{"id":544958,"date":"2026-04-07T05:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T05:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544958\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T05:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T05:16:15","slug":"flyers-nhl-playoff-hopes-take-a-turn-to-the-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544958\/","title":{"rendered":"Flyers NHL Playoff hopes take a turn to the good"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Philadelphia<\/a>Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (74) celebrates his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning with right wing Travis Konecny (11) and defenseman Jamie Drysdale (9) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo\/Chris O’Meara)<\/p>\n

The NHL <\/a>Eastern Conference playoff race looks nothing like it did just two weeks ago. The Philadelphia Flyers have surged into a postseason spot for the first time since January 12, winning 14 of their past 21 games to vault from 13th in the conference to third place in the Metropolitan Division.<\/p>\n

SPORTS TALK FLORIDA \u2014 YOUR HOME FOR HOCKEY<\/a><\/p>\n

Coach Rick Tocchet didn\u2019t need to remind his players of the stakes. They saw the standings themselves, and their recent run \u2014 capped by an overtime win over Boston on top prospect Porter Martone\u2019s first NHL goal \u2014 has turned them into one of the league\u2019s most surprising late\u2011season threats.<\/p>\n

Forward Noah Cates said the Flyers have been treating every game like a playoff matchup, focusing on simple, disciplined hockey that has pushed them back into the race.<\/p>\n

Canadiens, Penguins and Bruins stabilize<\/p>\n

While Philadelphia climbed, several contenders tightened their grip on playoff spots. The Montreal Canadiens reeled off six straight wins and clinched a berth Sunday, extending an eight\u2011game winning streak that began March 21. Cole Caufield is on the verge of becoming the franchise\u2019s first 50\u2011goal scorer since 1990, fueling Montreal\u2019s late\u2011season surge.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh has won five of seven, and Boston\u2019s 4\u20112\u20111 stretch erased any doubt about postseason hockey returning to those markets. The Bruins and Penguins now look secure as the race enters its final week.<\/p>\n

Red Wings collapse after early-season lead<\/p>\n

No team has fallen harder than the Detroit Red Wings. Once tied for the most points in the East on January 15, Detroit held a 12\u2011point cushion over the ninth\u2011place team. That margin has evaporated.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings have gone 8\u20119\u20113 since mid\u2011January and now sit two points out of a playoff spot with five games remaining. Their inability to score early has been a season\u2011long issue \u2014 they have failed to score in the first period in 43 of 77 games, the most in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Coach Todd McLellan said he wishes he had an answer for the slow starts, while Lucas Raymond insisted the team still believes it can finish strong.<\/p>\n

Blue Jackets skid after midseason surge<\/p>\n

Columbus briefly looked like a playoff lock after winning 19 of 27 games following a coaching change from Dean Evason to Rick Bowness. But the Blue Jackets have now lost seven straight, falling out of the top three in the Metropolitan Division and into desperation mode.<\/p>\n

Islanders fire Roy as slide continues<\/p>\n

The New York Islanders\u2019 collapse has been equally dramatic. Since March 18, when they appeared poised to cruise into the playoffs during Matthew Schaefer\u2019s standout rookie season, they have lost seven of ten.<\/p>\n

General manager Mathieu Darche fired coach Patrick Roy on Sunday and hired Peter DeBoer with four games left, hoping for a late spark.<\/p>\n

Capitals running out of time<\/p>\n

The Washington Capitals, still chasing one more playoff run for 40\u2011year\u2011old Alex Ovechkin, have also stumbled. Despite an 8\u20113\u20112 stretch that briefly revived their hopes, an 8\u20111 loss to the Rangers exposed defensive issues that had been masked by strong goaltending.<\/p>\n

Washington sits three points out with four games remaining and needs help to stay alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (74) celebrates his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning with right wing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[95,230,93,1468,5,21,159,4,62092,62093,1467,56,5205,100,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-544958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","10":"tag-detroit-red-wings","11":"tag-flyers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-montreal-canadiens","14":"tag-new-york-islanders","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-nhl-east-playoff-race","17":"tag-patrick-roy-fired","18":"tag-philadelphia","19":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","20":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","21":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","22":"tag-washington-capitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116361730557574908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}