Flyers lose their fifth straight as defense crumbles in a 7-4 loss to the Blackhawks

CHICAGO — The Philadelphia Flyers have played well and failed to get results lately, but they simply struggled to find their game on Sunday.

It culminated in a sloppy, disconnected 7-4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, who have already been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“It’s tough because we were putting some good efforts these last few games against good teams and didn’t get the results,” captain Sean Couturier said. “Tonight, it seemed like we were off, we were slow. Feels like we gave them easy goals, and it’s just unacceptable against this kind of team.”

The Flyers have lost five straight and 10 of their last 11 games.

“We absolutely had a stinker tonight,” defenseman Jamie Drysdale said. “So yeah, live, learn from it. We’ve got to figure out a way to win and get on the other side.”

Second chances

Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov got the start for the second straight game after playing just 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon. The Russian allowed two goals on three shots and got the early hook in the Flyers’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars.

On Sunday, he allowed three goals on nine shots in the first period and coach John Tortorella confirmed he thought about pulling him again after 20 minutes but decided not to. “Oh, [expletive] yeah. [Expletive], yeah,” Tortorella said postgame when asked if Fedotov still needs to prove he belongs in the NHL.

But to be fair, while Fedotov looked like he reverted in his puck control and positioning at times, the team in front of him did not play well, either.

The first mistake came with the Flyers up 1-0. Philly was trying to get out of its end, but Bobby Brink turned a bouncing puck over and the Flyers got caught with three guys on one side. It left Nick Foligno wide-open in the right faceoff circle and, after he drew Drysdale to him, he dipped around and fed a wide-open Pat Maroon for the tap-in goal.

Less than a minute later, Joe Veleno made it 2-1 when he got a short pass just inside the Flyers’ blue line and skated into the right circle for a wrister. The Flyers took the lead in the frame, but the Blackhawks sophomore star Connor Bedard tied it up at 3 with his own wrister after picking up a loose puck after a faceoff deep in the Flyers zone.

In the second period, Fedotov gave up three more goals on 16 shots. Tyler Bertuzzi made it 4-3 when he got the puck in the left circle, froze Jakob Pelletier, and cut to the front for a backhander. Ryan Donato scored a pair of power-play goals, the first a tap-in at the left post during a five-on-three when Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov were each called for tripping at the same time, and the second a wide-open redirect from in front. Both goals came off passes from Teuvo Teravainen.

Tortorella called timeout less than three minutes after Donato gave Chicago a 5-3 lead with his first power-play goal with his team looking discombobulated.

“As sloppy as both teams were, I thought the beginning of the second period they outworked us,” he said. “... I just don’t think we had the right effort at that time. We needed to play north more. We need to get our forechecking going like they did at the beginning of the second, to give ourselves a chance.”

Fedotov gave up one more in the third period when he bit on a move by Lukas Reichel, who sent a centering pass around the outstretched goalie and had it go off the skate of Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae. Fedotov, who was not made available by the Flyers to speak postgame, allowed one goal on four shots in the final frame.

The best offense is defense

Entering Sunday afternoon, the Flyers had just 27 goals coming from their defensemen, tied with the Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins for the seventh-fewest in the league.

They got a pair of tallies from their blueliners against Chicago off the sticks of Travis Sanheim and Drysdale.

“I think we’re a little bit deliberate as far as trying to take shots,” Tortorella said when asked about the low goal totally from his defensemen. “I think when there’s a lane there, I think the puck needs to get to the blue [paint], especially tonight. ... Our defensemen have problems seeing the ice. OK. ... Hopefully, it’ll settle down.

“I think Jamie struggles seeing the ice. I think Emil [Andrae] struggles seeing the ice. Hopefully, they get more reps they’ll see these lanes and they can start putting pucks through.”

Drysdale gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead less than five minutes in with a shot from the point that went in off Blackhawks defenseman Louis Crevier as he tried to tie up Travis Konecny in front. Drysdale got the puck from Matvei Michkov, who made the pass despite taking a crosscheck from Foligno.

“I think it’s just simplifying, throwing pucks on net,” Drysdale said. “I think we’ve kind of been due for some bounces, unfortunately, we got a few tonight and weren’t able to get the job done. But, yeah, just chuck pucks on net, and usually good things happen.”

Sanheim’s goal tied things up at 2 just 12 seconds after Veleno scored. His one-timer, which rolled across the goal line after going off Chicago goalie Spencer Knight, came off a pass from Konecny after an offensive-zone faceoff.

“We’ve just been talking about it collectively for a while now, just we’re going to have to score dirty goals and try to get some lucky bounces,” Sanheim said. “And, obviously, we got those tonight. Just, on the flip side, we weren’t very good defensively.”

Konecny again

Two games and two goals for Konecny. After snapping a 13-game goal drought on Saturday, Konecny scored another on Sunday. It is the first time he’s scored in consecutive games since Dec. 31-Jan. 2.

“He’s our best player, and if we want to have a chance to win, he’s one of those guys that you know needs to produce,” Couturier said. “But, it’s not only just scoring goals. I think he’s going more to the net, being in the inside and not just waiting on the outside. His game is starting to round up a little better than it was these last couple of weeks I think.”

The goal, not long after the timeout by Tortorella, was off an offensive-zone faceoff when Couturier made a nice play with the puck as it sat behind Veleno, his opposite center, to get the puck back to the point. Drysdale put the puck on net and Konecny tipped it in just under the crossbar for his 198th career goal.

For the second straight game, Konecny was on a line with Couturier and Michkov.

“I think TK settled in that he’s going to play left wing, because I think him and Mich are dangerous when they play together,” Tortorella said. “I think they’re even talking more on the bench. I think are more comfortable playing with one another, so I’m going to keep that together. I think it’s helped Mich, and I certainly think it’s helped TK, and Coots has been playing pretty well.”

Breakaways

Bobby Brink scored his 11th goal of the season, tying his career-high set last season. ... Tortorella said the power play was “the difference in the game.” Chicago went 2 for 4. The Flyers went 0 for 2 and have not scored in the last 30 power-play opportunities in March. ... Philly allowed seven goals for the fourth time this season. ... Maroon announced Saturday he will be retiring after the season. ... The NCAA men’s ice hockey tournament is holding a regional in Allentown. Maine has the top seed in that section of the bracket, which includes Quinnipiac, Penn State and UConn.

Up next

The Flyers head to Toronto to face Scott Laughton and the Maple Leafs on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, NBCSP).