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Flyers hope first-ever trip to Utah yields goals, as they look to avoid setting a franchise record in futility

The Flyers have been shut out in three straight and are nearing the franchise’s record scoreless streak of 199 minutes, 43 seconds.

Flyers practice was a little bit different Monday as the team practiced at the U.S. speedskating oval in, Kearns, Utah.
Flyers practice was a little bit different Monday as the team practiced at the U.S. speedskating oval in, Kearns, Utah.Read moreJackie Spiegel

KEARNS, Utah ― A couple of the Flyers thought about it.

Nick Seeler and Scott Laughton did take a step or two. Cam York and Jamie Drysdale took a few strides. But Erik Johnson did the full lap around the 400-meter long-track speedskating oval, and considering a hockey rink is 61 meters long it wasn’t an easy spin.

Plus, maybe these guys shouldn’t be giving coach John Tortorella, who is infamous for his dreaded rope test every training camp, any ideas.

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“First time in here and yeah, like the boys were saying: if you get pissed off at a player tell them to take their skates off and go run a few laps,” the bench boss said with a hearty chuckle.

Making their first-ever trip to Utah, the Flyers were taking a Monday afternoon twirl at the Utah Hockey Club’s temporary practice facility, the Olympic Oval, just outside of Salt Lake City. The hockey rink sits beside a short-track speedskating rink with both surrounded by the long-track speedskating oval. It is all surrounded by a running track, where Sam Ersson warmed up. The Utah Hockey Club, which is in its innagural season — formerly the Arizona Coyotes — recently broke ground on a new practice facility in Sandy, Utah but will call the Oval its practice home in the interim.

The home of long-track speedskating at the 2002 Olympics, and expected to be the venue again in 2034, the Oval is called, “The fastest ice on Earth.” While it’s a fitting nickname since nine world records were set 23 years ago, the odd configuration also helped to alleviate tension before the Flyers hit the ice against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday (9 p.m., NBCSP) with the chance to set a record of their own.

And it’s not a good one.

The Flyers have been shut out in three straight games and have not scored a goal in 180 minutes, 15 seconds. It is the second-longest stretch in franchise history behind the record of 199 minutes, 43 seconds which was set between Jan. 24-30, 2003, over a four-game span. When a goalie has been between the pipes, this year’s streak is 217:11.

Yikes.

But the Flyers are not overthinking it. As Tortorella said, “We’ve got to stay within ourselves here and not get into a little bit of tizzy.” And there were quite a few smiles, some hollering, and, when they were doing a small-area game, some arguing on Monday. But it was all in fun as the players did their best to keep the practice light.

“No one in this league cares what the other teams are feeling like. No one around is thinking, ‘Oh, let’s feel bad for them.’ So you can’t feel bad for yourself,” said Garnet Hathaway, who was the last Flyer to score against a goalie when he beat Jake Allen on Jan. 27. “A special thing about this league is you play 82 regular-season games, right?”

Time is ticking on the Flyers who have just 28 games remaining this season and sit seven points back of the second wild-card spot. They are also awaiting the recently acquired Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko, who as of Monday did not have visas to work in the U.S. Tortorella said it was a “possibility” they could be ready to go for Tuesday.

But if not, could Nick Deslauriers return to the lineup? The rugged forward has been cleared to return after suffering an injury in practice in early December.

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“It was kind of weird,” he said. “The first part of the injury was awful. I couldn’t really do much. Then it got better and then, you know, you missed so much, you’ve got to get back in shape and everything.”

Deslauriers has been skating on his own for a bit and returned to the full-team practice on Saturday. A healthy scratch for most of the season, his last game was Nov. 9 against the Florida Panthers. He thinks that maybe not playing games and taking tons of shots in between workouts caused him to get injured.

Or “maybe I’m too old,” the nearly 34-year-old joked before he sprinted in his skates down the stairs to the locker room.

Breakaways

Forward Owen Tippett and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen are day-to-day with upper-body injuries. Ristolainen left Sunday’s game but Tortorella did not expect him to be out long-term. They were each at the Oval on Monday and did off-ice work with the training staff.