The Flyers are in action tonight against the Rangers, two days before they head to Boston to play the Bruins in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park. Despite the fact their record is .500, they are in the division cellar because of their play over the last two months. Needless to say, it’ll be an uphill battle the rest of the way. But just how much of a battle it will be is best illustrated by the following:

Last year, 93 points was good enough to get the Canadiens the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference (Florida also had 93 points but missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker to Montreal). The Flyers currently have 38 points through 38 games, meaning they’re on pace to collect 82 points this year. Assuming last year’s final standings are reflective of what this season’s will be, the Flyers are on course to miss the postseason by 11 points and finish in 12th place.

They’re currently in 13th place in the Conference. Of course, theirs is not an insurmountable obstacle. But using the past 3 seasons’ points totals as an indicator of where the cut line will be (93 last year, 94 the year before and 92 in ’06-’07; 93 seems like a good arbitrary number) they’ll have to collect 55 points in their last 44 games. In order to do that, they’ll have to win about two thirds of their remaining games. When you consider the single point awarded for a regulation tie and its disproportionate favoring of the top teams, the second half campaign is going to have to be something truly special in order for the Flyers to be around in the spring.