Flyers Notes: Slow start tops list of Flyers' concerns

There is a common denominator to the fact that the Flyers have won just three of their last eight games: slow starts.

In the first periods of those five losses, they have been outscored, 7-2, and outshot by nearly a 2-to-1 margin (65-36).

The Flyers have been outshot in the first period in seven of their last eight games - the margin is 43-18 in the last three contests.

Another area of concern: shot blocking.

The Flyers have been one of the NHL's better shot-blocking teams for most of the season, but they struggled in that category in weekend losses to New Jersey and the Rangers. In those games, opponents blocked 49 shots compared with the Flyers' 14.

The team looked at video Monday to understand the wide shot-blocking discrepancy over the weekend.

"I don't think our forwards are getting out to the points fast enough," winger Tom Sestito said, "and I think that's going to improve a lot after the meeting we had."

A lot of the shots by the Devils and Rangers "came off the rush, where it's a little more difficult to block the shots," coach Peter Laviolette said. ". . . There are things we have to do better, plain and simple."

They will get a chance to improve Tuesday against the visiting Islanders, who scored a 4-1 win (including an empty-net goal) over the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 19. Sergei Bobrovsky was the loser in that game, but he is 7-1 in his career against the Isles.

The Flyers will be trying to avoid their first three-game losing streak this season.

The NHL said Monday night that Sestito, who was involved in three fights Sunday against the Rangers, would not be disciplined for allegedly pulling Brandon Prust's hair during their third-period bout.

"I'm not grabbing hair - or trying to, anyway," Sestito said. "I got popped in the nose pretty good, so I was just trying to grab something. I might have got his hair for a split-second. I have no idea."