March 21, 2026
Travis Konecny and the Flyers know what the situation is.
They're still in the playoff hunt, for sure, but at five points away from the closest spot, with 14 games left and the teams ahead of them, at the least, managing to keep themselves afloat, they're still a long shot to make it.
But it is still a shot, that they're still fighting to give themselves.
"We just know where we're at," Konecny said after putting a goal toward Thursday night's shootout win over the Kings out in LA. "We see the teams ahead of us winning...I mean, just play desperate. Know that, if anything, those teams ahead of us, we just gotta keep applying pressure."
"It's up to them. If they keep winning games, good for them," Konecny continued about the other teams in the race. "But we're gonna keep applying pressure and let them know that if they slip, we'll be right there."
And lately, they've been fighting tooth and nail to make sure that they can be there.
On a potentially make-or-break three-game road trip out West, the Flyers have already won two of those crucial games, and in a back-to-back, no less, where both contests went past regulation.
They beat the Anaheim Ducks in overtime on Wednesday night, with a Noah Cates goal that he led with a blue-line takeaway and then cleaned up on with the rebound that Matvei Michkov couldn't put away on the first shot on the 2-on-1 rush.
Then they beat the Los Angeles Kings in the shootout on Thursday, while down Sean Couturier, Denver Barkey, and for a minute, Cates, which forced defenseman Emil Andrae to briefly move up as a center.
But Konecny scored on a fluid rush up the ice, Cates came back to clean up after another loose puck in a scramble in front of the LA net, Travis Sanheim got a shot by through traffic, Sam Ersson held up strong in the Flyers' net while Dan Vladar got a break, and in the shooutout, Trevor Zegras and then Michkov did what they do best: leave an opposing goalie in knots.
They weren't easy wins, and definitely not efficient ones either for a team that has been constantly pushing into overtime all year, but here they are still fighting down the stretch.
The Flyers are still alive.
"I think we've, in the last few games, kinda dialed in on a few different system things," Konecny also said after the LA win. "[We] simplified the way we wanna play. When we're doing that, it's kinda next man up. [It's] your job, you go out there, and everyone's doing the same thing, and you're just waiting for your opportunities."
And little by little, that's been piling up.
The Flyers are 8-3-1 in their 12 games since returning from the Olympic break, and before that, a major rut through January and early February that looked like it was quickly sending the organization toward starting to regroup for the next season.
But somehow, there's always been a lifeline.
The Eastern Conference Wild Card picture and the 3-seed in the Metropolitan Division never gained complete separation from the rest of the pack outside the bubble, so now, coming down the stretch, there are the teams occupying those final playoff spots, and then the ones who are still a little too close for comfort behind them.
The Flyers are one of those teams in the latter category, and with a final run of the schedule that can swing the last leg of the race for them in a big way if they keep their momentum.
They'll have Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks later Saturday as the finale to their West Coast trip. Those are two important points that can keep pace and bring the Flyers to a three-game win streak while they're at it.
Then the team will come back home to Philadelphia. They'll have Columbus on Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, who just moved into third in the Metro, and who the Flyers lost to in the shootout a week ago.
That's a pivotal four-point swing game, along with the remaining dates against the contending/bubble teams on deck, which includes three games against Detroit still, and one more each against the Islanders, Bruins, and Capitals.
It's still, very much, a tough climb. The Flyers only have an 8.7-percent chance of making the playoffs as of Saturday morning, per MoneyPuck.
But it is still a chance – a shot – that the Flyers have been fighting tooth and nail, way past the 60-minute mark each night, even, to still afford themselves.
They know the situation. They're still going to fight.
A quick look at where the playoff hunt stands heading into the San Jose game on Saturday:
| No.) Team | Points | Games Played | Last 10 | Streak |
| M3) Columbus | 83 | 68 | 7-0-3 | Won 3 |
| – | – | – | – | – |
| W1) Boston | 84 | 69 | 5-2-3 | Won 1 |
| W2) Detroit | 84 | 69 | 4-4-2 | Won 2 |
| – | – | – | – | – |
| 3) NY Islanders | 83 | 69 | 6-4-0 | Lost 1 |
| 4) Ottawa | 79 | 68 | 7-2-1 | Won 1 |
| 5) FLYERS | 78 | 68 | 7-2-1 | Won 2 |
| 6) Capitals | 78 | 70 | 5-4-1 | Won 2 |
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