Flyers hope to carry the momentum from their road trip out west home after two days off

After the Flyers’ successful road trip out west, the team returned to Philly, only to be kept off the ice for the next two days, thanks in part to the weekend’s snowstorm.

The team didn’t practice Saturday and canceled practice Sunday, so Monday’s morning skate marked the first time the team had been on the ice since Friday’s 7-3 win over Colorado.

The Flyers this season are 9-10-4 following a win, which coach Rick Tocchet described as “not that great.” The challenge of coming back after a win is mental, not physical, he said, and doubly so with the time off.

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“If you’re off for two days, first of all, what are you doing on the days off?” Tocchet said. “First of all, you’re resting your legs, which is great. Are you doing something? I’m sure some guys did something to move around, not lay on a couch, but there’s a mental game. You should use these two days as actually a rest. You should have a lot of legs instead of the opposite, rusty.”

Although some of the guys may have spent their Sundays shoveling snow in their driveways, which Tocchet approved.

“You get the squats in there, I mean, why not?” Tocchet joked. “I don’t want them doing it for four hours or something, but yeah, why not? I think a lot of people were out there shoveling yesterday.”

Tocchet said Monday’s divisional matchup with the New York Islanders (7 p.m., NBCSP), who are currently third in the Metro, is a “maturity game” for the group.

After earning five of a possible six points on the road trip, the Flyers hope they can maintain that level of play during the upcoming stretch, when they play three teams in the Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Boston Bruins that they could be competing with for a playoff spot come April.

“I think we just needed a reset,” Travis Konecny said. He pointed to Colorado, the league’s top team, losing six of its last nine before Sunday’s win over Toronto. “Every team goes through a little streak, and we just had a little reset and got back to it.”

The schedule has not been friendly to the Flyers so far this year in terms of getting in more practice time, Tocchet said, and there won’t be many opportunities before the Olympic break (Feb. 6-24) to get back on the ice for practice, with the upcoming back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday, and the Flyers’ charity carnival on Sunday.

The young Flyers roster is improving in the mental aspect of the game, but the weeks to come will be a test of how much progress the group has made.

“Every team’s got to go through it, and you’ve got to be ready for it, and that’s mental reps, when you don’t go on the ice, being ready,” Tocchet said.

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Dan Vladař was on the ice for morning skate. The goalie hasn’t played since Jan. 14 against Buffalo, and is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Tocchet said he is likely to make a start this week. ... Rasmus Ristolainen was also on the ice for skate and is expected to return to the lineup against the Islanders after missing six games with an upper-body injury.