The Flyers have 22 games left, and have worked to make them 22 meaningful ones. 

But that's still not without a fair bit of uncertainty. The trade deadline is next Friday, and it still isn't all that clear how this one is going to go – many GMs, Danny Brière included, seem to be waiting for one another to crack first in rumored talks – all while the Flyers are still holding on to third place in the Metro Divison, but not comfortably as the Devils, Capitals, and Islanders are each 5-6 points behind them with game or two in hand. 

All of that brings the Orange and Black to another potentially pivotal weekend back-to-back, first with Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals up Friday night down in Washington, and then Claude Giroux and an Ottawa Senators team that has had their number this season on deck one more time Saturday night back at home. 

It's another important four points on the table, and another test to see what this team is really made of as they arrive to it a bit banged up. 

"We're in Game 60 playing important games," head coach John Tortorella said after the Flyers' practice Thursday in Voorhees. "That's put the focus even more on just think about Game 61. I think whatever happens from there, you have a better chance coming out on the right side of it if you think about the next game.

"The focus needs to be even so much more now, when you have 20-plus games left, just to think about one at a time, one practice at a time...That's all we can handle right now, and then we'll see what happens."

Here are five more thoughts on the Flyers ahead of it...

Attard's look

Ronnie Attard has been on the bubble of getting another look with the Flyers for a long time, but a blueline logjam that carried for a good couple of months after Jamie Drysdale's acquisition didn't leave any room for it, or for any other Phantoms defenseman for that matter. 

But now Drysdale and Rasmus Ristolainen are both on injured reserve, leaving the Flyers short. They need help back there. This is Attard's shot, and in a major spot, too. 

"It's meaningful hockey in almost March now," Attard said after practice Thursday. "So every game matters, every point matters, every shift matters. Just gotta be ready to go."

The 24-year old blueliner, who was a 2019 third-rounder and a college signing out of Western Michigan, put up a line of 10 goals, 15 assists, and a plus-2 rating through 46 games in Lehigh Valley, with his game especially steadying up in the new year. 

And trying to translate it back up to the NHL, the goal is simple: "I gotta be miserable to play against," Attard said. "Kill plays, move the puck fast. If I'm not killing plays, then I get myself into trouble, so I have to continue to focus on that. Not getting beat, and if there's an opportunity, jump up, and try to make something happen."

Sandström's shot

In a somewhat similar vein, goaltender Felix Sandström is getting another NHL opportunity, too, but not because of an injury ahead of him. 

The Flyers need a stable backup option behind Samuel Ersson – or at least as stable of one they can find – and after last weekend's 7-6 loss to Pittsburgh, Cal Petersen didn't prove anywhere close enough to be that. So he was placed on waivers earlier this week to be sent back down to the AHL. 

It's Sandström's turn now.

"I just didn't feel that Cal was good enough the last game," Tortorella said. "There hasn't been a big discrepancy down there with [Sandström] and Cal. It's not criticizing Cal, but we have probably four or five left that I think we'll use the backup, [Sandström] deserves a chance, too.

"I don't think our team played great in Pittsburgh, I don't think Cal played that well, so [Sandström] gets a chance now. The next time we want to use our backup, [Sandström] we'll get that game and then we'll make a call from there."

The Flyers made several comebacks against the Penguins last Sunday to stay in it, but with each push came another goal surrendered to set them right back. Petersen faced 39 shots and had seven get by them, with arguably more than half of those coming on looks he had to be much quicker to get to. 

For his limited look of five games in the NHL this season, Petersen is 2-2-0 with a way low .864 save percentage. His AHL numbers with the Phantoms haven't exactly been impressive either at a 5-8-2 record and an .890 save rate through 15 games.

Granted, Sandström hasn't been in a much better boat this season with Lehigh Valley, posting an .882 save percentage and an 11-6-2 record through his 20 contests. The 27-year old also gave up five goals in his last start for the Phantoms on February 24 against Charlotte – though they swung the 6-5 win in OT – and 12 goals in total for his four starts for the month. 

He says he's building on something so. Hopefully that proves true.

"It's been a bit up and down," Sandström said of his season in Lehigh Valley. "Took some time to get back to feeling 100 percent again with my game, but I think lately it's been better. Maybe not the results every night that you want, but I think my game has been improving the last month here, so I feel like I'm in a good spot right now to get into games."

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Minutes aren't a given

Sean Couturier was a fourth-liner Tuesday night against Tampa Bay and only skated 12:44, and though the timing is likely purely coincidental, he just hasn't looked as sharp since being named captain a couple of weeks ago – he's minus-9 with just two assists from last Sunday against Pittsburgh in the Flyers' six games since. 

They need him if they're going to have a chance, Tortorella maintained Thursday, but the coach continued that he isn't going to wait around and let status keep Couturier at the top of the lineup while he's in a rut either. 

It's late into the season. Time and opportunities are short. The Flyers need to play any and every hot hand they have.

"It's certainly not a disrespect in any fashion to the player," Tortorella said. "I'm not gonna run the bench based on what people think about you or where you sit as a veteran guy or a captian. I just don't do it that way and I think Coots understands that. 

"That's what I love about Coots. I'm sure he isn't pleased at all and we haven't had a lot of conversations. I don't think I need to run to Coots. I think Coots understands how he's played, and what's going on with this game. But I'm not going to give something for free just because of his status. Status, once the game starts, status isn't a really big determination for me."

The same went for Scott Laughton until he turned it around of late, and for Cam Atkinson as well, who was scratched Tuesday night as he continues to struggle to make way for Bobby Brink as one of the active forwards. 

"He's gonna wait his turn," Tortorella said of Atkinson. "If I think it's time for him to come back in, I hope he sticks in it. It really isn't confusing for me. I respect all our athletes no matter what their status is – veteran, young guy, this, that, the other thing – I just try to keep it right on the table. You play well, you're gonna get more minutes. If you play really bad, you're out and I'm gonna try someone else. You're gonna have to wait your turn. It's pretty simple."

Ignorance is bliss

Ersson, Brink, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Cam York, Morgan Frost and so on have never really been in the spot of making a Stanley Cup Playoff push before compared to the longtime veterans in Couturier, Laughton, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Marc Staal, who all have at the very least been there. 

A lot gets made in hockey about knowing how to win, but is there an advantage in young guys having a completely blank slate for it?

Tortorella's full perspective of it, pulling from his experience with the Cup-winning Lightning team from 2004:

"Yeah, I've always felt that. I remember a long time ago, back in '04 when we won a Cup in Tampa with a really young team. We didn't have a clue what we were doing. We didn't have a clue what type of pressure should've been on us at that time. So I always weigh that. The veteran guys that have done it and understand what it takes, have gone through it and the pressure that comes with it versus a young guy that's really just playing. I'm not sure which is good. You always talk about experience versus that at this time of year when you get to playoffs, I think there's a give and take there in both ways. 

So it's a really good question, because I lived it in Tampa. We had a coach who had never gone through it, me, I was opening the door. We were playing so free, playing so well, I just opened the door. And they didn't have a clue about pressure, they were having a blast, so it's a really interesting question, an interesting dynamic this time of year."

We'll have to see where it takes these Flyers.

One more...

If you haven't seen it already or just want to see it again:

Bless you, Coffee Cake.

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