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Posted at 1:40 PM EST

OT included. Sandwiched between three losses to the Canadiens over the past eight days, Ottawa defeated both Pittsburgh and Boston. The Senators obviously wanted to win at least one of those games against Montreal but it just didn’t happen. We’re not going to concern ourselves with that, as this wager is based strictly on fading the Flyers and Ottawa is a very decent team too.  

The Flyers are six points back of the Bruins for the final playoff spot with seven games remaining but the bigger issue is that they have to leapfrog over four other teams to catch Boston. Philadelphia will make the playoffs this year if they run the table and four other teams, Carolina, the Islanders, Tampa Bay and Boston, all collapse. According to sportsclubstats.com Philadelphia’s chances of making the playoffs this year is 0.2%. The Flyers are now set up to fail again. 

Philadelphia is coming off a 6-2 victory over Pittsburgh. 11 days prior, Philadelphia defeated Pittsburgh again (4-0) only to lose 6-2 to the Devils the very next game. Several players cited Brandon Manning’s fight against Cameron Gaunce on Sunday as the inspiration that led to their victory. The Flyers were down by a goal at that point. “It was huge and it always helps when you win the fight, too,” said Travis Konecny. “A fight gets the team going, but when you end up on the right side of it, it always helps the momentum of the game. Kudos to him; he finds ways to get us going. He’s done it throughout the year.”

“I think a lot of us, if we had the heart of Brandon Manning, maybe we’d be in a little different situation,” Gostisbehere said. “I think it really pumped our team up.”

From our perspective, the only thing that is going to do is prompt Manning to fight some more. He’ll be looking for it tonight and it’ll likely hurt the Flyers more than help them, just like Manning’s play has done all season long. To point to this useless player as the inspiration for a win should be of more concern. Furthermore, the Flyers are coming home from a four game trip after that big win over Pittsburgh so let’s have a closer look at that. 

Philadelphia opened the year with a trip to Los Angeles, Arizona and Chicago before losing to Anaheim when they returned home. The Flyers next road trip of four games or more occurred in December when they traveled to New Jersey, St. Louis, San Jose and Anaheim. The Flyers returned home to play the Rangers and lost 5-2. From January 8 to January 15, Philadelphia played at Columbus, Buffalo, Boston and Washington and returned home to lose 4-1 to the Devils. The Flyers three-game jaunt through Western Canada happened in February and upon returning, they lost 4-1 to the Capitals. Earlier this month, Philly played four games on the road in succession at Washington, Buffalo, Toronto and Boston and when they returned home, they lost 5-3 to the Jackets. The Flyers have only had five road trips this season of three or more games. In their first game back of said trips, they are 0-5 and this one comes after four on the road and after a big win over Pittsburgh. Nuff said. 

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