MONTREAL - Five sets of back-to-back games in the season's first four weeks. Five games in a seven-night October span, followed by three games in four nights.
Who designed the Flyers' schedule? Nurse Ratched? Sean Avery?
The team's brutal early-season schedule had so many back-to-back games - followed by a day off to recuperate - that it left little time for practices, contributing to a lack of crispness, especially at the start of games.
Yes, every team will go through exhaustive stretches. The Flyers just got theirs right at the start: Back-to-back games in Los Angeles and Arizona to begin the season kicked off a stretch in which they played 13 games in 23 nights.