The Flyers are keeping close tabs on their playoff rivals as they hit the home stretch

‘Tis the season.

The season for scoreboard-watching.

Following the Flyers’ 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, they now have just 13 games remaining on the schedule. The win was a big one, not only because it gave them two more points in the standings, but it also added another regulation victory — the first tiebreaker should teams end up tied in points by the time Game 82 hits.

But while the Flyers are focused on their end of things to maintain their positioning, they’re also paying close attention to three teams in the Eastern Conference: the Washington Capitals, New York Islanders, and Detroit Red Wings.

» READ MORE: Sam Ersson regains his confidence, and other Flyers takeaways from a big win over Toronto

“Oh, we focus on ourselves, without a doubt, but, yeah, I’m looking to see if Washington’s going to lose last night,” associate coach Rocky Thompson said Tuesday morning. “We’ve had a lot of help in the last week, which was a positive for us because we are at that time of the year that every point matters for us and every point for the guys who are chasing us also matters to us, too. So, definitely, we’re paying attention to that.”

The Capitals entered Wednesday as winners of three straight, including a victory against the Calgary Flames on Monday, and have propelled themselves back into the playoff chatter. They are just three points behind the Flyers for the third Metropolitan Division spot and have played two fewer games. Hold on to your seats.

For a while, it seemed as if the team to keep an eye on was the Islanders. They picked up steam under new bench boss Patrick Roy and went on a six-game heater at the start of March, but now they’ve lost five straight to drop five points back of the Flyers, albeit with one game in hand.

“I would say most guys are checking it daily,” said defenseman Marc Staal. “We kind of look at the scores every night and see the teams that are chasing you and the teams that are ahead of you.”

Staal knows what this time is all about. Just last season he patrolled the Florida Panthers’ blue line as they went from playoff bubble team to a run to the Stanley Cup Final. Now a grizzled vet of 17 seasons on a young squad, he doesn’t see the group being too tight despite being amid a seven-game gauntlet the Flyers are 1-2-0 on so far.

“The bottom line is you need to get wins, that takes care of itself,” he said. “I think you never want to rely on other teams losing, obviously. So I think it’s more just seeing where you’re at, and, I think for us, just getting results.”

The biggest question mark is the Detroit Red Wings. They hold a one-point lead on the Capitals for the second wild card but are 2-8-0 in their last 10 and had a bit of a tumult at practice. Forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Ben Chiarot got into it a week ago as the team was amid a seven-game losing streak. Maybe it sparked things as Detroit has won two of three, including a dramatic comeback win over Columbus on Tuesday.

“It’s hard not to watch the out-of-town scores,” center Ryan Poehling said. “But, at the end of the day, too, you can’t get too involved with it. For us, the biggest thing is just doing what we can, and the nice thing is we still control our own destiny. So that’s the biggest thing looking forward.”

» READ MORE: Sean Couturier ‘frustrated’ by John Tortorella’s decision to bench him Tuesday vs. Toronto

The Flyers canceled practice on Wednesday before leaving for Carolina for a potential playoff preview with the Hurricanes on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP). If the season ended today, the Flyers would play Carolina in the first round of the postseason.