That was a huge win for the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon in Washington. A strong road win against a really good team, the Flyers somehow held the Capitals to just 13 shots despite giving up six power plays in the game.

Losing Steve Mason in the game hurts a lot, especially if it's a longer-term injury. But while we'll admit it's a long shot, a quick glance at the schedule does give room for at least some blind optimism when it comes to the Flyers and a potential playoff spot.

Here are what the standings look like as of right now on the morning on Monday, February 9:

Metropolitan GP W L OT Pts ROW New York Islanders 53 34 18 1 69 27 Pittsburgh Penguins 53 30 15 8 68 28 Washington Capitals 54 28 16 10 66 26













Wild Card GP W L OT Pts ROW New York Rangers 51 30 16 5 65 28 Boston Bruins 53 28 18 7 63 26 -------------------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- Florida Panthers 51 23 17 11 57 18 Philadelphia Flyers 53 23 22 8 54 21

So the Flyers sit 12 points out of the last spot in the Metropolitan Division playoffs, but just nine points out of the wild card playoffs. Of course, we say "just" with a little bit of laughter, since making up that ground will require two pretty real things: the Flyers need to go on an absolute tear, and one of those teams ahead of them needs to fall.

I was talking with Ryan Gilbert last night about that (long) chances that this could happen, and he mentioned the Flyers schedule over the rest of February. It's, uhh .... kind of a cake walk. So let's look at the Flyers schedule vs. the other opponents in the playoff hunt here just to see if it's possible that things could fall the Flyers way here.

Date Philadelphia Flyers Washington Capitals Boston Bruins New York Rangers Sun, Feb 8 Win @ Washington Loss vs Philadelphia Loss vs Montreal OTL vs Dallas Mon, Feb 9







Tue, Feb 10 @ Montreal

vs Dallas @ Toronto Wed, Feb 11

@ San Jose



Thu, Feb 12





@ Colorado Fri, Feb 13 @ Columbus

@ Vancouver

Sat, Feb 14

@ Los Angeles

@ Arizona Sun, Feb 15 @ Buffalo @ Anaheim

vs NY Islanders Mon, Feb 16



@ Calgary

Tue, Feb 17 vs Columbus @ Pittsburgh



Wed, Feb 18



@ Edmonton

Thu, Feb 19 vs Buffalo vs Winnipeg

vs Vancouver Fri, Feb 20



@ St. Louis @ Buffalo Sat, Feb 21 vs Nashville vs NY Islanders



Sun, Feb 22 vs Washington @ Philadelphia @ Chicago vs Columbus Mon, Feb 23







Tue, Feb 24 @ Carolina

vs Vancouver vs Calgary Wed, Feb 25

vs Pittsburgh



Thu, Feb 26 @ Toronto



vs Arizona Fri, Feb 27

@ Carolina @ New Jersey

Sat, Feb 28 vs NY Rangers

vs Arizona @ Philadelphia

The one thing that stands out here to me: the Flyers play the Capitals again in two weeks, and in between now and that game, Washington has a brutal trip that includes a California leg and a game in Pittsburgh. After Tuesday's game in Montreal, the Flyers have four straight against Buffalo and Columbus and a tough one against Nashville.

We're certainly not saying that any of those Buffalo or Columbus games are locks for the Flyers, but the schedule certainly works out in Philadelphia's favor over these next two weeks.

Let's go through and label all of these games based on likelihood of victory. Games in yellow are toss-ups, games in green are likely wins, and games in red are likely losses. We'll calculate points in the standings as we go -- obviously, it's all a ballpark exercise here because this is hockey and things never work out the way you'd expect them. Three point games make it all even more complicated. But again, a ballpark exercise:

Date Philadelphia Flyers Pts Washington Capitals Pts Boston Bruins Pts New York Rangers Pts Sun, Feb 8 Win @ Washington 54 Loss vs Philadelphia 66 Loss vs Montreal 63 OTL vs Dallas 65 Mon, Feb 9 Tue, Feb 10 @ Montreal 55 vs Dallas 63 @ Toronto 67 Wed, Feb 11 @ San Jose 66 Thu, Feb 12 @ Colorado 69 Fri, Feb 13 @ Columbus 57 @ Vancouver 64 Sat, Feb 14 @ Los Angeles 67 @ Arizona 71 Sun, Feb 15 @ Buffalo 59 @ Anaheim 67 vs NY Islanders 71 Mon, Feb 16 @ Calgary 64 Tue, Feb 17 vs Columbus 61 @ Pittsburgh 68 Wed, Feb 18 @ Edmonton 66 Thu, Feb 19 vs Buffalo 63 vs Winnipeg 70 vs Vancouver 71 Fri, Feb 20 @ St. Louis 66 @ Buffalo 73 Sat, Feb 21 vs Nashville 63 vs NY Islanders 71 Sun, Feb 22 vs Washington 65 @ Philadelphia 71 @ Chicago 66 vs Columbus 75 Mon, Feb 23 Tue, Feb 24 @ Carolina 67 vs Vancouver 68 vs Calgary 76 Wed, Feb 25 vs Pittsburgh 72 Thu, Feb 26 @ Toronto 69 vs Arizona 78 Fri, Feb 27 @ Carolina 74 @ New Jersey 70 Sat, Feb 28 vs NY Rangers 69 vs Arizona 72 @ Philadelphia 79 Possible results 8 wins, 2 losses, 1 OTL 69 pts 2 wins, 4 losses, 4 OTL 74 pts 4 wins, 5 losses, 1 OTL 72 pts 6 wins, 2 losses, 2 OTL 79 pts

The moral of the story: Yes, there's a path for the Flyers to climb back into the race.

They need to take care of business against bad teams, they need to beat Washington again and it'd help if they could upset Montreal or Nashville or the Rangers too. But there is a scenario in which the Flyers are back in the playoff hunt by the March 2 trade deadline, and it wouldn't even necessarily require other teams to totally fall apart. Boston for example could play .500 hockey for the rest of the month, and if the Flyers take care of business against mostly bad teams, it could be a tight race at the deadline.

It's a long shot, no doubt about it. A lot has to go right, and with Steve Mason out ... maybe things won't go right. But the Flyers have been playing good hockey since the All-Star Break, and who knows? If you want to be optimistic about watching Flyers playoff hockey this spring, here's your guide.