5 under the radar teams poised to make a run at the Stanley Cup

Philadelphia Flyers

When the Flyers lost 10 straight games in November, it looked as though their season was over and done. Fast forward to March, and now they sit in third in the Metropolitan Division with 81 points and are neck-and-neck with the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who are tied at 85 points in a race for first place in the Metropolitan.

The Flyers are a deep offensive team with a great balance of speed and power, and Travis Konecny’s breakout season has given them even more options down the wing, even allowing them to drop Wayne Simmonds to the third line for a more balanced scoring attack. However, the Flyers’ weakness is on defense. The top pairing of Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere is nothing short of sensational, but it weakens out after that without a solid top-four defensemen. Both starting goaltenders in Brian Elliot and Michal Neuvirth are currently injured for Philadelphia, which led to a trade for Petr Mrazek to keep them afloat until the postseason, when both goalies are expected back.

The Flyers’ most likely opponents for the first round are the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, though with Pittsburgh on the rise and Washington middling out, Washington is the more likely option. Either series would be incredible to see. Obviously the rivalry between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia needs no introduction, and a series with Washington would be incredibly even. The Flyers could even have the advantage in a seven-game series depending on which Washington shows up. The drawback for the Flyers is the gauntlet they’d have to go through to even get to the finals. First would be Washington/Pittsburgh, then likely the other of the two, then whoever comes out on top in the stacked Atlantic Division. Certainly a challenging task, but it’ll just make it that much more rewarding.

Since going 9-0-1 a few weeks ago, the Flyers have since cooled down to an average 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. But Philadelphia is poised to carry the momentum of the city from the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory into a title run of their own.