Gordon hopes break doesn’t disturb upswing

VOORHEES, N.J. >> You couldn’t blame Scott Gordon for having a deja vu kind of moment, even if he’d rather that history not repeat itself.

When Gordon was promoted from the Phantoms’ head man to a coach with a temporary title “interim head coach” for the Flyers, the team was coming off a disastrous five-loss road trip in early December, one that Dave Hakstol would pay for with his job.

The Flyers promptly won three of Gordon’s first four games, perhaps igniting thoughts of quickly taking interim off the title. Then came a four-day Christmas break before the next game ... and something changed.

The Flyers headed to Florida to resume their season ... and promptly dropped their next eight games. Merry Christmas, Scott.

“That’s pretty much all I thought about for eight days, was the fact that here we were when I came in, the first four games, I think, we had three wins and then we had a break,” Gordon said Sunday after a lengthy, postbreak afternoon practice at the Skate Zone. “That’s something, hopefully, we’re able to learn from; how to go about the next stretch here. We’ve got some tough teams that we have to play here. I think the biggest thing is we’ve got to understand that we can’t get into that rut that we got into after the Christmas break.”

The Flyers (19-23-6, 44 points), resting not-so comfortably near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, are coming off an NHL bye week (why does this league have Flyers rookie Misha Vorobyev, center, just promoted from the Phantoms, works through a Flyers practice Sunday between Michael Raffl, left, and Oskar Lindblom. them again?) that was followed by the league’s dubious All-Star weekend. So when they commence their so-far sadsack season Monday night at home against the Winnipeg Jets, it would have been nine days since their last game.

From an optimistic standpoint, by the time practice began Sunday they were still ONLY 14 points behind No. 8 and second wildcard holder Pittsburgh (26-16-6, 58). That’s pretty much how far back they were when they were when they began this long break. So there’s that. Now...? “I think we can just talk about where we were when we came back from the Christmas break against Tampa Bay,” Gordon said. “It was a wide open game, probably a little reckless and I think that kind of snowballed throughout the (subsequent) four games on the road.

“We’ve got to think about what gives us success, stick with it and try to not get off that.”

For a strand of hope, the Flyers can look back to the fact that their last game, a 5-2 win in Montreal on Jan. 19. That was their third win in four games.

A year ago, the Flyers were in a similar spot. They had won three games in a row heading into that ridiculous NHL bye week, then came out of a week off and reeled off another five wins in six games, part of an overall run of 9-2 going from Dec. 29 through Jan. 3.

Of course, that was last year, which would culminate in a playoff spot.

This is this season, which almost certainly will not. Or maybe sports math is overrated.

“It’s nice to have that week off, but it’s always fun to be back on the ice,” Sean Couturier said. “You want to keep it going when things are going well; you’re kind of feeling the rhythm. Now it’s kind of like, start all over again.

“Obviously we’re in a tough situation that we’ve put ourselves in; but it’s not over ‘til it’s over. If we can get on a roll, you never know what happens. That’s kind of the approach we need to have; take it one game at a time, try to get better as a team and get on a roll.

“We’re playing three games in four nights right off the bat,” Couturier added, “so you want to keep it simple in that first game, the first few shifts to get everyone going. From there you just play the game. Don’t overdo it, or overthink it, especially when it’s been a while since you have played.”

One thing the Flyers won’t be thinking of is the last time they played the Winnipeg Jets: a 7-1 loss in Winny on Dec. 9. It was the first game of four straight losses in Western Canada, the start of Dave Hakstol’s last Flyers stand.

Probably the best thing to do is forget about it all now. Or maybe remember and learn from it?

“I think we had a really good first period, and we were down 2-1, but I think but we outplayed them,” Jake Voracek recalled of that road game last month against the Jets. “And then all of a sudden before we knew it, it was 5-1. We’ve just got to make sure we don’t make mistakes and focus on all the details and hopefully we can come out with a win.”

*** NOTES >> The Flyers have recalled Phantoms center Misha Vorobyev and will likely have him centering the fourth line Monday night. To make room for him, the Flyers sent Dale Weise to the Phantoms. Vorobyev, who made the club out of training camp but would soon be sent down, has been clocking at a point-plus per game lately for the Phantoms. The Flyers also expect his defensive play to be much better than it was when he was a surprise stick out of camp last fall. “He’s a really smart player,” Jake Voracek said of Vorobyev. “One of the best backhands I’ve seen from a player, really intelligent with the puck and can read the play real well.” ... Carter Hart, who tended a little goal with the Phantoms in the last few days TAMPA, FLA. >> A former captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning has suffered minor injuries in a bus pileup on a Florida highway.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported 38-year-old Vincent Lecavalier and two other men were taken to the hospital Saturday following the charter bus crash. Lecavalier’s agent told The Associated Press in a text message Sunday that the former center was OK. He played in the NHL for 17 seasons, including 14 with Tampa Bay and twoplus with the Flyers.

The accident delayed Tampa’s Gasparilla Pirate Invasion, an annual parade that attracts about 200,000 people to the city’s downtown waterfront. The three buses that collided were carrying parade participants.

Troopers said two drivers were cited for careless or negligent driving.

of the mid-winter vacation, is back and will tend goal against the Jets. Anthony Stolarz will serve as Hart’s backup and is scheduled to start Tuesday at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. Consider those two the Flyers’ youth movement goalies of the near future, though Brian Elliott (remember him?) skated Sunday and isn’t far from returning.

SUBMITTED PHOTO – ZACK HILL