As the Flyers left the ice following a 4-0 shutout loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the team with the fewest points in the Western Conference and two wins in the previous 10 games, the boos rained down from the Wells Fargo Center crowd — or what was left of it anyway.
If you thought the Flyers 7-1 loss in Florida was bad, they found a way to top it.
It was the most lifeless and lazy game the Flyers had played all season and if they want to truly forget it, they have to simply start playing better.
It will be difficult to not play better on Thursday against Washington. Any show of effort at all will be better than what the Flyers displayed on Tuesday night.
"I'll keep it pretty simple," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "I used the word in the road efforts in terms of going out there and playing complete games and being determined in every phase. Tonight, we weren't complete in that way."
"Everybody realized in the room what kind of performance we brought tonight," Mark Streit said to the Daily News. "I think it's unacceptable. Everybody's got to be better and everybody's got to be accountable. It was just a really poor performance on our part."
So after another embarrassing effort, the Flyers held another team meeting, their second in 15 games. With a 5-7-3 record, and much higher expectations for themselves than that, Tuesday's performance simply wasn't acceptable.
Offensively, chances were non-existent. The Flyers finished with 25 shots. None were testers on Reto Berra.
Much like the Flyers shutout win in Winnipeg, the best way to keep a team off the board is to prevent them from getting to the dirty areas, the scoring areas. The Flyers were held to the perimeter for the entire night.
It was hardly a good performance by Colorado as much as a lack of effort on the Flyers part.
"I think we should be ready to come back to our building and play a good game," Claude Giroux said. "Our goalie played a good game. He gave us a chance to come back, and we didn't respond."
One of the routine parts to the Flyers offense is the dump and chase method. The Flyers were beat to every puck and never had the jump or energy that is required to win puck battles and establish an offensive presence.
Defensively, the Flyers allowed four goals on 40 shots. It's a miracle they didn't score more.
Colorado made offensive chances look easy. It was a pretty effortless execution for the Avalanche as forwards worked their way to loose pucks and the net by going around the Flyers defensemen like they were orange traffic cones.
It doesn't matter what part of the ice you are playing in, offensive zone or defensive zone, you won't be successful if you don't skate. The Flyers, who hadn't played since Saturday's shutout win, didn't want any part of this game.
"It's definitely not that the guys don't care here," Giroux said. "We have guys that work hard, come to the rink every day and they're proud to be a Flyer. The day we come together and go game in, game out and play as a team, we're going to start winning games."
Simple logic tells you that the team that wants it more often wins. Colorado clearly wanted this more.
Now through 15 games, the quarter mark of the season is approaching. This team should not be performing like this.
The playoffs were already a stretch on paper. But to think this team could be in the running for the worst record in the league? That shouldn't have even been a thought. But they will compete for it with more games like this.
"We're frustrated," Ryan White said to the Daily News. "We lost, what, seven out of eight. Everyone in here cares. It's just we're not playing well enough. That's the bottom line, and I think, as frustrated as you can get, obviously, we're not happy, but we got to take a look in the mirror and come back out here Thursday and be ready to go."
A turnaround is necessary. Better efforts are necessary. And it's going to take a lot more than a meeting to change that.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
