NHL Flyers are hoping to regroup with seven-day western trip

Philadelphia is trying to rebuild its capacity to score often.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Philadelphia Flyers hope a long western trip helps them regain their early-season scoring touch.
They started their annual December voyage on Friday with a game at the Colorado Avalanche. Stops will also be made against Phoenix, San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.
It is actually a seven-game road swing. The Flyers tied Ottawa on Monday and will face Atlanta on Jan. 5 before returning to Philadelphia to take on Buffalo two nights later.
"This is good for the team, to get on the road together for a couple weeks," forward Mark Recchi said. "It's a chance to hang out, just be with each other, and it can help build something."
Philadelphia entered the weekend with a 16-8-8-1 mark, including 3-1-2 against the Western Conference.
Good start
The Flyers started 9-1-2 under new coach Ken Hitchcock, scoring six goals in four of the wins and five in another. A 1-5-4 slump followed in which Philadelphia was outscored 29-12 and managed as many as three goals just once.
Philadelphia rebounded with a 6-2-1-1 stretch leading into the Christmas break that landed the Flyers in a first-place tie with New Jersey in the Atlantic Division.
Goals are still a problem. The Flyers have scored more than three just once since Oct. 31.
Philadelphia is visiting places where success has been found in the past. The Flyers won for the first time on the road against the Avalanche last December, have gone 4-2 in their last six visits to Phoenix, 7-2-1 at San Jose, and have a 36-20-8 record at Los Angeles.
Different guy
Opponents of the New York Islanders need not study goalie tendencies when it comes to penalty shots.
Chances are they won't see the same one face a one-on-one showdown twice.
The last 10 times the Islanders have had a penalty shot called against them, they had a different goalie in the net, setting an NHL record.
Boston held the previous mark with nine, set between Nov. 11, 1992, and Jan. 9, 2001.
New York's run began when Kelly Hrudey was beaten by Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux on Jan. 19, 1988. Since then Mark Fitzpatrick, Glenn Healy, Ron Hextall, Tommy Salo, Roberto Luongo, Kevin Weekes, Chris Osgood, and Rick DiPietro have faced attempts. Seven of the 10 tries have been saved by New York's goalies.
Have three goalies
Osgood and DiPietro are still with the Islanders, who carry three goalies on the roster -- leaving Garth Snow as the next logical candidate to face a penalty shot.
The latest was DiPietro, the hotshot youngster who is the only goalie ever drafted No. 1 overall. He was successful this time, stopping Washington's Michael Nylander last Saturday night in his second start since being recalled from the AHL.
Nylander was awarded the penalty shot when DiPietro threw his stick at the puck.
"I tried to swing my stick around to disrupt Nylander and lost it," DiPietro said. "I felt I owed it to the guys to stop the shot."
He did just that, drawing praise from Nylander who scored two conventional goals that night against the rookie.
"I was waiting for him to do something, but he waited me out," Nylander said. "He made a great save."