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Flyers’ Playoff Chances Increase to 9% After Shootout Win Over Kings
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Good win for the Flyers in LA!
They beat the Kings 4-3 in a shootout to claim their fourth win in five games, one in regulation, one in overtime, and two in the shootout:
At Moneypuck.com, the Flyers now have a 9% chance to make the playoffs. It’s 12.5% at Hockey Reference. At FanDuel, they’re +450 to make the playoffs and -550 to miss.
The thing that’s really stupid at this point in time is that the Flyers have more points than three of the playoff teams in the West. They’re on 78 points now, which is better than the Kings, Oilers, and Golden Knights, and the same amount of points as Anaheim and Utah. The Eastern Conference has just been a lot better than the West this year, which is being pulled down by a weak Pacific Division currently led by Quitter Gauthier’s Ducks.
As of Friday morning, the Orange and Black would have to make up a five-point deficit to catch Columbus, who took a loser point out of Philly recently, so that was the killer. They’re six back from the Wild Card spots held by Boston and Detroit, but would need to jump the Senators and the Islanders to get there. They do have a game in hand on Ottawa, Boston, and Detroit, but with 14 games remaining they’d have to continue this heater and they just don’t have any margin for error. They get another crack at Columbus next Tuesday, they play the Red Wings three times, Boston once, and the Islanders in New York, so fingers crossed they at least keep it interesting.
Or they lose every game from here on out to improve their draft chances. Otherwise it’s looking like they miss the playoffs and pick 14th. But you never know!
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com