NHL playoff picture: Flyers still alive, but need a lot of help to land the final wild card

The Flyers still have a chance to make it into the NHL playoffs, but they’ll need a lot of help.

They didn’t get any assistance Monday night with the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins both winning and the Detroit Red Wings coming from behind to eek out an overtime victory.

Those playoff hopes start and end with tonight’s game at the Wells Fargo Center against the Capitals. Anything but a win by the Flyers in regulation and their season is over. No playoffs. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

» READ MORE: Danny Brière and the 2010 Flyers fondly remember the last time this team played for a playoff spot in Game 82

After that, Flyers fans would also need to root against the Red Wings tonight and the Penguins on Wednesday. That’s a lot, but if everything breaks the Flyers way over the next two nights, John Tortorella’s crew will be back in the playoffs for the first time since 2020 as the second and final wild-card team.

“What happens, happens,” Tortorella told reporters Monday, “I know how we’re preparing for our game, so there’s no sense of getting too locked into the other stuff. We need to take care of our stuff.”

Entering tonight’s regular-season finale against the Capitals (7 p.m. NBC Sports Philadelphia), here’s a rundown of how the Flyers can still make the playoffs.

The Flyers are one of four teams still alive in the hunt for the Eastern Conference’s second and final wild-card spot, along with the Capitals, Red Wings, and Penguins

The first wild card spot has already been clinched by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Here’s how the Eastern Conference wild card standings stack up entering Tuesday night:

x- clinched a wild card spot

The Flyers enter Tuesday with 87 points, one point behind the Penguins and two points behind both the Capitals and Red Wings.

In the NHL, you earn two points for a win and one point for an overtime loss. So if the Flyers defeat the Capitals, they’ll end the season with 89 points, enough to punch a ticket to the postseason — if everything else breaks their way.

Here’s everything that has to happen for the Flyers to make the playoffs:

If the Flyers defeat the Capitals in regulation, they’ll both end the season with 89 points. But the Flyers would win the sixth tiebreaker, thanks to having a greater goal differential during the season. Entering Tuesday, the Flyers differential is minus-25 compared to Washington’s minus-38.

The Flyers would also win a tiebreaker with the Red Wings if both teams end up with 89 points, thanks to Philly’s edge in regulation wins (would be 31 to 27 in Philly’s favor). But they’d lose to the Penguins if both teams end up tied with 89 points because Pittsburgh would have one more regulation win.

The Red Wings will take the ice tonight at 7 p.m., so Flyers fans won’t have to wait long to find out if their season is over, or if their playoff hopes extend to rooting for the Islanders on Wednesday.

» READ MORE: The Flyers are keeping it loose before Tuesday’s potential playoff-decider vs. Washington

It’s possible the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference is determined by a tiebreaker — and that will have to be the case if the Flyers hope to make it.

If two or more teams are tied in points when the regular season ends, here are how the standings are determined:

If the Flyers overcome the odds and nab the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference, they’d face the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. That best-of-seven series would likely begin Sunday at Madison Square Garden, since the New York Knicks are scheduled to kick off their playoff run Saturday night, potentially against the Sixers.

The Flyers went 1-3 against the Rangers this season. Philly’s only win was also their most recent game against the Rangers, a 4-1 drubbing at Madison Square Garden last Thursday that ended an eight-game losing streak and kept their playoff hopes alive.

Outside of the second and final wild-card spot, the other seven playoff teams in the Eastern Conference are already locked in. All the matchups are not finalized as Boston and Florida are still jockeying for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

Here’s how the first-round playoff bracket currently looks in the Eastern Conference, as of Tuesday morning:

Unlike the Eastern Conference, we know all eight playoff teams in the Western Conference. Here’s how the bracket looks in the West as of Tuesday morning:

» READ MORE: The Sixers are in. The Flyers still might be. Don’t worry. We sorted out their confusing playoff pictures.

The first round of the NHL playoffs will begin on Saturday. Both ESPN and TNT Sports will broadcast the playoffs, with games also airing on ABC, ESPN2, and TBS.

Sixteen teams ultimately will make the playoffs, eight in each conference. Each playoff round, including the Stanley Cup Finals, is a best-of-seven series with the higher seed gaining home-ice advantage.

Here’s the schedule: