The Flyers are 30th in the NHL at 4-10-4, and the reason is on the other end of the ice: 61 goals against.
They head to Calgary on Sunday after a 3-2 loss at the Rangers last night, their second straight defeat. The offense gets most of the attention in Philadelphia, but the goals-against column is what is sinking this team.
Thirty-nine scored and 61 allowed leaves a -22 goal differential. Only a few teams in the league are in that neighborhood, and the Flyers have 12 points to show for it.
Joseph Woll was fine at Madison Square Garden. He stopped 25 of 28 shots, and Dylan Garand at the other end stopped 23 of 25. That is a two-save gap, and it decided the game.
The Joseph Woll goalie nod in New York was the right call on paper. The result says the problem is bigger than one goalie on one night.
Jamie Drysdale played 26:23, the most of any Flyer, and finished with an assist. When your top defenseman logs that much against a team like this, the margin for error is gone.
Road trouble keeps piling up for Rick Tocchet
The home and road splits tell the story. Philadelphia is 1-6-1 away from home and 3-4-3 at home. Neither is good, but the road mark is brutal.
Rick Tocchet's group is 4-5-1 over its last 10, so the slide is not just a bad start that is being dragged along. The recent results are mediocre at best.
The Flyers did get goals from Noel Acciari and Simon Benoit against New York, so scoring from the depth was not the issue last night. Three goals against, including a power-play goal from Pavel Dorofeyev, was enough to beat them.
Every team gives up chances. The Flyers keep giving up too many of them, and at some point the structure in front of Woll has to be questioned before the goalie is. Fixing it is the job of Tocchet and his staff, and 61 goals against says it has not been done yet.
Calgary is not a juggernaut either. The Flames are 7-8-1 and sit 24th in the league, and they have allowed 55 goals themselves. That makes Sunday a rare chance for Philadelphia to tighten up against a team that is also struggling at the back end.
It is also a Flames team that lost in overtime at Seattle on Wednesday, so they will be looking for a response.
Sunday in Calgary is the next test of whether the Flyers can stop the bleeding on the road, where they have won once.
Quick hits
CALGARY FLAMESKevin Bahl is out with a lower body injury and will miss tonight's game against the Ducks. The Flames are thin enough already, and the Flyers will see how they look Sunday.
BOSTON BRUINSMikey Eyssimont is back in the lineup after missing a game with a puck to the mouth, according to Mark Divver. Good news for Boston.
UTAH MAMMOTHThe Mammoth have placed Kailer Yamamoto on injured reserve, per NHL Rosters. A roster shuffle is coming.
NEW YORK RANGERSDylan Garand has appeared in 10 of the last 11 Rangers games and could finally get a break in Seattle, Pro Hockey Rumors noted. He has earned the rest.
SAN JOSE SHARKSPierre LeBrun offered his read on Ryan Warsofsky's job as San Jose heads to Minnesota tonight. The coaching seat is a topic.
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