The Flyers host the Minnesota Wild tonight sitting 27th in the NHL, and Rick Tocchet's team needs a home game that actually means something.
Philadelphia is 4-8-4 with 12 points after 16 games. That puts them seventh in the Metropolitan Division, and the hole is getting harder to ignore.
Sunday's 6-3 win over Utah gave the building a reason to cheer, and the streak sits at one. It was a good night. It was also one win in a stretch that has produced very little.
The record at home is 3-3-3, which is not the kind of mark that scares anybody. The road is worse at 1-5-1, so the Flyers can't lean on the schedule to bail them out. Home ice has to be where they collect points.
The last 10 games read 4-4-2, and that's the more encouraging split. It says this group isn't in free fall, but it hasn't climbed either.
The goal differential is the number that stings. Philadelphia has scored 35 and allowed 54, a minus-19 that tells you where the problem actually lives.
How far the Flyers sit from the Metropolitan pack
Look at the division table and the gap is plain. The Flyers are not just behind, they're stuck near the bottom while others pull away.
Tonight's opponent makes that gap feel even wider. Minnesota is 10-3-3 with 23 points, fourth in the NHL and first in the Central Division, with a +16 goal differential.
The Wild have also won six of their last 10 and come in off a 5-1 win in Washington on Sunday. They're 6-3-2 on the road, so a trip to Philadelphia doesn't rattle them.
The Flyers do have firepower. Matvei Michkov's streak heading into this game is one reason, and he leads the team with 10 goals, five of them on the power play, in 16 games.
Trevor Zegras leads the Flyers in points with 13, on 4 goals and 9 assists. He met the media after Monday's practice, as covered in our report on Zegras leaving the game hurt, and he's listed with no injury.
Here's where Bob lands: a team minus-19 can't keep waiting for two forwards to fix it. Michkov and Zegras can carry the scoring, but 54 goals against is a defensive and goaltending issue, and no power play covers that.
Beating the best team in the Central at home would not erase the standings. It would at least show the Flyers can hold their own against a club that's playing the way they want to. Philadelphia then has to prove it can do it again.
