The Wells Fargo Center is consistently acknowledged as one of the toughest arenas to play in for visiting teams. But it hasnt been that way this season.
Instead, the Flyersone of the best road teams in the NHL this yearare a mediocre 14-10-5 when playing in front of the home crowd.
That, as has been acknowledged over and over (see story), has to change. Twelve of the Flyers final 20 games of the regular season will be played in Philadelphia, and if the team hopes to enter the playoffs in an ideal position, it has to change starting tonight, when the road-weary Flyers host the New York Islanders.
Despite the home-ice struggles, however, the team is happy to be back. They were 2-2 on their West Coast road swing.
I dont think anybodys happy to be on the road, coach Peter Laviolette said. You get to this point in the year, the road, especially when you leave for 10 days or 12 days, it grinds you down a little bit. Im sure the guys are happy to be home, but theres no question we need to do a better job here to make sure we win some games in the month of March.
The Flyers havent played at the Wells Fargo Center since Feb. 18, when they fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4. They will play 10 games at home in March.
It feels like weve been on the road almost all year, Danny Briere said. Its one of those weird parts of the season that weve spent a lot of time on the road, a lot of time out west. But its nice to be done with it and try to use the fact that were home a lot on this stretch. I know its been a rough go for us at home this year, but no better time to turn it around and make it a tough place to play once again.
NHL
When asked why it is the Flyers find success away from their home building, Briere acknowledged that it could be easier to focus on the road, and that the players do prepare for games differently when away from Philadelphia. But its more difficult to break down why the team hasnt managed to get on track at home.
Its a tough one to explain, he said. I dont really know why weve been struggling as much as we have at home. We all know that, usually, Philly is one of the hardest places to play on the road.Theres still lots of games left. Theres still lots of points available for us to make up for the lack of good results in the first 60, 70 percent of the season.
Its time, Laviolette said, to hit the reset button at home for March. And with games at home against the Islanders tonight and the Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers next week, the Flyers will have plenty of chances to do just that.
To get back into Philadelphia, New Jersey, and back into your bed and some clean clothes and back to our rink here is good, Laviolette said. But Ive been saying that we need to make sure were ready and prepared to take care of home games in the month of March.
E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com