With apologies Lee Marvin and the cast of The Dirty Dozen, I went on CSN this week and wrote on the website that the Flyers upcoming schedule should be aptly titled, “The Deadly Dozen.”
Twelve games against teams that are all ahead of them in the standings or have more points than them. Twelve games against 12 teams that are all holding playoff positions. As do the Flyers.
This is gonna make or break Craig Berube’s club.
This determines the Flyers' playoff fate.
Sportsclubstats.com says they have a 58% chance to making the playoffs and they're usually right on target.
Looking at the standings, I feel the Flyers need 95 points to guarantee themselves a spot. I look at this 12-game stretch and feel they need 16 points to put them in position to accomplish that.
They had 17 games left. Scott Hartnell preferred to look at all 17 instead.
“We need to win a dozen, for sure,” he told me. “We have to focus on Pittsburgh. We’ve had some dogfights against them the last couple of years. They’ve always played us tough and vice-versa.
“Every game seems to be 1-1, 2-1 going into the third period. There’s lots of points available to be had … Every team we are playing is right at the top of the conference, both East and Western Conference.
“If we’re going to make the playoffs, it’s going to be us flying on a high note …”
A year ago, the Flyers were trying to convince themselves that they had a chance. Their words were hollow. You could peer right through them and see the lack of belief in what they were saying.
Not so this time around. Berube has made these guys believe in themselves. They have a confidence they can overcome odds and that’s because of what they have accomplished since a 1-7 start.
“We believe we’re a playoff team and we believe we’re a contender,” Hartnell said. “When you have that attitude, the way you practice, the way you focus on games, I don’t think we’ve had any ‘off’ games in a long time.
“If we continue to work hard, do the right things, play defense and special teams kicks in with a couple power play goals every game, it’s going to be a good ride here.”
Since the mid-point of the season, the Flyers are averaging 1.16 points a game. They need to increase that over this last stretch to get themselves in the playoffs.
And it all starts this weekend with the home & home series against their most hated rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Bill Meltzer and I were talking about the matchup and neither of us can ever recall the Flyers and Pens meeting when Pittsburgh had the No. 1 PENALTY KILL – not power play?
This time, they lead the NHL in both categories which is amazing to me.
On the PP, neither Sidney Crosby nor Evgeni Malkin lead them in power play goals, either. It's Kris Kunitz.
This is stating the obvious, but special teams will be a major – if not deciding – factor in this weekend’s games.
“I think our special teams have been pretty good since I’ve taken over,” Berube said. “You go through some stretches like the last two games, we haven’t scored on the power play. When I look at the power plays, there are opportunities.
“It looks good. There is a difference. If it looks bad, we’re not executing, we’re not doing this, we’re sloppy. Different things pop up.
“We could have scored a few goals against Jersey on the power play. We had opportunities and they didn’t. They got blocked. [Marty] Brodeur made a save, whatever.”
Flyers need to watch how many penalties they take this weekend.
“The PK has been pretty consistent,” Berube said. “We went through some stretches where we gave up some goals. That happens on your penalty kill.
“Especially, when you take a lot of penalties. This weekend is huge. We have to stay out of the box against Pittsburgh. Play good, hard hockey but play clean.”
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