The Flyers are 4-9-4 and 29th in the NHL after Tuesday night's 4-2 loss to the Wild, and the road is where it gets uglier.
Philadelphia has 12 points through 17 games and sits 8th in the Metropolitan Division. Minnesota, a 11-3-3 team, came into Philadelphia and took the points without much drama, with Denver Barkey and Tyson Foerster supplying the Flyers' only goals.
The number that explains the standings is the goal differential. The Flyers have scored 37 and allowed 58, a -21 that puts them well behind the teams they're chasing.
Home hasn't been a fortress either. The Flyers are 3-4-3 at the Wells Fargo Center, which is a mediocre record but one you can live with.
The road record is the real alarm: 1-5-1. One win away from home in seven tries means the Flyers are giving up points before the season has really started.
The last 10 games offer a small piece of good news at 4-4-2. The team has competed through that stretch, so the hole they're in was dug early and is getting harder to climb out of with every loss.
What the Flyers must fix away from home
Start with the goals against. A team that allows 58 in 17 games can't count on its top scorer to bail it out every night, and Rick Tocchet knows it.
Matvei Michkov carrying the Flyers' offense has masked a lot. He has 10 goals, five of them on the power play, and he fired four shots at Wallstedt on Tuesday. Even so, the team still lost by two.
On the road, the Flyers need to be harder to play against in their own end. That means cleaner breakouts, fewer extended shifts in the defensive zone and a goalie who isn't left to stop everything. Tuesday's 21 shots against Daniel Vladar weren't a flood, and the game still got away.
Thursday's trip to New York is the next chance to show it. The Rangers are 8-7-1 and 7-2-0 at home, though they are 1-5-1 on the road, so Mike Sullivan's team has its own split to explain.
The Flyers walk into Madison Square Garden needing a road win more than almost any team in the league. Thursday is the next game, and another loss away from home would leave Philadelphia deeper in the standings.
