Flyers Blitzed by Canucks as Losing Skid Extends to 5 Straight Games

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There were so many mistakes to be found in the Flyers' 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night that head coach Dave Hakstol surprisingly admitted even he could have done things differently by pulling Michal Neuvirth after the goalie gave up a third goal in the opening minutes of the second period.

"That one was on me," Hakstol said. "I should have done that after the third goal to give our team the best opportunity. Once it got to four (4-1), it's tough to dig out of that hole. The change after three may have been the spark that our team would have needed, but hindsight is 20/20."

Starting for the first time in 17 days, Neuvirth was pulled with 5:20 remaining in the second period after making 18 of 22 stops. He wasn't nearly a sharp as he's been in his previous outings.

"Obviously, I need to be better than I showed today," Neuvirth said. "It was difficult not skating. I had three days off over the weekend and I had one practice (Monday), so it was difficult. I need to be better."

With Radko Gudas serving the second game of a 10-game suspension, the Flyers turned in one of the worst defensive games of the season as they allowed the Canucks a handful of prime opportunities based on turnovers, missed assignments and even a poor line change (see observations).

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"We had a tough time starting in the neutral zone," Jake Voracek said. "A couple of times, the defense tried to skate it through. We just didn't generate enough speed. On the odd-man rush we had a couple of good looks in the second [period]. It is always more open in the second."

The pairing of Brandon Manning and Shayne Gostisbehere had an especially tough time and it started when Daniel Sedin snuck behind Gostisbehere for an early, first-period breakaway goal.

"That first goal is probably preventable," Manning said. "Me and Ghost talked about it and we can probably sniff that one out a little bit better. The second one is tough with the young guys trying to get off for a matchup."

Canucks leading scorer Brock Boeser capitalized on a bad change from the Flyers' defense when he rifled the first of his two goals far post over Neuvirth's blocker.

"We gave up two easy goals that we didn't make our opponent work for," Hakstol said. "You've got to have one defenseman out there. You can't have two D going. That's the reality of it."

"It's just little details that are costing us games right now, and I think the PK needs to be better," Sean Couturier said. "On the defensive side, we need to be sharper. Little details, whether that's picking up your guy or chipping it out or line change. It's all those little things that add up." 

For a team that has been in every game at some point of the third period this season, that simply was not the case Tuesday night. Forward Wayne Simmonds admitted some bad habits are creeping into the Flyers' game.

"I would agree with that," Simmonds said. "We have to find a way to break those habits. We have to find a way to get a win here, no matter what it takes. We can't be leaving them for 2-on-1s, 3-on-1s, 3-on-2s or whatever it may be. That's going to hurt and it did."

After winning their season opener in San Jose, the Flyers' abysmal record against the Western Conference dropped to 5-8-4. They're currently the only team in the Metropolitan Division with more regulation losses than regulation wins. 

"You've got to own it," Hakstol said. "We've got to do better. You can't sit back and rest on a lack of confidence. You give yourself confidence by preparation, work ethic, togetherness and those are things we have to put back into our game tomorrow night." 

On Wednesday, the Flyers will travel to Brooklyn to face the Islanders for just the second divisional game of the season after blowing out the Washington Capitals, 8-2, in the home opener at the Wells Fargo Center.

Changes coming?
While the rest of the team loaded up for Wednesday night's game on Long Island, Flyers defenseman Mark Alt took his equipment with him as he'll rejoin the Phantoms. With Matt Read clearing waivers, general manager Ron Hextall could quite possibly make a couple of call-ups from Lehigh Valley.

"You evaluate everything on a daily basis depending on what happens," Hextall  said. "You just don't know. Someone gets hurt, we just can't put them on IR. We need the flexibility for tomorrow."

Don't expect defenseman Andrew MacDonald to be available until Friday at the earliest. MacDonald's skating still isn't 100 percent even though he has practiced with the team since last Thursday. 

"It's kind of a progression thing and we'll see where it goes and we'll see how he progresses," Hextall said.

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