Flyers Can Be Legitimate Playoff Threat if They Find Consistency

The Philadelphia Flyers are in a good spot in terms of making the playoffs. They have favorable odds as is, and that’s great news for a team that hasn’t hosted a playoff game at Wells Fargo Center since 2018, as their last time in the dance was in the 2020 bubble in Toronto the whole way.

In order to make the playoffs, the Flyers need to help themselves out. In case the teams chasing their spot start heating up, they need to make sure they don’t start slipping. The way to do that is through consistency in every aspect of their game. If they can achieve that, they can grant Philadelphia its first true NHL playoff series in quite some time — and maybe more.

Offense Will Need to Put it All Together

For starters, the Flyers’ offense needs to be working all at once. Seldom can the Flyers combine great chance generating with good finishing — it, obviously, limits their scoring. They have had extended stints where they can out-chance their opponents and get really good looks, but the finishing rarely comes. Much more often than not, their actual goal output is less than their expected output.

While that can be attributed to the Flyers’ lack of talent, there’s really no reason why they should be doing everything but finishing as often as they do. They have put it together this season, but not much. At times, they’ve only finished well in seemingly “lost-cause” types of games, those where they play poor defense and let their opponents rack up multi-goal leads.

But if the Flyers’ offense can put it all together, it can actually be a force. They have thoroughly outplayed Stanley Cup contenders like the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and Vancouver Canucks at times this season. And that only happens when they figure out their offense. If that can happen with a little bit of regularity down the stretch, they should easily be a playoff team. It’s a tall ask, but it can be done.

Both Special Teams Units Need to Be Clicking

From a season-long perspective, the Flyers’ power play and penalty kill couldn’t be more different. Their penalty kill has been among the top three units from essentially the moment the season started. Without it, mastered by associate coach Brad Shaw, the Flyers likely wouldn’t be in the playoff chase like they are now. Or, at least, one of the teams with hopeful-at-best odds to make it.

Not only do the Flyers kill penalties at an amazing rate, but they score…