washington @ St. Louis
Wednesday: Boston at Buffalo
Thursday: Columbus @ Montreal, Pittsburgh @ Ottawa, Islanders vs. Dallas, Washington @ Utah
Friday: Detroit @ Buffalo

Flyers Daily Mondays with Meltzer

Jason Myrtetus and I look back at a great week for the Flyers during their California road trip. Our main discussion focuses specifically on what the Flyers have done to tweak things since the All Star Break. We also tackle some #AskBilly questions from the fans. The standings have tightened up but the Flyers still face a lot of work to stay in the mix.