In March, many NHL games fall into two categories. Tuesday’s Philadelphia Flyers game fit the first — a close, hard-fought match between teams fighting for their playoff lives. But after the Flyers dropped that game in regulation to the Columbus Blue Jackets to remain firmly in chase mode in the Eastern Conference, they were more likely to play the other kind of game — a loose, high-chance affair between two teams with nothing or little to play for — when they met the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Of course, the Flyers don’t believe they’re firmly out of the playoff race, even with the writing on the wall in permanent marker. And their thorough dominance of the lowly Blackhawks won’t change their tune, as Philadelphia took a 2-0 lead less than three minutes in and seldom slowed down en route to their largest margin of victory since Jan. 23 against the Colorado Avalanche. Yes, that’s actually true.
Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth
The Flyers played a strong first period on Tuesday, outshooting the Blue Jackets 10-3 and collecting 78.52% of the 5-on-5 expected goals (per Natural Stat Trick). But their inability to come away with multiple goals ultimately cost them and was one of the biggest reasons they suffered a loss that crushed their playoff chances.
Against a rebuilding Blackhawks team, they wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Chicago was a good story early in the season, but despite a respectable 4-4-3 record in March entering last night, they held the worst xG% share in the NHL this month and for the entire campaign.
They certainly looked the part out of the gates. Within the opening 2:33 of action, Spencer Knight gifted the puck to Christian Dvorak for an easy set-up to Alex Bump with the net vacated, which was immediately followed by Andre Burakovsky throwing the puck directly at Luke Glendening at the right faceoff circle, who set up a backdoor tap-in for Sean Couturier to score his second goal in as many games.
Chicago needs three wins in its final 10 games to avoid a sixth straight season below the 30-victory plateau. In contrast, the Flyers haven’t been below that barrier since 2021-22 and could reach 40 wins for the first time since 2019-20 with a hot finish (a mark the Blackhawks haven’t reached since their last proper playoff appearance in 2017).
The Flyers believe this difference will help develop their players faster and/or better than teams like the Blackhawks that bottom out for an extended stretch. Chicago does have plenty of high-end talent; Connor Bedard leads the team in scoring despite missing 14 games due to injury, and Anton Frondell is off to a promising start through two games. But the jury is still out, with Thursday showing Chicago still has a fairly sizable gap to close between the middling Flyers, let alone bona fide playoff teams.
Tippett Taking Over
We’ve seen a fair share of dominant Owen Tippett performances over the years, but rarely has he had a stretch of consistent excellence like the one he’s been riding over the last three weeks. He’s ripped 40 shots on goal over his last nine games, and in his last 10 contests, he’s picked up five goals and three assists.
Assists two and three in that span came in Thursday’s second period. First, he crisply sprung Trevor Zegras into the offensive zone with a lane to the net, resulting in a rebound goal for Denver Barkey. Then, he expertly sold a shot to freeze the Chicago defense and open up Dvorak for the easiest of his 15 goals this season.
Since March 9, Tippett has been one of the team’s top play-drivers as well. He could’ve had even more production on Thursday, showing consistent assertiveness by earning his second first-period breakaway in as many games and then displaying an impressive power drive to the net in the second. This isn’t going to look like a much different season for Tippett from a production standpoint when all’s said and done. But his form down the stretch could build momentum for next season… or trade value for the summer.
Ersson’s Last Stand?
One of the tricky parts of evaluating these late-season stretches is that they often contain a lot of fool’s gold. With the bottom of the league weakening after selling at the deadline and general apathy threatening to set in, struggling players can sometimes get an opportunity to (somewhat) right the wrongs of the season’s first 60 or so games.
Case in point: Sam Ersson. The Swede was well on his way to a second straight season as one of the NHL’s worst statistical netminders, and the prospect of not receiving a qualifying offer this summer was quickly becoming more likely. So, naturally, Ersson has a .931 save percentage and has stopped 2.73 goals above expected (per Moneypuck.com) since the Olympic break ended. Go figure.
Related: Flyers’ Reliance on Dan Vladař Could Lead to Turmoil in 2026–27
While the Flyers were far and away the better team in this game, Ersson was counted on a few times. His sprawling save prevented a buzz-killing 2-on-1 shorthanded goal for Chicago in the first period, and he made several solid stops throughout the night. He finished the night by preventing a late stat-killer by staying with Ryan Greene all alone in front, turning aside a backhander with his blocker.
General manager Daniel Brière needs to be careful about letting one or two good months of solid play overshadow a season and two-thirds of porous results. But these games do count, especially for Ersson, who could be playing as much for his Flyers future as a role with another NHL team. Maybe he could be the next Anthony Stolarz or Alex Lyon — a young-ish goalie who doesn’t stand out much over a few seasons with the Flyers but puts it together somewhere else. Or maybe somewhere else is still in Philly after all.
What’s Next
The Flyers definitely don’t control their own destiny in the playoff race, but they do control their standing regarding one team: the Detroit Red Wings. Somehow, none of the Flyers’ first 71 games have come against their 1997 Stanley Cup Final opponents, who currently sit two points ahead of Philadelphia and have won just three of their last 10 games.
Of course, Detroit isn’t in a playoff spot right now, so even if the Flyers do win Saturday and April 9 in Motown and April 2 at home (which is unlikely itself), that would guarantee nothing. But if you want the inevitable to set in amongst the team, a loss Saturday might do it, especially with a tough back-to-back looming Sunday night against the Dallas Stars.
