The Flyers season is starting to become a broken record.
The effort was there but the goals weren't. "We played well enough to win, but you have to score."
You've probably heard this before.
The result was the same for the Flyers as they fired 39 shots on Darcy Kuemper on Thursday night to score just two goals. In the end, a late turnover by Andrew MacDonald led to the game-winning goal for the Wild in a 3-2 Flyers loss, their fourth straight.
Claude Giroux and Mark Streit scored goals, again the top line supplying the only goal from the forward group. It is an all-too recurring.
"It’s not good enough, we lost," head coach Craig Berube said. "But that’s the way we got to play. That’s the competitiveness we are looking for."
Berube reflected on the positives where the rest of the Flyers couldn't. This was two points that got away for the Flyers, who dominated most of the second and third periods. But after two lifeless games in Montreal and New York and another lost effort last Friday against Columbus, this was the team that won six of eight games.
"We played well. We took the play to them most of the game," Berube said. "We made two mistakes in the third period we shouldn’t make and it cost us two goals."
Two weeks ago, the Flyers were starting to look down on other teams in the standings, not by much, but enough to restore the confidence after a slow start. A four-game losing streak has the Flyers looking up in the standings and looking for answers, especially after a game like Thursday's.
"It’s a tough way to lose," Giroux said. "We played the right way all game and gave ourselves a chance to win."
"They have a tough team and play good defense," Jake Voracek said. "Tough game to lose, but we got to shake it off."
There were positives. Voracek would not go back-to-back games without points, assisting on Giroux's goal at 16:30 of the third. Scott Laughton played a modest 10:53 and had three shots, trailing only Giroux, Voracek and Streit.
Ray Emery also posted a solid night in goal. Helpless on the final goal, perhaps the only shot Emery wanted back was the goal by Nino Niederreiter, a flubbed shot that still managed to find the back of the net.
"We stayed with it until the end. That's a heartbreaking one," Emery said. "I thought the guys did a great job.''
So again the effort was there. But the finish was not.
"If we play like that we’ll win a lot of hockey games," Berube said. "That’s got to be the focus."
Saturday presents the next chance, but as Thursday night proved, even the best effort can leave you searching for answers.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
