VOORHEES, N.J. – They call it home-ice advantage because teams generally perform better in the friendly confines of their established residence.
In the case of the Flyers, the word “generally” doesn’t apply, at least not this season.
With just a dozen games left on the schedule, the Flyers have won only 15 of 35 games at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Meanwhile, they have a sparkling 19-12-4 mark on the road, including seven straight victories.
How is this possible?
This much we do know: The Flyers have a half-dozen games left on Broad Street and it wouldn’t be a reach to say they need to go at least 5-1 in them if they have designs on making the postseason.
After Wednesday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center, coach Rick Tocchet admitted he doesn’t have all the answers. At least he didn’t in a 3-2 home loss to Columbus on Tuesday night.
“I don’t know but I’ve got to figure it out,” Tocchet said. “It’s my first year here. The first half of the year we had a great home record. For whatever reason (in the second half) it hasn’t been.
“Is it coming back from long road trips? I don’t know. We’ve got to use the crowd, it was a big game for us. I thought we had a great first period, it should have been a loud building.”
Tocchet said a five-minute lapse, resulting in two Columbus goals at the start of the second period, might have taken some of the energy out of XMA.
“. . .On our heels, deferring,” Tocchet said of his team’s play in that brief span. “Not taking charge. I saw that. It’s something we’ve got to correct here.
“I think youth has a lot to do with it. And some of our veterans have to take charge. When the other team makes a push, there are certain plays that have to be made to stop the press. We didn’t get ‘em.”
The Flyers held a 1-0 lead after the first period and had been 14-0-3 when ahead after the initial 20 minutes.
Tocchet thought the Flyers should have been ahead like 3-0.
“It (the missed opportunities) is a microcosm,” Tocchet said. “We have a two-on-one, instead of taking the net we make a pass – those are momentum killers. I don’t blame the crowd getting antsy. Continue to press forward, get pucks on net. We have to have a 60-minute mentality.”
Denver Barkey, 20, is one of those young players Tocchet mentioned. He concurs the Flyers have to play at home like they do on the road.
“It should be easier to get up to win home games, right?” Barkey said. “I think that’s something we’re going to look on as a group. You want to be really good on home ice. You don’t want anybody to want to come and play here. I think we can up our games at home.”
On the road, the Flyers try to simplify things and not go after the fancy plays.
Can that be applied to home ice at XMA?
“Yeah, try to keep it simple,” Barkey said. “The crowd noise and the energy in the (XMA) building might get to us and we try to make the perfect play and really we just need to get pucks to the net and execute the game plan.”
Captain Sean Couturier, now in his 14th season, has been around long enough to know when simpler is better most times when the games are played in Philadelphia.
“If we knew why we’re better on the road, I’m sure we would be better (at home),” he said. “I think it’s just the way it goes sometimes. We definitely should be better than what we are.
“On the road maybe we just focus on being better collectively. Just worried about getting the win instead of putting on a show maybe. Getting highlight goals.”
>Foerster getting closer
Tyson Foerster, sidelined since December due to surgery to repair an upper-body injury, has been skating but with no contact yet. Tocchet said there’s no timeline for a possible return although there’s still three weeks left in the regular season.
“He’s progressing really well,” Tocchet said. “When does the yellow jersey come off, I couldn’t tell you right now. So we have to be smart. I’m going to keep the yellow jersey on him because I don’t want him to get hurt. When he’s healthy enough to play, we’ll make the right decision. Just him getting close to contact drills is big. It’s another weapon we’re going to have next year. We have to make sure we’re careful.”
Foerster was leading the team in goals when he was injured.
Tocchet said Foerster’s shot is about 80 to 85 percent of full strength.
“It’s still lethal,” the coach said. “He’s still got that shot. It’s only going to get harder, better.”
>Grebenkin going in for tests
Nikita Grebenkin (upper-body injury), a scratch for the Columbus game, did not skate on Wednesday. Tocchet said the young Russian went in for medical tests. As for his chances of playing against Chicago at home on Thursday, Tocchet said “probably not.”
>Bump not at his best
Tocchet said rookie Alex Bump was not at his best against the Blue Jackets in a 3-2 loss on Tuesday night. “I just didn’t think he was skating,” Tocchet said. “He did a lot of standing around. Sometimes with a young guy that’s what happens, they freeze up. We have to relax ‘em.”
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