By Sam Bush
Tuesday was a rare night in the Flyers’ race to the playoffs.
For one thing, the Boston Bruins dropped their sixth of seven games as the New Jersey Devils defeated them 2-1 in regulation. The Bruins had to be gritting their teeth during an unlikely standout game by Keith Kinkaid, as Boston lost despite a 40-15 shot advantage.
The Montreal Canadiens did the Flyers a solid, too, narrowly edging the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 (also in regulation).
Detroit nearly rallied after Petr Mrazek was given an early hook when Montreal went up 2-0, but it wasn’t to be.
The New York Islanders won to strengthen their hold over the top wild card spot, so here’s a glance at how the races for the East’s final wild card spot and the Atlantic’s third seed look right now.
Third in Atlantic: Bruins – 88 points, 36 ROW, five games remaining
Second Wild Card: Flyers – 87 points, 35 ROW, 7 GR
Behind in Wild Card and Atlantic: Red Wings – 87 points, 36 ROW, 5 GR
As you can see, things are suddenly looking extremely promising for the Flyers while the Red Wings and Bruins remain very close.
