The Flyers won’t be happy heading into the holidays.
They suffered another lopsided loss, this one a 7-3 decision Monday night to the rival Penguins at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Samuel Ersson lasted only two periods in net after allowing five goals on 14 shots.
Egor Zamula, Noah Cates and Sean Couturier provided the Flyers’ goals. After the team went into first intermission staring down a big deficit at 4-1, Cates and Couturier drew it within 4-3. For Cates, it was his fourth straight game with a goal.
But the Flyers gave up a fifth goal with 1:12 minutes left in the second period, which quelled their momentum.
John Tortorella emptied his net with over four minutes to go in the third period and the Flyers couldn’t capitalize. Sidney Crosby made them pay, finishing with a goal and three assists. Pittsburgh then added a late power play tally.
The Flyers (15-16-4) have lost four of their last five games, a stretch in which they’ve surrendered 5.60 goals per game. They’ve been outscored 28-16 over that span. They needed three rallies for their only win.
Tortorella’s club is 3-6-1 in December. Last season, it went 8-2-3 in December and was 18-11-4 at the holiday break.
The Flyers have three more meetings with the Penguins (16-15-5), all of them in February.
• It sure seems like a perfect storm right now for the Flyers.
They’ve had defensive breakdowns, they’ve gone stretches in which they struggle to generate offense and, most notably, their goaltending hasn’t been there for them. They really haven’t played well consistently in any phase.
• Ersson has struggled mightily since coming back from a lower-body injury, allowing 24 goals in six starts. He’s 2-4-0 with an .810 save percentage through those outings.
He yielded two of Pittsburgh’s three power play goals. The Flyers’ penalty kill has given up 12 goals over the last 11 games. Prior to this, it had allowed just 10 through the first 24 games.
Aleksei Kolosov denied six of seven shots in relief.
Last season, the Flyers were tied with the Senators for the NHL’s worst save percentage at .884. So far this season, they’re last with an .866 mark.
“We knew we were getting into this when everything changed with our goaltending situation,” Tortorella said two days ago. “We’re force-feeding guys into situations that they’re really not ready for, so we’ve got to be a little patient and keep on trying to work with them and see where we go with it.”
Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry stopped 24 of the Flyers’ 27 shots.
Samuel Ersson was pulled and the Flyers’ defensive struggles continued in a 7-3 loss to the Penguins.
• Matvei Michkov is on a season-long six-game point drought after putting up three goals and seven assists in a season-best five-game point streak.
He has a minus-11 mark in the slump. He played 11:27 minutes Monday night.
The 20-year-old rookie could definitely use the break to recharge. The Flyers have had a busy schedule and he looks worn down.
• Couturier was back in the lineup after missing the team’s win Saturday to be with his wife Laurence as she gave birth to their second child, a baby boy named Nash.
The captain played 18 minutes and the goal was his seventh of the season. Scott Laughton had his second assist of the game on Couturier’s marker.
• After the holiday break, which runs Tuesday through Thursday, the Flyers open a five-game road trip Saturday when they visit Cutter Gauthier and the Ducks (4 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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