The Flyers are back in the playoffs after 6 years. Here’s what to know

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While the Phillies pummeled the Cubs, 13-7, at Citizens Bank Park on Monday, just across the street, the city’s often forgotten hockey team had a chance to clinch a playoff berth for the first time in six years.

With a 3-2 shootout victory, the Flyers got the two points they needed to secure their spot and a first-round date with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“We were playing playoff hockey for the past month and a half … always trying to catch teams in front of us,” goaltender Dan Vladar said after Monday’s game. “For me, it was getting ready for every single game and leaving everything I have out there.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the Orange and Black’s return to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

How did they get here?

For the Flyers on Monday night, it was simple: Win and you’re in. Philly faced the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 81, the penultimate contest of the regular season. The Flyers came back from a two-goal deficit and took the game to overtime, followed by a shootout.

Tyson Foerster was the lone player to score in the shootout, and Vladar made one final save to propel Philadelphia into the playoffs. Foerster said he’s looking forward to the playoffs.

“It’s a dream,” he said after Monday’s game. “This is why you play.”

It was a moment that echoed the Flyers’ playoff berth in 2010, when the Flyers beat the Rangers in the final game of the season with a shootout save by goalie Brian Boucher.

That year, the Flyers made it to the Stanley Cup finals. Will this team make it back?

New to hockey?

Welcome aboard the Flyers bandwagon! The “Let’s Go, Flyers!” chant is pretty easy to remember. And you’ll want to find an orange shirt or two.

After an 82-game season in the NHL, the Stanley Cup playoffs will begin, as 16 teams compete to hoist the famous trophy at the end of the playoffs in May.

The Flyers are coached by Rick Tocchet and led by veteran captain Sean Couturier. Vladar is the man between the pipes, with Sam Ersson handling backup duties.

Philadelphia has a youth movement that includes rookie Porter Martone, 19, Matvei Michkov, 21, and Trevor Zegras, 25. Martone has eight points in his first eight NHL games.

Just don’t ask when the Flyers last won the Stanley Cup.

Flyers’ history in the Stanley Cup playoffs

This postseason will be the team’s first playoff appearance since the 2020 bubble, and the first NHL playoff games in Philadelphia since 2018.

The Flyers last made the Stanley Cup final in 2010, falling to the Blackhawks with a devastating overtime goal by Patrick Kane in Game 6.

In 1997, the Flyers also made the final, only to be swept by the Detroit Red Wings.

The Flyers have won two Stanley Cups, but that run was in the 1970s with coach Fred Shero and netminder Bernie Parent. The Flyers have honored the late goaltender all season with a replica of his mask, awarded to the player of the game.

What to know about the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Flyers’ interstate rival will finish with the second seed in the Metropolitan Division, just ahead of the Flyers. The Penguins are led by the star trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Though the Pens are aging with Crosby, 38, Malkin, 39, and Letang, 38, they are still dangerous and battle-tested.

“These guys, they don’t die,” Tocchet said of the Penguins after the Flyers clinched. “These guys are just warriors. We’re gonna have our hands full.”

“It’s gonna be a tough series and we’re gonna have to go after those guys,” he said.

Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup in 2009, and Tocchet was an assistant coach when the Pens won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. For the Flyers, it’s been 50 years.

There’s plenty of history between the two nemeses, with Pittsburgh defeating Philadelphia in the first round of the 2018 playoffs. And in the battle of the mascots, Gritty infamously joined the rivalry in September that year on social media.

Schedule and ticket information

The official playoff schedule has not yet been released, but the playoffs are expected to start this weekend.

The Flyers’ playoff schedule will in part depend on the Sixers, who will compete in the NBA’s play-in tournament Wednesday. Both teams share the Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philadelphia.

Each round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a best-of-seven series, so the Flyers are guaranteed to get at least two home games. Single-game tickets are on sale now.