Morning After: Flyers running out of answers

The result on Friday matched the result last Wednesday. A shutout loss to the Rangers featured a lifeless and uninterested Flyers team.

This is not the same team that was rolling entering a five-day break on Nov. 8. This Flyers team, 1-6-1 in their last eight games is not a playoff team.

And teams that are not worthy of the playoffs in Philadelphia get booed for efforts like the pitiful performance they displayed on Friday.

There was a general lack of answers following another loss, but one common theme. The fans response was deserved.

"We’re playing like crap so they deserve to boo us," Wayne Simmonds said. "We deserve to get booed."

From the top, it was the same story for Craig Berube. His post-game press conference continued a running story of emphasizing compete level and effort. But Berube did elaborate on his points, particularly on what has to change just one game after he threatened to bench players if performances didn't change.

"Composure and frustration was a problem for me," Berube said. "That’s got to come from within. They have to believe in themselves. That’s where it starts. You become frustrated and lose composure when you stop playing like a team on the ice."

Even mired in a slump like the Flyers are, Berube expressed the desire for the team to remain intact, even when a trade seems like the only thing that will serve as a proper wake-up call.

“That’s not to say this is a team that doesn’t want to stick together. But right now, they are little lost that way," Berube said. "To get that composure back and get the frustration out of your game, you need to go out tomorrow afternoon and play like a team for 60 minutes. And that’s what we got to pound into them."

Steve Mason was fairly helpless again in goal, remaining one of the only Flyers to do all he can to help his team. Mason was also the most vocal after another loss, stressing the embarrassment on playing in front of their fans like that.

"There’s still lots of time to make up room, but you can’t let this keep sliding like this," Mason said. "It’s unacceptable. It’s embarrassing and we have to get going on a roll here."

And finally, the GM chimed in. Ron Hextall added that frustration is a huge problem with the team. But also that the Flyers will not be able to fix it fast. 

"I think our frustration level right now is high and we’ve got to find a way to flush that out," Hextall said. "You can play with emotion, and I actually thought we had some emotion tonight, but it’s got to be controlled emotion or it doesn’t do you any good.

"We’re going to make moves that we think are going to benefit the organization long-term. There are no short-term fixes here."

In other words, there are no trades close and what you see may be what you get.

But not in Hextall's eyes. He is not happy with the team and still believes it could be better.

"This is a better team than we’re playing right now and this is a better team than our record’s showing," Hextall said. "In saying that, we’ve got to get going here."

Friday afternoon followed a team meeting. 10 days ago, on the Flyers prior shutout to the Rangers, Hextall went on a tirade in the locker room and Berube called out his team to the media. 

That didn't get the team going, and until the Flyers actually show up for a game with the compete level the coach and GM are looking for, nothing will spark them.

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.