Flyers carry road problem into Calgary on Sunday

The Flyers are 1-6-1 on the road, and they get back on the ice Sunday at Calgary still looking for answers away from home.

Philadelphia sits 30th in the NHL at 4-10-4 with 12 points, and it has lost two straight after Thursday's 3-2 loss at the Rangers. The trouble on the road is a big reason the standings look the way they do.

At home, the Flyers are 3-4-3. That isn't good, but it's a record a team can work with. The road mark is a different story, one win in eight games.

The goal numbers explain the rest. Philadelphia has scored 39 goals and allowed 61, a differential of -22, which is the kind of gap that rarely closes by accident.

Thursday in New York was a one-goal game, so the Flyers were in it. They just weren't good enough to finish it, and that has been the pattern for a while now.

What Rick Tocchet's Flyers have to fix away from home

Start with the margin for error. A team minus-22 over 18 games isn't losing on bounces, it's giving up too much and not scoring enough to cover for it.

The Flyers' last 10 is 4-5-1, so they haven't fallen off a cliff lately. The problem is that early results already put them in a hole, and the road is where most of it was dug.

Matvei Michkov has 10 of the team's 39 goals, as our look at how the Flyers lean on Matvei Michkov showed. That is a lot of offense riding on one player, and on the road nobody else has stepped up to share it.

Sunday's opponent is not a juggernaut. The Flames are 7-9-1, 24th in the NHL, and they lost 5-3 to the Ducks on Friday, so they also arrive on a two-game skid.

Calgary is better at home than Philadelphia is anywhere, at 5-4-0 in its own building. The Flames have been just as shaky on the road at 2-5-1, but this one is in Alberta, and the Flyers have not shown they can win that kind of game.

That makes Sunday a real chance to change the road story. A loss would stretch the losing streak to three and push the road record to 1-7-1, with Rick Tocchet still searching for the first sign of a fix.

Quick hits

BUFFALO SABRESZach Benson's embellishment call against the Blue Jackets is still the talk of Sabres fans, and Conor Garland was in the middle of it. Safe to say nobody has moved on yet.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETSChris Johnston reports the Blue Jackets have held a lot of discussions about moving Dmitry Voronkov, with a deal expected in the near future. Columbus clearly wants this settled soon.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNINGFrank Seravalli believes the Lightning's current offer to Nikita Kucherov is as good as it gets, with no more room to move. That puts the pressure squarely on the other side of the table.

VANCOUVER CANUCKSManny Malhotra told reporters after Friday's practice that the Canucks have to be ready and prepared to be better. Short message, clear target.

DETROIT RED WINGSAnton Johansson and William Wallinder are helping mask the absence of Simon Edvinsson, according to Helene St. James. Young depth is getting a real look in Detroit.