Winless Flyers hit the road for perilous road trip

Wayne Simmonds continues to produce offensively. He has five goals and two assists in four games for the Flyers. Credit: Getty Images

Things could be worse, but not much worse for the Flyers.

They have two points in four games, collected from two shootout losses to the Canadiens and Ducks last week, but they still have no victories despite pretty solid play offensively.

The Flyers weren’t blown out in any of the four games, and a few bounces of the puck (or better plays on defense) could have Philadelphia in a much different situation.

“It’s a long season, we played four games, and all four games we could have won,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. “Good teams find a way to get it done. … One day when we play sixty minutes we’re going to have a win.”

The Flyers have their next opportunity in Dallas against the Stars, an 8 p.m. start Saturday.

The Stars have had a tough schedule to start, with games against Chicago, Columbus and Pittsburgh in their first four contests.

The Flyers have a tough stretch as well, with trips to Chicago and Pittsburgh upcoming after they play Dallas.

Wayne Simmonds leads the Flyers with seven points and five goals, and it will be interesting to see if he continues to be a point-machine, or if he reverts to his typical offensive numbers.

After some pretty sluggish starts the last two years, if any team knows how to shake off a slow start its the Flyers.

“It’s obviously not as cheery as it would be if we were 4-0 but there’s a lot of talented hockey guys in this room,” Flyers’ goalie Steve Mason said. “There’s lots of guys that have a ton of confidence in their abilities and you know, we show flashes of it for periods of time during games and that’s the type of game we know we can play so there’s no sense of panic because we know it’s there it’s just a matter of doing it.”

One key for the Flyers in their trek to get things back on track is getting healthy.

Defenseman Braydon Coburn, who went down with a leg injury in the season opener, was on crutches earlier this week. But he is finally back to practice, wearing special protective plastic guards on his skates.

“I tried them out today,” Coburn said. “Couple guys did. It’s a little different. You got to get used to them.”

Another injured Flyers, Vincent LeCevalier, is still expected to miss another two weeks or so with a lower body injury.

To help with some depth, the Flyers called up Chris VandeVelde from the Phantoms to serve as a healthy scratch at forward during the three-game trip out west, just in case.

VandeVelde registered two power-play goals in his first and only game with the Phantoms this season, a 5-2 Saturday.