Flyers in full control of playoff fate Philadelphia doesn’t need help from anyone to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs for just the second time since 2012, TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Frank Seravalli writes

Frank Seravalli TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Follow|Archive

PHILADELPHIA — Every March, with the postseason looming, it becomes the most overused cliché thrown around NHL dressing rooms.

“We control our destiny.”

They are four words usually used incorrectly, often by a team that requires a minor miracle to leapfrog four other teams to grab a playoff spot, to somehow suggest that fate may have played a role in the first 60 games of their season.

Except, in the case of this year’s Philadelphia Flyers, it’s actually true.

The Flyers don’t need help from anyone to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs for just the second time since 2012.

They have 17 games remaining. They trail the Red Wings and Penguins by two points for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot — and they have one game in-hand.

They will face the two teams they’re chasing — Detroit (twice) and Pittsburgh (three times) — a combined five times over their final 15 games.

In other words: the Flyers can thank NHL schedule-maker Steve Hatze Petros for an opportune matrix. Without it, their playoff hopes would be at the mercy of others.

“It’s a perfect scenario for us,” Wayne Simmonds said Wednesday. “We can talk as much as we want, but now it’s up to us to deliver on it.”

At 52 per cent, the Flyers have the best postseason odds of any non-playoff team, according to HockeyViz.com. For all the talk of NHL parity, it has been a dull year of playoff races. It’s likely no Canadian team will make the playoffs for the first time since 1970.

The Flyers could get certainly get help from teams along the way, like the Blue Jackets and Islanders aided on Tuesday night by knocking off Detroit and Pittsburgh, but the only points that really matter are the ones doled out in those five tell-all games.

“You have to take advantage of your opportunities,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s probably more so on our minds that watching what other teams are doing right now. We don’t control that.”

If this story sounds familiar, the Flyers were in this exact position at almost this exact time last year. It didn’t end so well.

On March 7, 2015, the Flyers held a 2-1 lead over the Bruins with 17 seconds remaining in regulation at TD Garden. The faceoff was to the left of Steve Mason. They were 17 seconds away from whittling their playoff deficit to Boston to just two points. Brad Marchand scored off the draw, and then netted the overtime winner.

A thin two-point gap in the standings mushroomed into a five-point hole in those few seconds.

“I remember guys were just crushed after that game,” Brayden Schenn said.

The deflated Flyers were rocked the next night in New Jersey. A late loss to Dallas followed. Then the team suffered a 1-0 shootout defeat on the road in St. Louis.

Five days after their Beantown blow-up, the Flyers were suddenly 10 points back of the Bruins, who coincidentally also ended up missing the playoffs on the account of “The Hamburglar” and Ottawa’s record-setting run. Flyers coach Craig Berube (and Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli) was fired after the season.

“We’ll be ready for it this time,” Schenn vowed. “We had a bad November, dug ourselves a deep hole, and it’s tough to climb out of it in this league. We’re learning from our mistakes.”

The Flyers have somehow managed to hang on in the chase despite recent injuries to Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Michael Del Zotto. That they are doing it in a rebuilding year ­— enjoying the fruits of Calder Trophy candidate Shayne Gostisbehere while waiting for Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim to bud – is just a bonus for GM Ron Hextall and chairman Ed Snider.

Gostisbehere, 22, deserves a heap of credit for energizing the Flyers with his franchise rookie record 14 goals and 15-game point streak. Schenn, 24, has already set a career mark with 22 goals and seems poised to break the 50-point plateau for the first time. Michal Neuvirth has been a blessing in net.

But Sean Couturier said the credit belongs to the Flyers’ change in philosophy under rookie coach Hakstol.

“We’re not really that run-and-gun type team anymore, where we feel like we need to score five or six goals each night,” Couturier said. “We’re pretty tight defensively, we don’t give up a whole lot. We’re getting pretty comfortable with tight games. We’re okay with it just coming down to little details.”

Along the way, the Flyers have had fun again, particularly with keeping their prized rookie in-check.

“They don’t let me get a big head,” Gostisbehere said. “They make sure your helmet fits. They allow me to stay within myself. It’s hectic this time of year, being in the playoff chase. But we’re focused.”

They actually mean it when they say they control their own destiny. It sure beats the alternative.

“We’re enjoying it,” Simmonds said. “But we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli