Making themselves at home

Nashville, the NHL's hottest team with 10 wins in its last 11 games, will try to continue the Flyers' home struggles on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Once upon a time, opponents feared facing the Flyers in their South Philly rink, and it wasn't uncommon for foes to mysteriously come down with what was known as the "Philadelphia flu" because they knew a physical, punishing game was ahead of them.

Not anymore.

The Flyers have won just half of their 22 home games (11-7-4). They are on pace for 20 home wins, which would be their lowest total since going 10-24-7 in their dreadful 2006-07 season, when they had the fewest overall points in the NHL.

"It was always tough to play in this building," said winger Jaromir Jagr, recalling what it was like when he played here as a visiting player. "For whatever reason, we just don't have a good record."

Told opponents used to fear playing in Philadelphia, Jagr said, "You have to understand, we play different hockey than the Flyers played 10 years ago. I think hockey 10 years ago was more physical than we play right now. I don't think we have the players to play that physical style. I think we are probably more skilled, but it doesn't matter. We should have a good start and take control of the game from the first minute.

"When teams are hanging in the game," he added after Wednesday's practice in Voorhees, "you never know what's going to happen in the third period."

It seems almost sacrilegious to think of the Flyers as a skating team, but, with star defenseman Chris Pronger sidelined for the rest of the season with post-concussion syndrome, the Flyers have rarely played with an edge at home.

"Maybe we should have bench-clearing brawls again," general manager Paul Holmgren kidded.

There have been some exceptions - the 6-5 shootout loss to Boston recently, for instance - but for the most part the Flyers haven't displayed the energy and focus that they have on road, where they lead the NHL with an 18-7-2 record.

"Sometimes it's a little easier to play on the road, because you don't have to please the home fans. If you don't score on the first power play, you don't necessarily feel pressure to score on the second one," Holmgren said. "But obviously it's something we've got to get better at."

One of the Flyers' home problems has been their penalty kill. They entered Wednesday 25th out of 30 teams with a 78.8 percent success rate on the penalty kill at home. On the road, they are 11th at 85.3 percent.

On Thursday, the Flyers will face a Nashville team that features all-star defensemen Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, along with standout goalie Pekka Rinne (2.40 GAA, .924 save percentage), who is second in the league with 29 victories and has won 10 straight.

"They're a fast team and they can make a lot of plays," said center Claude Giroux, who has two goals in the 17 games since he returned from a concussion - and is goalless in his last 12. "We have to make sure we match their speed and outwork them."

The Flyers are coming off Tuesday's 2-1 shootout loss to Winnipeg. Coach Peter Laviolette is hopeful the team's third-period performance - after two sleepy periods it outshot the Jets 13-4 in the third - will have a carryover effect.

"I'd like to see us pick up where we left off in the third period," he said. "I thought we really did a good job of coming out and getting the puck behind them and playing in the offensive zone. I'd like to see that for all 60 minutes."

It might behoove the Flyers to score first. Nashville is 21-2-3 when scoring the game's opening goal, and just 10-14-1 when it doesn't.

Nashville scored a 4-2 win (including an empty-net goal) over the visiting Flyers on Jan. 14, a game in which Rinne made 36 saves and outplayed Ilya Bryzgalov (21 saves).