Brandon Gallagher celebrates after scoring the first goal of the game in the Flyers 4-1 loss to the Canadiens.
In the early stages of what was a must-win game, the Flyers seemed to have some energy. The only thing missing was shots.
Shots missed the net. Shots were blocked. And in a first period of lacksadaiscal play, the Flyers managed just two shots on Montreal backup goalie Peter Budaj.
If not for the Habs lack of scoring lately, the score might have been worse than the 1-0 margin it was on a goal by Brandon Gallagher at the 8:53 mark of the first.
A broken play with the help of a sleeping Flyers defense led the Montreal's second goal just 1:15 into the second by David Desharnais.
The Flyers still managed to cut the lead to one by the end of the second when a weak shot by Danny Briere managed to find the back corner of the net.
But the Flyers failed to capitalize on two late second-period power plays. That kept the Canadiens in front.
The margin was never closer. Tomas Plekanec scored 4:32 into the third to make it 3-1 and Montreal would add an empty-net goal by Rene Bourque to cap the scoring and finish a 4-1 Flyers loss.
This was sloppy from start to finish. There were not many quality scoring chances for the Flyers and the lack of defense is honestly scary at this point. Erik Gustafsson may have been the star on defense in his first NHL game of the season after being called up this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the offense wasn't much better. Between several players, led by captain Claude Giroux, who are trying way to much to find the back of the net creatively, the Flyers managed just 19 shots on Budaj, a season low.
There are clearly many problems with this team. There is not a lot of time to solve them either. But this team needs a massive wakeup call if they want to make the playoffs or be in a race for the playoffs.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Flyerdelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
