It's gotten rather bleak for the Flyers over the past week.
The last-second loss in Boston last Saturday afternoon was devastating, and coupled with the Islanders picking up points this week, the Flyers fell behind by seven points in the wild-card heading into Wednesday's game against visiting the visiting Penguins.
The 4-0 rout over road-weary Pittsburgh left the Flyers just five points out of the playoff picture as of Thursday morning.
So close … yet so far.
The Flyers now have 72 points. With 13 games left, they can max out at 98 points -- if they win out.
That's not going to happen.
They're going to need approximately 93 points to have a realistic shot. That's based on the Islanders, who have played one less game and are on pace to finish with 92 points.
Mind you, the Isles hold the second wild-card spot. Just to get to them, however, the Flyers have to leap frog over Florida, Toronto and Tampa Bay.
The Flyers' win over the Penguins moved them a point over the Panthers, who have a game in hand on Dave Hakstol's club.
If the Isles continue at their pace, the Flyers have to amass another 21 of 26 points, or essentially win 10 of their remaining 13 games and get a point with a loss outside regulation play.
It's not impossible, but it is highly unlikely. That's what the Flyers are up against, and since they only have one head-to-head meeting left with the Isles, they need help from other teams -- in some cases, teams ahead of them are playing head to head with a chance at a three-point game that hurts them.
"It's not over till it's over," Wayne Simmonds said after Wednesday's emotional victory over the Penguins. "We have full faith in here."
Sportsclubstats.com, which ranks playoff possibilities, among other things, gives the Flyers a 0.3 percent chance of making the playoffs.
The Isles have a 36.6 percent chance.
The Flyers choose to ignore those stats. Can they do the seemingly impossible?
"Yeah, absolutely," Shayne Gostisbehere said. "The way we played [against Pittsburgh], we didn’t give them much. There's not a lot of room.
"Teams don’t want to play against teams like. It’s something we know is in this room. If anyone is gonna do it, it's to be us."
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