NHL

Are Claude Giroux and the Flyers living on a prayer?

Are Claude Giroux and the Flyers living on a prayer?
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Just a few days ago, Claude Girouxsaid what the captain of an NHL team is supposed to say.

“There’s no doubt that we’re a playoff team,” Giroux told Comcast SportsNet. “We’re going to prove it in the future.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the 22-22-7 Flyers, with 51 points, were double digits out of the last wild card spot. And according tosportsclubstats.com, they have just a 3.7 percent chance of making the playoffs.

So is Giroux, who is currently fourth in the NHL in points, actually serious? Or is he just trying to be a good captain? The Flyers have won four in a row, their longest streak of the season. But to make a playoff run it would have to be just a start.

“We felt pretty good about ourselves heading into the break,” defenseman Luke Schenn said. “Coming out of the break, winning three in a row is pretty nice. Just kind of back in the thick of things. It’s really tough to make up ground this time of year.”

Philly is currently in 10th place, 10 points behind the Bruins for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot and 11 points behindthe Capitols and Rangers in the Metro division.

And not to pile on, but the Bruins are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and don’t appear to be satisfied with the final playoff spot in the East.

“We can only control what we do moving forward,” Schenn said. “Obviously you’re going to be paying attention to games around the league but the main thing is continue to get wins ourselves. I think so far the guys have been doing a pretty good job of staying focus and trying to get ourselves some wins.”

The Flyers wrap up their current homestand against the Islanders Thursday before embarking on a four-game road trip with key games in Washington and Montreal. If nothing else, sweeping a five-game stint at the Wells Fargo Center is a good start, but there is a lot of work to do.

“Yeah, when you have your home games, you definitely have got to make sure you’re getting two points out of them,” goalie Steve Mason said. “It’s so important to have a good home record.”