Reasons Why the Flyers Missed the Playoffs

NEW YORK — It was an unfamiliar feeling for Valtteri Filppula. In his first 10 full seasons in the NHL, he’d always made the playoffs.

In his 11th, he won’t.

The Flyers are the first team in league history to have a 10-game win streak and not make the postseason. Their 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers Sunday night officially ended any slim hope they had at another team losing out to help the Flyers, who would have had to win all their remaining games to sneak in.

“Obviously we needed to have a really good end here even to have a chance,” Filppula said. “The last few games we’ve been playing pretty well. It just wasn’t good enough.”

Then again, consider Filppula didn’t join the team until the March 1 trade deadline. He missed a lot, including the 10-game win streak.

Times seemed so good then. The streak stretched between Nov. 27 and Dec. 14, and the problem was the Flyers weren’t the only ones doing it. The Penguins, Blue Jackets and Capitals all had win streaks of seven or more games.

“No one in our room got too far ahead of themselves,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “You just know things are too tight when you look throughout the conference. This isn’t the right time, but you look at a couple of different key points, three or four games that you look at different outcomes…it’s that close. The reality is we’re on the outside looking in.”

Sure, there were games that the Flyers probably should have won, but there’s more to it than that.