Can Evgeny Medvedev help the Flyers’ dormant offense?

VOORHEES - For the last three weeks, R.J. Umberger has watched from afar. Nursing a foot injury he suffered blocking Blake Wheeler’s slapshot on Nov. 7, Umberger has been relegated to the press box for games.

As he looks down below at his struggling teammates, it all becomes clearer.

The game is much slower from the press box than it is from ice level. He can see the quicksand the Flyers are getting stuck in. One little thing goes wrong, then another and another and the deficit is suddenly insurmountable.

“I’ve seen this happen with teams in my career,” said Umberger, who skated for the first time Thursday and has four points in 11 games this season. “You get to the point where you have trouble scoring goals and it’s not for the lack of talent or anything in this room. Sometimes it just gets in your head. Scoring a goal is harder than it needs to be.”

Down at the bottom of the NHL, the Flyers have the least amount of goals with 38. The next best team has six more. Leading the pack is the Montreal Canadiens with 83.

“When something bad happens I think we need to put it behind us and move forward,” captain Claude Giroux said. “Right now we're keeping it with us where it's building over and over so we have to find away to turn the page.”

One way to do that may be with new personnel.

On the Flyers bench, Evgeny Medvedev has sat the last six games. According to general manager Ron Hextall, all six have been a healthy scratch for the Russian that the Flyers paid $3 million for in the offseason. It’s the second most the Flyers have ever given to a first-year player. Eric Lindros made $3.5 million in 1992.

Medvedev tied for the team lead in points in the preseason, but has one point in his first 11 games this season. The team has lacked production off the rush and from the offensive blueline, especially since Mark Streit went down with an injury.

“That’s not all on our defensemen, but part of that is what we’re looking at in terms of (Medvedev),” coach Dave Hakstol said. “He certainly has the abilities there. We’ve seen them in practice.

“I think we’re going to have to see those in a game. I think Meddy’s worked hard in practice, but those things have to come through consistently in a game.”

The 33-year-old Russian is in a new country for the first time, still learning the language and how different the culture is off the ice. He has a cannon of a shot from the top of the point and used it well on the power play in preseason. If he gets back into the lineup Friday when the Flyers face the Nashville Predators, he may see action on the second power-play unit again.

Hakstol has kept the lines and defense pairs mostly the same all week, with a couple tweaks due to Sam Gagner’s cut near his left eye suffered Monday night. The Flyers haven’t scored an even-strength goal in 257 minutes and 58 seconds and perhaps with Medvedev they can change that.

Meanwhile, frustration is building for the team and the coach is determined to wait out the slump that has extended far longer than anyone thought.

“We’ve got to get above that,” Hakstol said. “We’re capable to get above that. We all just have to stay in it and stay in the fight. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to keep battling and really the bottom line is keep improving the things that we’re doing.”

Loose pucks

With the offensive lines the same in Thursday’s practice, Vinny Lecavalier looks to be a healthy scratch for the seventh consecutive game Friday. … Steve Mason will likely get the start against Nashville. He has a 6-7-5 record against the Predators in 19 career games with a 2.39 goals-against average and .915 save percentage. … In their last game, the Predators scored three goals to stop a scoreless drought of 227 minutes, 39 seconds. The Flyers’ drought this week snapped at 167 minutes, 54 seconds with a power-play goal Monday.

Dave Isaac; (856) 486-2479; disaac@gannettnj.com .

PREDATORS AT FLYERS

When: 3:30 p.m., Friday

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