The Philadelphia Flyers, who have now dropped six straight contests, are westward bound this week, hoping to leave their losing streak on the east coast and get themselves back in the playoff race. We're only a couple of weeks out from the Olympic break, and the Eastern Conference is as tight as ever.
The Flyers really need to bank some points, but they've got their work cut out for them, as they're facing the teams atop both the Pacific Division and the Central Division on this trip. Coming home with some wins against these top teams could put the wind back in the Flyers' sails, but it's not difficult to envision the losing streak approaching 10 games by trip's end.
First up on the road trip are the Vegas Golden Knights who, despite sitting atop the Pacific Division, have been mid most of the season. They're sporting a 24-11-12 record, which is more overtime losses than anyone except the LA Kings. The Knights are in the midst of a seven-game winning streak but, before that, they had lost eight of nine. They're ninth in goals for, 22nd in goals against, have the fourth best power play and the 11th best penalty kill. This is a tough draw at the start of a road trip for the floundering Flyers.
Next up, the Flyers face the Utah Mammoth, who started hot, went ice cold, and have now won three straight and sit in a wildcard spot. The Mammoth are 25-20-4 on the season, and have been pretty good at home, going 14-7-2 in their barn. Of the Flyers' opponents this week, the Mammoth are the weakest--if ever there were a time to snap the losing streak, it'd be now, because their next game comes against the best team in the league: the Colorado Avalanche.
What's left to say about the Avs this season? They've been unstoppable, and are on pace to at least tie the 2022-23 Boston Bruins' record setting season. The Avalanche are 33-5-8 on the season and 19-1-3 at home, and their league-leading plus-75 goal differential is nearly double the Tampa Bay Lightning's plus-43. The Avs' only weakness has been a surprisingly weak power play, ranked 25th in the league at 16.7%.
This game against Colorado has a chance to get out of hand fast for the Flyers, especially if Dan Vladar is still unable to play. The Flyers have given up five or more goals in five of their last six games, with Aleksei Kolosov allowing three goals on three shots in Saturday's loss to the Rangers. In his last three games, Sam Ersson has an .805 SV%. Colorado leads the league in goals with 184--it's a recipe for disaster if the Flyers can't stop the bleeding.