The Philadelphia Flyers had an exceptional run of playoff hockey beginning in 1995, making the playoffs in 16 of 17 seasons before missing the postseason in 2013. After that, the Flyers spent eight years rotating between making the playoffs and missing, albeit with only one series win in that span.
Since then, it has been three consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs with the team embarking upon a rebuild that was expected to stretch on for quite some time. The Flyers players, however, have had other plans this year.
As is typical for a John Tortorella-led team, the Flyers are playing hard in every game and deservedly have achieved some good results, entering the month of December with a record over .500. They also are within one point of a playoff spot and proudly boast a 6-3-1 record over their past 10 games.
PennStakes.com — your source for PA betting sites — used Hockey-Reference.com to look at the Flyers’ playoff history and decided to assess what some early season success means.
Flyers Recent Playoff Misses
What Can Flyers Fans Expect?
For a team that was a heavy favorite to miss the playoffs entering the season, the fact they are very much in the mix post-Thanksgiving is a big surprise. Despite the eye-opening start, the Flyers are a longshot to win the cup at PA sports betting apps.
The Flyers enter December with odds of +15000 at ESPN Bet Pennsylvania, ahead of only five other teams. The expectation seems to be that this team will fall off and miss the playoffs in order to acquire another high draft pick to accelerate the rebuild. This is exactly what some Flyers supporters want to happen.
These odds remain similar to their preseason odds at most sportsbooks, signaling that while the team has been better than expected, a Stanley Cup parade in Philadelphia is still unrealistic.
While the oddsmakers have made their position clear, the stats tell another story. Philadelphia’s success thus far appears to be sustainable, as they are seventh in the league in expected goals (per naturalstattrick.com) and are also getting excellent goaltending from Carter Hart.
If anything, there is room for improvement from the power play unit that is sitting in the bottom third of the league with a 11.7% efficiency. The return of stars Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson has made an immediate impact on the team this year as both have had strong starts after missing the entirety of last season. After Hart, the MVP of the team might just be defenseman Travis Sanheim, who is on pace for a career year offensively while logging a ton of minutes on the back end.
With such a strong fanbase with high expectations, the city of Philadelphia is ready to explode if the Flyers do manage to get themselves into the postseason. While they haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975, the city is still used to strong performances from their team come playoff time. The original expectation might have been another season at the bottom of the standings, but this team has proven that they are ready to defy the odds and ruling them out seems foolhardy at this point.
PennStakes.com will keep a close eye on the Flyers and other pro teams in the state as well as provide the top PA sportsbook promo codes.
