Kevin Durso

The Flyers look to avoid making that an eight-game losing streak as they take on another team struggling to find its footing this season. The New York Islanders are the opponent for the next two nights for a home-and-home, starting Monday night on the road for the Flyers.

It’s really become a familiar pattern for a team that is consistently fragile, just waiting for the next thing to go wrong rather than doing the things that can help it keep going right. Just like on Thursday night, the Rangers skill and talent levels became too much in a game that was certainly competitive, but not deserving of the final result.

The New York Rangers stormed right back to tie the game 37 seconds after the Flyers took the lead. Less than three minutes after that, they had the goal that decided the game, taking a 3-2 win on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center to extend the Flyers losing streak to seven games. 

The next chance for the Flyers to end their current six-game losing streak comes on Saturday night against the New York Rangers. 

Thursday’s 3-2 Flyers loss to the Bruins was one final game in a calendar year that has been as frustrating and disappointing as ever. Another loss in regulation brought the team’s current losing streak to six, and put a fitting conclusion to a 365-day period to forget.

David Pastrnak scored his 11th career hat trick and third against the Flyers, as the Bruins held on for a 3-2 win at TD Garden, marking the sixth straight loss for the Flyers. 

This is a game with two teams going in opposite directions. The Flyers have lost five straight games going back to Dec. 30. The Bruins are fresh off a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night and have won five of their last six games since New Year’s Day.

It has reached a new level for the Flyers. This is essentially one great, big reality show. The play on the ice is only one part of the equation, and at this point, the things happening off the ice are becoming bigger headlines, most recently comments from Flyers legend Bobby Clarke on the Cam and Strick Podcast regarding Ron Hextall’s time as GM.

Due to COVID issues affecting the Flyers, Tuesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes is postponed with a make-up date yet to be determined.

Tomas Hertl was on the hook for three straight goals for the Sharks, picking up a natural hat trick to hand the Flyers their fifth straight loss, 3-2, at Wells Fargo Center. 

The Flyers will still be down several regulars as they take on the Sharks, who are also dealing with several absences, on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The end result was a 6-2 defeat, certainly no surprise given the circumstances. But it also goes down as another embarrassing showing in front of the home crowd. It’s another game where the Flyers fell behind early and never recovered. And it left the interim head coach with some harsh words regarding compete level in his postgame remarks.

With the Flyers shorthanded, it was nothing short of a blood bath. The Penguins scored three goals in the first and never looked back, handing the Flyers a 6-2 loss at Wells Fargo Center.

While the Flyers deal with a depleted lineup from COVID and injuries, the Pittsburgh Penguins are in town on Thursday night, fresh off their ninth straight win.

The Ducks are an upstart team with a ton of potential. That’s easy to see. They showed plenty of it from the youngsters still in the lineup, ending the Flyers road trip on a sour note as tougher matchups are ahead.

The Ducks were in the same position, with several players also out on COVID protocol, but that didn’t stop them from showing just how much talent they possess. Troy Terry scored a hat trick as the Flyers finished a four-game road trip with a third straight loss, 4-1, in Anaheim.

The four-game road trip out of the holiday break ends with one more game on the West coast on Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, albeit with many players out due to COVID protocol on both sides, including both team captains, a budding young star for Anaheim, and the Flyers other top-pairing defenseman.

The law of averages essentially caught up to the Flyers. Out of the break, they were lucky to get a win in Seattle and stole a point in San Jose. Deservedly, they have nothing to show for a defeat that featured more sloppy play, more poor puck management, and continued lapses in defensive coverage.

The Kings turned in a dominant performance on Saturday night with a 6-3 victory to snap the Flyers seven-game points streak.

A short trip from San Jose to Los Angeles marks the next stop on this post-holiday road trip, as the Flyers try to extend the points streak to eight games against the Kings.

Injuries, COVID, and everything else aside, the Flyers are not clicking the way they need to. They may be turning the corner in terms of results, but they may be turning into a head-on collision with some of the best teams in the league still ahead on the schedule.

One night after getting the win in overtime, the Flyers didn’t get the same fate on this night. Tomas Hertl scored on a rebound with 30.8 seconds remaining to hand the Flyers a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

It’s a quick turnaround on Thursday, as the Flyers head to California to finish up the four-game road trip. Their first game comes in San Jose, as they take on the Sharks.

Again in the third period, as they have many times before, the Flyers were in a position to grab two points. A quick response and another overtime winner ensured they did come away with just that, as their points streak hits six games with a 5-0-1 record.

Just when it seemed like Seattle finally capitalized to put their stamp on the game, the Flyers got the goal right back, setting up an overtime beauty for Ivan Provorov in a 3-2 win over the Kraken.

COVID is still running wild in the NHL and the rest of the world, but the Flyers make their return with five new additions to the COVID protocol list over the last several days, but also three players back from protocols. They will face the Seattle Kraken in their return, opening up a four-game road trip on Wednesday night. 

Tuesday’s Flyers-Capitals game has also been postponed. The Flyers will enter the holiday break another day earlier as a result.

The decision has been made to suspend the NHL season and advance the holiday break by two days. A game on Monday night between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild took place, and the Tuesday games – Flyers vs. Capitals and Vegas vs. Tampa Bay – will also take place pending test results.

The NHL will continue to play the 2021-22 season schedule, citing a low number of positive cases resulting in concerning symptoms or serious illness. The league will continue to monitor positive cases on a club-by-club basis and determine the need to shut down individual teams based on that. The Flyers are still operating, with only two players in COVID protocol as of Sunday morning.