VOORHEES, N.J. — One could understand if Morgan Frost felt even just the slightest of snakebitten after the Flyers' 3-0 loss last Saturday to the Bruins.
With 3:43 minutes left in the second period, Owen Tippett set him up for a great look just outside the crease. Frost's shot snuck under the arm of Joonas Korpisalo but off the upper leg of the Boston goaltender, ricocheting up and over the net.
And Frost's search for his first goal of the season continued. He has gone without one through 12 games. The 25-year-old has five assists and a minus-11 rating. The plus-minus figure has taken a hit by three empty-netters.
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"I'd like to be generating more chances," Frost said Monday after practice. "But it feels like for the last five or six games, I've had a Grade A or like an open net once in all the last five games. ... I feel like sometimes it's going to be one that goes off my leg or someone's skate or something and then hopefully I'll get going after that.
"It's obviously pretty frustrating right now, you don't want to have no goals through 12 games. Try to shoot the puck a little bit more and get myself in better spots to have more chances versus just one or two. And then if I feel like I miss, it's not the end of the world."
As a playmaking center on a team that needs center depth, Frost has seen his goal-scoring slump come under the microscope. The Flyers badly need offense, scoring just four goals (one an empty-netter) in their last three games. Through their 4-7-1 start, they've put up 2.50 per game, the NHL's fourth fewest entering Monday, and 25.7 shots per game, the league's third fewest.
Frost was on a line with Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett at practice Monday before the team departed for Raleigh, North Carolina, where it'll face the Hurricanes to open a three-game road trip Tuesday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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He's still being featured in a good spot for offense.
"I think I can do a lot more to earn that opportunity," Frost said. "I know that I can be a good player. You want to be in that spot, I want to be a contributor for the team. Got to get it going, I feel like I need one game, something. We'll see."
At the start of last season, John Tortorella was not patient with Frost. After playing in the Flyers' first two games, Frost was a healthy scratch for the next six. He sat for half of the team's first 20 games and handled it like a pro.
At the start of this season, how much is Tortorella trying to stick with Frost?
"Trying like hell," the head coach said. "Trying like hell."
Is the leash starting to shorten?
"It certainly is," Tortorella said.
Are some players just slow starters? Because the Flyers can have confidence in Frost's track record of turning it on down the stretch. He has been one of their best second-half players over the past two seasons.
"That's all I heard about for the last two years," Frost said with a smile. "I'd like to start a little bit better, for sure. It's frustrating. Hopefully I can get it going very soon here versus having to wait until later in the year, where I feel like the last two years I've kind of picked it up. It's something I'm concentrating on, but at the same time, you can only control so much. Put myself in better spots and work harder away from the puck to maybe earn some more opportunities."
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