Here’s where Flyers are most unhappy after disappointing first quarter

Dave Isaac | NHL Writer

VOORHEES — Saturday afternoon the Flyers will face one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and they are in desperate need of a win to get things heading back in the right direction.

Their starting goalie is on the shelf for two weeks, their top free-agent acquisition has played only three games and they’re not making up ground in a time when the presumed top teams in the Metropolitan Division are floundering.

It’s a little late in the season to be calling sample sizes too small. This was supposed to be the season that the Flyers took a big step forward and so far there have been few signs of improvement from last season, let alone anything that would suggest they're due for their first playoff series win since 2012.

A matinee with the Tampa Bay Lightning marks the Flyers’ 20th game of the season, roughly the quarter mark of the season. Here is what they perceive to be the biggest issues with the team thus far.

Special teams

Entering Friday night’s action in the NHL, the Flyers were second-worst in the league in both the power play (12.7 percent) and penalty kill (71.2 percent). It hasn’t been a new issue, at least on the penalty kill. That facet of the game has continued to trend downward for several seasons and the Flyers haven’t changed much until recently when they’ve started applying more pressure to the opposing puck-handler.

“Obviously our PP and PK isn’t where we want it to be,” defenseman Radko Gudas said. “I think our 5-on-5 play is heading in the right direction. … Guys have been battling and it’s just not going our way.

“We need to improve in every area if we expect to be a playoff team, but I think the main thing is special teams for us right now. That’s what’s not having us at the top (of the standings).”

“Obviously they’re a big part of today’s game,” Andrew MacDonald added. “We had a tough stretch there on the PK. When you look at the video, we do a lot of things really well and maybe we make one mistake and they capitalize on it. It’s tough when things start snowballing and you’re behind the 8-ball a little bit. It’s tough to stop it. I think we’re trending in the right direction for that. We’re a little more aggressive. We’re finding ways to get the job done. It is frustrating for sure. No one’s more frustrated than we are about it, but I think there’s some things we can build on. We’ve just got to put together some clean games here and get some momentum.”

Home record

No team in the Eastern Conference has more regulation home losses than the Flyers. At 4-6-0, they have work to do to make Wells Fargo Center a tough place to play. They seemed to figure out their game when they went out West on the road, then when they returned home, they lost that touch.

“Playing home, I think our building should be one of those buildings where you know when you come in you’re gonna get roughed up,” Gudas said. “You’re not getting points easy. You’re not getting out of there without bruises or bumps if you want to get some points out of there. I think Philly has always been known as being a great home building, being rough on opponents. I think sometimes we’re trying too hard at home to show that to our fans. Sometimes it’s costing us too much. Sometimes the smarter, not-as-pretty play is the right play to do. I think we’re struggling to realize that but we’re working on it.”

Some of those bumps and bruises come in fights. The Flyers have none this season. It’s the longest they’ve gone in franchise history without one, surpassing their first season in 1967 when Larry Zeidel and Pat Hannigan fought Noel Picard and Gord Kannegiesser of the St. Louis Blues at the end of the Flyers’ 16th game of the year.

“I’m really surprised,” Gudas said when told the Flyers and Arizona Coyotes are the only two teams that haven’t dropped the gloves this season. “We had some games where we tried. (Wayne Simmonds) even tried last game. It is really surprising. I’m not gonna lie. The new NHL is getting away from all the fighting and I can’t say I haven’t been trying to fight but there hasn’t really been anyone out there that was willing to accept it or the course of the game didn’t make it happen. It’s obviously not a main thing on our team, but it would be nice to get a few in there.”

Consistency

The Flyers are 9-9-1 through 19 games and have seen the same highs and lows of past seasons. It’s one of the top things they wanted to fix this season and there’s still a lot to be desired in that category.

“I think the consistency part, which probably most teams will say the same thing, but to get everybody going the same night has been an issue,” general manager Ron Hextall said. “I actually liked our game (Thursday) night. We played very well in a lot of ways. In saying that, we gotta find ways to put the puck in the net and we didn’t. You can hit bars all you want, but that’s not the net. If you play like you played (Thursday) night, you’re gonna win most nights. There’s some positives coming out of it, but we’ve got to find a way.”

“We’ve been inconsistent,” Simmonds added. “We’ve got to find a way to start playing more consistent. I thought we were good and then we got two losses at home. We’ve got to pull it back around.

“It all goes with consistency. You’ve got to be better at everything to be more consistent, right?”

Dave Isaac; @davegisaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com

Up next: vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

When: 1 p.m., Saturday

TV/Radio: NBCSP/97.5 FM