Record: 41-21-7, 89 points
Playoff position: Second place in Metropolitan Division, one point behind Washington Capitals
The Flyers have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL since the calendar turned to 2020 and have gone from a Stanley Cup Playoff question mark to fighting for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Since Jan. 8, when they defeated the Capitals 3-2, the Flyers are 19-6-1, tied with the Boston Bruins for the best record in the NHL. That includes a nine-game winning streak from Feb. 18-March 7.
What preceded this run was a rough patch that included being swept on a three-game road trip Dec. 11-15, when they found out that forward Oskar Lindblom, who was tied for the Flyers lead with 11 goals, had been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. Philadelphia also was 1-4-1 from Dec. 28-Jan. 7.
At that point, the Flyers were tied for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference and 15 points behind the NHL-leading Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Key to their run since has been the play of goalies Carter Hart and Brian Elliott. Hart is 11-3-0 in his past 14 starts, beginning with the Jan. 8 win against the Capitals, and has allowed two goals or fewer 11 times in that span. Elliott is 7-2-1 with two shutouts in 10 starts in the same stretch.
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Hart and Elliott have started 67 of the Flyers' 69 games this season, after Philadelphia used an NHL-record eight starting goalies last season. Hart has been especially dominant at Wells Fargo Center, going 19-3-2 with a 1.58 goals-against average and .945 save percentage in 24 games.
The Flyers are allowing an NHL-low 28.7 shots on goal per game, down from 32.5 last season, and they are allowing 2.77 goals per game, seventh best in the NHL, considerably better than last season, when they allowed 3.41 per game, third worst.
Like Hart, who is 21, several other younger Flyers have matured into key contributors. Forward Travis Konecny leads Philadelphia with 24 goals and 61 points, and the 23-year-old played in his first NHL All-Star Game. Defenseman Ivan Provorov leads the Flyers in ice time for the fourth straight season (24:50 per game), and the 23-year-old is tied for ninth among NHL defensemen with 13 goals.
