Flyers suddenly facing long, but not insurmountable, odds

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“It’s not over until it’s over.” 

Those words were spoken by Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov after the team lost, 3-2, to the Islanders on Sunday night.

The orange and black have dug themselves into a big 3-1 hole in the second-round series and the outlook isn't good, as the Flyers have come from behind from that deficit only once in 18 attempts. We like nostalgia, and that lone comeback occurred just 10 years ago against the Bruins. Of course, back then the Flyers actually were down 3-0 to Boston before staging a rally for the ages.   

First things first, let’s tackle Tuesday night’s Game 5. On Monday morning, PointsBet released the money line odds, which put both the Islanders and the Flyers at -110 — so a $110 winning wager on either team will pay $100.

History shows a team down 3-1 in a series has a decent chance of winning Game 5 in the NHL’s quarterfinal round, which is basically what the second round is in this 2020 bubble postseason. Teams trailing 3-1, with eight playoff teams remaining, have won Game 5 over 41 percent of the time. Not too shabby, considering.  

Ironically, both the Flyers and Bruins find themselves down 3-1 in their respective series, putting them with the same odds to win the Eastern Conference at +1500 on PointsBet. Tampa Bay is the favorite at -143, followed by the Islanders at +150. 

From here on out, any Flyers win will bring back a little sense of hope to party like it’s 2010 all over again. A fair warning: teams trailing 3-1 in the second round are 7-80 all-time to go on to win the series. (But hey, who's counting?)

With their season on the brink of elimination, the Flyers — who on some sportsbooks had the best odds, around +600, to win the Stanley Cup entering the first round — now have the second-largest odds on PointsBet, at +3000, to be crowned champions.  

As Provorov said, it’s not over until it’s over.  

But I’d like to take it a step further and quote the great Lloyd Christmas of “Dumb and Dumber” fame: So you’re telling me there’s a chance?

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