Over the next six days, the Flyers will travel approximately 2,332 miles to play four games.
In other words, this four-game road trip will be a test both physically and mentally for a team that finds itself three points back of the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“Obviously for us, if we want to make the playoffs, we want to be successful on the road,” Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas said Saturday. “For us, these four games are crucial.”
This getaway may have come at the perfect time, though. On the heels of a “frustrating” 4-1 loss to the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, the players are ready to turn a new page.
There's no better way to do that than with a week-long excursion that comes with some team bonding, according to Flyers captain Claude Giroux.
“I think it is good we are going on the road,” Giroux said. “We’ve got a tight group here. To go city to city, play some tough teams, it is going to be a really good challenge for us and be some fun.”
The Flyers’ first stop on the trip is their shortest distance-wise from Philadelphia — 100 miles up to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to face a New York Islanders team on Monday that’s heading in the wrong direction. With five losses in their last six games, the Isles have fallen from third in the Metropolitan Division to the first wild-card spot in the East, just five points ahead of the Flyers, after having a stronghold on either the second or third spot in the Metro for several weeks.
The Isles’ recent rough patch has coincided with the loss of starting goalie Jaroslav Halak, who injured his knee in a win over the Penguins on March 8.
Monday will mark the first of two meetings with the Islanders over the remaining 12 games. The teams close out the regular season on April 10 in Brooklyn in a game that was originally set for Jan. 23 but was snowed out. This season, the Flyers are 1-1-1 against the Islanders.
“It’s going to be a tough road trip,” Flyers goalie Steve Mason said. “There’s going to be some tough travel involved so we got to make sure we take care of ourselves. It would be great to start it off with a win in Brooklyn.”
From there, the Flyers get no rest as they set out 480 miles west to Columbus, Ohio, for a meeting with the Blue Jackets on Tuesday. A few days off and 1,165 miles later, the Flyers will be in Denver to battle the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. The trip wraps up 587 miles later in Glendale, Arizona, for a matchup with the Coyotes.
Factor in the 2,084-mile flight home from Arizona to Philadelphia, and the Flyers will be traveling 4,416 miles in the next week.
Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol is confident in his team’s makeup — one that he feels can help sustain success over this stretch, especially considering its success on a similar excursion earlier in the season.
This will be the Flyers’ second-longest road trip of the season. They’ve had two previous five-game road trips this year.
They went 1-4-0 on a swing through Buffalo and Western Canada in late October and early November. But that was before this Flyers team really found its footing under Hakstol.
The Flyers went 2-2-1 a trip from Feb. 14 to Feb. 23, but that was against five Eastern Conference opponents and they were able to stop home in between games. The Flyers had four strong showings on that trip, though, and it could be considered the genesis of the recent tear they’ve been on to force their way into the East’s playoff hunt.
Hakstol knows his players are aware of what’s at stake this week.
“[We’re] a group of workers,” Hakstol said. “[Saturday] was disappointing for all of us, but at the same time, flip the page. We’re fighting for something here and we’ve got to turn our focus towards getting back at it here.”
With the Islanders suddenly sinking, a win on Monday in Brooklyn would be the perfect way to start the trip by gaining ground in the standings while washing away the stain of Saturday’s deflating loss.