By Noam Gumerman

The Carolina Flyers hit the road this weekend for a two-game Pennsylvania road trip, playing the Philadelphia Phoenix on Saturday, May 31 at 6:00 p.m. eastern, and the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds Sunday, June 1, at 4:00 p.m. The Flyers are still searching for their first win of the season after last week’s heartbreaking loss at home to the San Diego Growlers in double overtime, and are staring down a possible 0-6 start to their season with no wins on this road trip.

Fortunately, the Flyers made a lot of strides on offense last week against the Growlers, playing an incredibly clean and efficient game. They have been below league average in generating blocks this year however, making it harder to take and extend leads without break chances. If the Flyers can generate more consistent pressure against both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, a 2-0 weekend is certainly within reach.

The Phoenix have been off to a hot start though, sitting at 3-1 and second in the East Division. They’ve split their series with the New York Empire so far, have a big win against DC, and two wins over Toronto. In front of their home crowd they will be ready to play. The Thunderbirds are 2-2, and have wins over Detroit and Indianapolis, and losses to Madison, and Minnesota. It’s likely the Flyers’ second game will be earlier than their first, but recovering with less than 24 hours between the first pulls will create a different kind of challenge.

Two things to watch for the Flyers will be the health of stars Allan Laviolette and Ethan Bloodworth, who both picked up knocks at the end of last week’s game against the Growlers. Should they be unavailable, the other pieces on offense will need to step up and fill the gaps potentially left by those two. Catch all the action on watchUFA.tv.