The Flyers are now six game into their most difficult 11-game stretch of the regular season. With their sweep of the home-and-home set with the New Jersey Devils, coupled with the Pittsburgh Penguins' loss in the Winter Classic and recent struggles without Sidney Crosby (concussion) in the lineup, Philly has overtaken Pittsburgh by one point in the standings atop the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference. The Flyers also have two games in hand.

Philly will now embark upon a very difficult stretch of road games over the next 10 days. First, they will play four road games in six nights, visiting Buffalo, Boston and Atlanta over a four day stretch. After a day off, they pay a visit to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers. Lest you think it gets any easier when the Flyers return home, the first game of a home stand following a road trip is often a letdown down, and the first opponent the Flyers face when they return to the Wells Fargo Center is the Washington Capitals.

That's why it was so important that that the Flyers play at least .500 hockey over their Pacific coast to Detroit trip and then sweep the last-place Devils. If the Flyers can win four of the next five games -- or even go 3-1-1 -- they will have successfully navigated an extremely tricky stretch and emerged in fine shape.

But there is still a lot of work to do between now and then. Realistically, the Flyers are going to need to put forth better 60-minute efforts this week than they did in either game against New Jersey. Yesterday, the Flyers played a relatively strong first period (aided by a pair of misplayed goals by New Jersey goalie Johan Hedberg) and then took their foot off the gas pedal.

One player who will need to produce a stronger stretch of games than his most recent efforts is Flyers captain Mike Richards. Perhaps still feeling the effects of a collision with James van Riemsdyk and a slash in the game in New Jersey, Richards struggled noticeably in yesterday's game. Over his last four games, he has produced just one point (an assist) and has won just 41.5 percent of his faceoffs. In order for the team to have a strong week this week, Richards will need to elevate his game again.

On the flip side, New Jersey native James van Riemsdyk played some of his best hockey of the season against the Devils. In addition to scoring the Flyers' first goal of yesterday's game, JVR was involved physically in both games and drew several penalties on the Devils. He is now on pace at the statistical midpoint of the season for a 20-goal campaign. That's not too shabby, considering how long it took him to score his first goal of the season and how much scoring depth there is on the team.

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