'I don't give a s--- what people think' — Tortorella backs his Flyers after 5-1 loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers lost badly Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center with a 5-1 decision to the Stars.
They allowed two power play goals, a shorthanded goal and two at even strength.
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The Flyers (7-6-2) are 0-4-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets. They lost to the Senators, 4-1, Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.
Over the weekend at home, their penalty kill gave up four goals and the power play went 0 for 9.
John Tortorella's club has lost three straight in regulation for the first time this season. It has been outscored 14-4 in this stretch. Three of the goals surrendered have been empty-netters.
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"I'd be a lot more upset with a loss if I don't think they're trying," Tortorella said. "You can boo us, you can talk s--- about us, I will back those guys because they are trying. If it was an effort problem, then it's a different story.
"Those are the things that I have to coach, those are the things that I have to be fair about when we're trying to build this team.
"I'm very pleased with the effort. I don't give a s--- what people think about out here."
The Flyers don't see the Stars (9-5-1) again until April 6 when the clubs meet in Dallas.
• The Flyers fell down 2-0 for the seventh time in 15 games.
Matej Blumel beat Felix Sandstrom on a nice move just 2:36 minutes into the game. The Flyers were slow to get back defensively.
With under two minutes left in the first frame, Esa Lindell scored one through traffic.
Sandstrom finished with 26 saves on 31 shots.
Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger came in with a 1.90 goals-against average. He stopped 37 of the Flyers' 38 shots.
• In the opening minute of the third period, the Flyers went on a power play with a chance to cut into the Stars' 3-1 lead.
But the Flyers allowed Luke Glendening to score just 10 seconds into their power play opportunity.
That pretty much sealed the game.
"It's a privilege to be on the power play and you have a chance to kind of dictate the game," Kevin Hayes said. "It hasn't been going well lately. At the beginning of the year, it was going pretty well. We're getting OK looks at some points, but you can't be giving them momentum like that. I thought that was a huge game-changer there."
Jason Robertson added a power play goal and fans headed for the exits.
"You guys look at the score and say, 'Holy s---," Tortorella said. "I don't look at it that way. We put in a lot of good minutes prior to ... the thing that bothers me the most is the shorthanded goal. What if we score on that power play and it doesn't go the other way?
"I think our effort is there. There are a lot of good things going on with the team. Like I've told you before, I don't look at the score; I have to coach a team on what's going on. So you can call it lopsided; I don't it look at it that way.
"There are things we have to improve, special teams we've talked about. But if we keep our energy and our effort, we'll figure some things out here."
• The Flyers entered scoring 2.57 goals per game, the second fewest in the NHL.
On Sunday, seven of their 12 forwards were 25 years old or younger.
No doubt they're starting to really miss guys like Cam Atkinson (upper body), James van Riemsdyk (broken finger) and Sean Couturier (back).
All three have two seasons of 30 or more goals to their name.
The Flyers are inexperienced right now and having to win dogfights consistently is not easy. You have to be disciplined and structured. The Flyers haven't been disciplined the last two games, nor have they been sharp.
"It's crappy to be in the situation we're in right now," Travis Konecny said. "But it's good to go through some of these ups and downs. You've just got to stay in the middle, stay even-keeled and make sure you're doing the right things every single night."
• Kieffer Bellows entered the lineup in place of Wade Allison, who suffered an undisclosed injury during the second period of Saturday's game.
There has been no word on Allison's status.
Tortorella has said he doesn't know enough about Bellows yet. The 24-year-old winger was a healthy scratch the previous four games. In his first game since Nov. 2, Bellows committed a slashing penalty that resulted in a Joe Pavelski power play goal.
Not even 24 hours ago, Tortorella was belaboring his team's "dumb penalties" after the loss to Ottawa.
Bellows' infraction was ill-timed. The Flyers had cut the deficit to 2-1 in the first minute of the second period thanks to Konecny. Over eight minutes later, Dallas cushioned its lead back to two with the power play opportunity.
• The Flyers open a three-game road trip Tuesday when they visit the Blue Jackets for the second time in six days (7:30 p.m. ET/ESPN+, Hulu).
The club took a 5-2 loss Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.
"This is a huge stretch for us coming up, this three-game road trip we go on," Scott Laughton said. "It's going to be huge for our team to see where we're really at and what happens in the standings here."
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