For Flyers, lots of playoff possibilities

PITTSBURGH -- With the regular season winding down, the Flyers have numerous playoff possibilities. Stop reading if you don't want to get dizzy.

If the Stanley Cup playoffs started today, the Flyers would face the NHL's best team, Metropolitan Division-leading Washington, in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The division leader with the most points will play the wild-card team with the fewest points.

The division leader with the fewest points -- right now, that's Florida with 97 points, two more than Steven Stamkos-less Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division -- will play the wild-card team with the most points. At the moment, the Islanders hold the top wild-card spot.

But the order of the wild-card teams could change in the final eight days of the regular season.

The Flyers have 91 points, just two fewer than the Islanders. The teams have five games remaining, including a head-to-head matchup on the final night of the regular season.

The first tie-breaker is regulation and overtime wins combined (ROW). The Isles' ROW is 37, the Flyers' is 36.

The second tie-breaker is the amount of points in head-to-head meetings. In games against the Islanders, the Flyers have five points; the Isles have four points in those matchups. But now comes the confusing part. According to NHL rules, if two clubs are tied and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall NOT be included.

That helps the Flyers, who lost their first game in Brooklyn. The teams will meet three times there and twice in Philadelphia.

Hence, the Flyers have five points in games against the Isles, but New York is only credited with two of the four points it has earned against the Flyers. That means the Flyers already have won the second tie-breaker.

Again, the second tie-breaker will only come into effect if the ROW is tied.

The Flyers enter Sunday's 5 p.m. game in Pittsburgh one point ahead of Boston in the wild-card race; the Flyers have a game in hand.

Detroit has climbed over Boston as the third-place team in the Atlantic Division race; the top three teams in each division earn automatic playoff berths.

The Flyers finish with games at Pittsburgh, at Detroit, Toronto, Pittsburgh and at the Islanders.

The Isles finish this way: vs. Tampa, at Washington, at the Rangers, vs. Buffalo, vs. the Flyers.

Boston, which is one point behind Detroit in the Atlantic, finishes by playing at Chicago and then hosting Carolina, Detroit and Ottawa.

Detroit has just three games remaining; the Red Wings host the Flyers, then play at Boston and at the Rangers.

It is also worth noting that the Flyers have inched to within four points of the Rangers and have a game in hand. The Blueshirts are third in the Metro race.

The Rangers host Columbus on Monday, then finish with three road games, facing Tampa, the Islanders and Detroit.

Should the Flyers somehow climb into third in the Metro -- yes, it's a longshot -- they would meet the Penguins in the opening round.

It's likely nothing will be settled until the final night of the regular season next Sunday. There's a chance the Flyers -- who are on a 13-3-2 surge -- could end up with a first-round matchup against Washington, Florida, Tampa Bay, or Pittsburgh. (It would take a total collapse for the Penguins to fall into a wild-card spot, which would make a Flyers-Rangers first-round matchup a possibility.)

There's also a chance the Flyers could slip out of the playoff picture.

Stay tuned. It's going to be a fascinating finish.

Surging teams. The Flyers and Penguins are two of the NHL's hottest teams. The Penguins have won 11 of their last 12, and the Flyers are on a 13-3-2 spurt.

Goalie matchup. Steve Mason, the Flyers' iron man, will make his ninth straight start and 14th in the last 15 games. Overall, Mason is 22-17-9 with a 2.48 GAA and .920 save percentage.

Impressive Penguins rookie Matt Murray, coming off a 5-0 blanking of the Islanders on Saturday, could also start for the second straight day. Murray will get most of the workload with Marc-Andre Fleury sidelined indefinitely by his second concussion of the season.

In nine games, Murray is 6-2-1 with a 1.86 GAA and .933 save percentage.

Breakaways. The Flyers have lost both games against the Pens _ after sweeping the series last season....Phil Kessel scored a pair of goals as the Penguins defeated the Flyers in Pittsburgh on Jan. 21, 4-3, to snap an eight-game losing streak in the series. The Penguins had a 45-32 shots domination in that game. The Flyers had been 11-1-1 at the Consol Energy Center since it opened in 2010-11....The Pens won the March 19 rematch at the Wells Fargo Center, 4-1, including an empty-net goal....With a victory Sunday, Pittsburgh would equal a season-high six-game winning streak....Wayne Simmonds needs two goals to reach 30 for the first time in his career..