Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

VOORHEES — The Flyers’ default play in the offensive zone is to get the puck in and then up to a defenseman at the point.

That’s where the shots are generated from and the hope is that there will be a rebound out front where a forward is waiting for the puck or that the defenseman can find an open passing lane and get it down low to someone with a better opportunity to score.

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Recently it hasn’t worked so well.

“We probably haven’t created enough off the rush in the last few games,” coach Dave Hakstol admitted. “We’ve been up and down in that area. We’ve had some stretches where we’ve been very good creating off the rush. The last couple games we haven’t.”

In their terrible loss to the Devils Thursday, both Flyers goals came off nice crisp passing plays. Michael Del Zotto joined the rush as Claude Giroux toyed with a defender that had no stick and Jake Voracek found him far side for the goal. Same with Brayden Schenn, who snuck behind a defender for an even-strength goal.

The two plays were rare not just for that game, but the Flyers’ recent play as a whole.

“In today’s game there’s maybe two to three odd-man rushes a game,” Matt Read said. “Everyone’s in such good shape that you can have an over-a-minute shift and still play well and do the right things out there. It takes a couple breakdowns to get an odd-man rush or a winger to chip (the puck to) someone with speed.”

For more than a month the Flyers’ defense led the league in points so the strategy was working. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes, their defense corps had tanked to 15th in the league with 140 points. San Jose Sharks blueliner Brent Burns has half of that total by himself.

Still the Flyers continue to largely feed the defensemen at the point and hope that offense breeds from that.

“I just don’t think throwing it on net is the answer,” Brayden Schenn said. “Maybe it creates some chaos and havoc. You might get a few goals like that a year. If there’s a time and place and you see a guy open in front of the net, yeah, throw it there, but if there’s no one there there’s no sense in just whipping it to the net just to get a shot on goal. That’s not going to create offense. That’s going to start their breakout.”

On the contrary, ask the Boston Bruins about just throwing the puck on net (and maybe don’t ask Brandon Manning).

Drew Stafford carelessly lobbed a puck at Steve Mason and it went off Manning’s stick and in for a game-winner.

“We lost two points this way,” alternate captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. “You talk about creating your own bounce. He just threw the puck and our own D just had bad luck and touched it. Sometimes maybe instead of throwing it on the net we may think we have a better play and I’m the first one doing that. Instead of just throwing the puck to the net and maybe creating the momentum that will make us win.”

Back to Mason

It looked pretty bad Thursday night when Mason was motionless on the ice with trainer Jim McCrossin tending to him. He couldn’t bend his leg, stuck in a cramp. With a day off Friday, he practiced Saturday and was starting again Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily dehydration,” Mason said. “It’s just the amount I sweat and the salt level I guess. We try to keep up on it, but sometimes it’s hard.

“I drink just about everything. I drink a bunch of different salt drinks, Pedialytes, lot of things with electrolytes. The amount I drink during a game is ridiculous, but the amount that I sweat just counteracts it.”

Loose Pucks

Harvard is a No. 1 seed in the Frozen Four, it was announced Sunday. They won the ECAC Hockey Championship Saturday with a 4-1 win over Cornell. Goalie Merrick Madsen, a Flyers’ sixth-round pick in 2013, was the tournament MVP. … Brandon Manning missed a fourth straight game with an “upper-body injury” believed to be a shoulder ailment. Nick Cousins missed second game with an “upper-body injury.” … The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are second in the Atlantic Division for the AHL playoff picture with 13 games to play. The Flyers’ affiliate hasn’t made the Calder Cup playoffs since 2009.

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