Philadelphia Flyers lose yet again away from home in first of six-game road trip

TORONTO - The comforts of home got a little farther away from the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.

With just one win in six road games after a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers have five more games on their current trip in what could be a decisive stretch for their playoff aspirations.

"It doesn't matter if you're home or away. You have to play with consistency and once you come on the road you have to prepare yourself even more," said defenceman Kimmo Timonen. "There are no fans behind you, there's nobody cheering you and that's the learning process to me. It's time to learn right now."

Philadelphia is 4-1-1 at home, but if they can't find that kind of form on the road they could be looking up at a lot of teams in the standings the next time they see the Wells Fargo Center.

For their part, the players say they aren't worried about their road record and are simply trying to get their season on track after picking up 11 points in 13 games thus far.

"I haven't even thought about that to tell you the truth," said forward Wayne Simmonds said. "You guys (the media) are the ones mentioning it."

Monday was a good opportunity to build some momentum on the road as they were up against a Leafs team that had just one win at home so far this season. But Philly conceded three goals in six minutes that was difference, although head coach Peter Laviolette still found reason for optimism.

"There were a lot of good things that happened outside those six minutes. You can't remove that. Those six minutes were tough. The start of the second period was important," he said.

The Flyers will have little time to show they've learned their lesson. Less than 24 hours after stepping off the ice at Air Canada Centre they'll take to the MTS Centre ice against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

Up against another team that's had its struggles this season — Winnipeg and the Flyers are tied on points — the players are aware of what needs to be done if they want to stay competitive in the Eastern Conference.

"It's obviously pretty important," said Flyers defenceman Luke Schenn. "Our away record isn't great so it's time to turn it around and these points are valuable coming up."