By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The post-Christmas blues caught up with the Flyers again in St. Louis. If last Thursday's result in New Jersey wasn't frustrating enough, this certainly brought out a lot of frustration.
The Flyers made a disappointing and downright pathetic return in a 6-3 loss to the Blues on Wednesday night.
Here are 10 Postgame Points from the Flyers loss to the Blues.
- The Flyers last two games have been their worst defensive performances in the last month, but this one was particularly horrendous. The Flyers allowed two power-play goals in the first. They gave up four goals in the third. Penalty kill struggles and allowing a string of goals in the third period are two trends of the Flyers from October. For a team looking for consistency, that was far from it.
- Two players that particularly struggled on the defensive end: Andrew MacDonald and Nick Schultz. Call me crazy, but the return from a long break against a potent offensive team like the Blues is not the ideal time to bring Schultz, who was a healthy scratch for 21 games, back into the lineup. MacDonald on the other hand was starting to play better during the Flyers recent 10-game streak, but was on the ice for four of St. Louis' six goals. On Scottie Upshall's game-winning goal, MacDonald looked lost and got outmuscled for position by the much smaller Upshall.
- The decision to keep Brayden Schenn on the second line with Wayne Simmonds and Travis Konecny paid dividends early, and if there's one adjustment the Flyers don't make before Friday's game in San Jose, it would be keeping the line intact. They were the Flyers best line on Wednesday.
- There wasn't really one particular goal Steve Mason should have stopped, perhaps maybe the fifth goal by the Blues that provided more than enough insurance, but allowing goals on all three shots the Blues had in the third period at the time of Robby Fabbri's goal to make it 5-3, that's just inexcusable.
- If there's one thing I've noticed over the course of the season, it's that the Flyers always start to struggle when the physical element disappears completely from their game, especially in the defensive zone. The Flyers committed turnovers and lost board battles in the third period. Games are certainly lost there.
- The Flyers in a way met their match in terms of a team that gets defensemen involved in the offensive play. St. Louis defensemen had five points, including one goal, in the game.
- Give the St. Louis defense credit on the other end too. From a defensive standpoint, they took away the neutral zone and made zone entries tough. Once they got the game tied, the energy shifted and it was all St. Louis the rest of the way.
- The disallowed goal in the third should have counted. Not only was the puck loose the whole way, but the whistle sounded after the puck was in the net. The Flyers should have had the lead then. They got in moments later on a goal by Brayden Schenn, who also put the puck in the net on the play moments before.
- There's a fair chance it won't last, but Taylor Leier didn't look too bad on the top line with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek. Leier played 11:29 and had two hits.
- What the heck happened to Roman Lyubimov? One of the Flyers more energetic players of late and he plays just 5:07 in the entire game?
Bottom Line
Losses in three of four games before the break was nothing to really worry about. The Flyers hadn't played that dud of a game in over a month's time last Thursday. They had points in 12 of 13 games before that.
But Wednesday's game does warrant some worry. The Flyers are going to start playing better competition in the coming weeks and a performance like this is unacceptable. When the GM of the team comes out and says there is room to get better, especially after a disappointing game going into the break, that's not the effort you display in return. And it was almost enough to win the game. The Flyers had a third-period lead with 16 minutes to play. That's still a lot of time, but they completely stopped playing from there. St. Louis got four goals after that.
The game in San Jose on Friday may be a must-win for the Flyers from a mental standpoint. When the Flyers get as bad defensively as they were in the third period, it snowballs into something bigger. This is two games where the Flyers have allowed a combined 10 goals. The bleeding must stop in San Jose.
