The Philadelphia Flyers will need to use their excellent home form as a catalyst to being more consistent on the road.
Nine straight home wins in a row has helped the Flyers into the third playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division. In order to stay there they will have to be more consistent on the road, starting with Edmonton tonight.
Craig Berube understands the importance of the Flyers finding some consistency on the road. From NHL.COM;
“On the road we tend to not fall asleep but not push the issue enough at certain times,”
“And we end up letting our guard down a bit.”
“We need to be a .500-or-better team on the road,”
If we take a look at the six games the Flyers will play on this road trip they need to win three from six to meet Berube’s minimum expectation for the team.
Personally out of the six games Edmonton, Calgary and New Jersey seem the three to target, with Vancouver, Colorado and Phoenix also to play. I believe all six games are winnable and although it would be a big ask to win all six, the Flyers should win at least three.
No games will be easy and the Flyers need to find a way to make them hard to beat outside of the Wells Fargo. Edmonton have won their last two games against Winnipeg and Calgary, snapping a six game loosing streak.
If they can take the home form to the road then the Flyers can help establish themselves in a playoff spot.
What the fans would like to see is their team turn up for all three periods each game. A lack of concentration or effort on the road is not good enough to get you into the playoffs. Let’s hope that the Flyers have come to understand that too!
puckdrop uk 