Flyers loss to Devils makes 4-game skid, and recent optimism fades

PHILADELPHIA — Gosh, it only seems like a week or so ago that the Flyers’ locker room was buoyantly brimming with optimism.

Fresh off a win over the NHL front-running Winnipeg Jets, the Flyers had gone 4-0-1 coming off the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, and with 22 games remaining it was clear that although there was a long way to go, one could envision a path to a playoff spot for the first time in five years for this moribund franchise.

Ah, but John Tortorella, the most veteran face from the front office to the coaching staff to the players bench … he might have been happy to see better play, but he wasn’t going to be completely fooled by it all.

Following up on the positivity coming from his locker room last week, Tortorella started talking about one or two of the several facets of the game that his team falls short in, and proclaimed, “It comes and goes, right? … You’ve seen it all year from us. It comes and goes. That’s why we’re .500.”

Maybe it’s only a week after the locker room optimism and educated head coach skepticism, but after a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, suffice to say all the simple smiles are gone.

Almost.

“To be honest, I thought we played a better game (today) than we had the last few games,” defenseman Jamie Drysdale said. “We weren’t able to get one in, but in terms of play we had better offensive chances.”

Actually that’s exactly what they got: one puck in, not one win. That came from none other than Drysdale, who was sent in by a Travis Konecny pass, split two Devils defenders with the puck and scored it with 4:46 left to play.

But the way the Flyers, who might have been better than they were the rest of the week, but still fell far short Sunday of inspiring the home fans, had been bottled up much of the day by the Devils, there really wasn’t much hope of a complete turnaround down the stretch.

As it is, it took until there were 38 seconds left before Dawson Mercer fired one in from center ice area into an empty Flyers net for the final Devils goal.

So make it four straight losses — all at home — since that day of optimism about a week prior. Now what?

“We’ll just build,” Drysdale said. “But yeah, we have to get back in the win column one way or another. … You’d love to have a winning record at home, and you’d love to win every game also at home. Especially in front of these fans that are so passionate and care so much, and you can see that night in and night out.

“Believe me, it sucks for us, and I know it sucks for them.”

The situation wasn’t very rosy for Flyers team captain and accomplished veteran Sean Couturier, either.

The usually even-tempered and level-headed center seemed off his interview game when the latest example of this team’s sustained lack of growth played out yet again before his eyes.

Think hard and this week could be seen as a microcosm of what the Flyers did a year ago. But Couturier was having none of that.

“Last year’s last year. It’s a different situation now,” Couturier said. “I feel we were higher in the standings, for that wildcard spot (then), so we kind of let that one slip. This year we’re chasing and right now it’s just getting further and further (away), I guess. We’re not getting the wins and we have to find a way to get them soon if we want to play some meaningful games the last five or 10 games of the year.”

Which begged the question, what is meaningful about the last five or 10 games if they wouldn’t include at least wistful expression of postseason hope?

Couturier quickly took care of that idle notion.

“Last year we were in the playoffs, this year we’re out of the picture … we’re losing,” he said, referencing an eight-game Flyers losing streak in late March and early April to fall out the playoff chase a year ago. “It’s different, I guess. Last year we lost, what, eight or nine in a row at the end there? And this year, now we lost four and couldn’t find a way to win. But last year we were kind of in full control, I felt. This year we’re chasing and that’s almost a little bit more pressure to get going.

“We just have to keep fighting, keep believing in ourselves, find a way to get one win and then get going.”

Right into another empty offseason.