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Flyers bring disastrous road show to an end

The Flyers will conclude their mostly disastrous road schedule when they face the scuffling Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.

The Flyers will conclude their mostly disastrous road schedule when they face the scuffling Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.

A 10-20-10 road record is the chief reason the Flyers will miss the Stanley Cup playoffs for just the third time in the last 20 seasons. They will finish with their worst road record since 1991-92 (10-26-4).

Excluding lockout-shortened seasons, you have to go back to 1971-72 (7-25-7) for a year in which the Flyers had fewer road victories.

The Flyers have been as good as Better Call Saul at home, as bad as The Jerry Springer Show on the road.

At home, they are 21-9-7, and have outscored opponents by an average margin of 2.9-2.3.

On the road, they have 10 wins in 40 games and have been outscored by an average margin of 3.1-2.4.

"It's tough to point to one thing," defenseman Mark Streit said after practice Friday in Voorhees. "We just weren't consistent enough. Sometimes I feel like maybe we try a little too much instead of having just a good solid road game and keeping it simple, playing good defense, and go from there. Maybe initiate [more]."

The Flyers have been competitive on the road, but in many instances haven't been able to score - or prevent - a key goal. Excluding empty-net goals, 25 of the Flyers' 40 road games have been decided by one goal. They have lost 18 of those 25 games.

"I don't think we play bad on the road," winger Matt Read said.

But not good enough to win most games.

"Our penalty kill struggled for about 10 or 15 games in a row where we were losing because of it," Read said of the road woes. "We weren't doing the simple things like clearing pucks or blocking shots, and it seemed like every bad bounce or every little mistake we made ended up in the back of our net."

Streit said the Flyers have been "too passive" away from the Wells Fargo Center. "We couldn't find a way to get going. The consistency needs to be there for 60 or 65 minutes on the road. You can't have one good period and then one so-so period."

In power plays, the Flyers have outscored opponents, 33-20, at home, but have been outscored, 37-22, on the road.

A year ago, the Flyers were 18-16-7 on the road en route to a 42-30-10 overall record and a playoff berth. Before this year, they had a winning road record in 11 of the last 14 seasons.

Flyers coach Craig Berube said the Flyers "mismanaged some games" late in regulation on the road and simply didn't get enough offense.

"A number of times, Mase was in there and played a good, solid game," Berube said of goalie Steve Mason, "and we didn't get any production for him."

The Flyers scored two goals or fewer in 17 of Mason's 20 road games.

Breakaways.

Goalie Ray Emery will start Saturday, meaning Mason will finish with just two road wins unless he gets a victory in relief. . . . Jake Voracek (77 points) is fourth in the NHL scoring race, three points behind the leader, Sidney Crosby. Voracek is tied with Nicklas Backstrom for the league lead in assists, with 56. Mark Recchi was the last Flyer to win the assists title, with 63 in 1999-2000. . . . Flyers Hall of Fame goalie Bernie Parent turned 70 on Friday.