Struggles continue as Flyers drop 5th game out of 6 to start season

Maybe John Tortorella was right to pump the brakes.

At the beginning of October, the head coach said the Flyers had "so much s--- to do" before they could even start talking about the playoffs being the next step.

So far, that sure has looked true.

The Flyers fell to the Capitals, 4-1, Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Tortorella's club is 1-4-1 and has been outscored 25-13. The Flyers have scored only one goal through two home games. They were blanked by the Canucks, 3-0, three days ago in their home opener. They've lost five straight after picking up a 3-2, season-opening shootout win over Vancouver.

"It's early in the season, I'm not too worried about it, there are lot of guys in this room that are goal scorers," Travis Sanheim said. "We're going to get going here. I'm not worried at all."

Against the Capitals, Sanheim buried a shot at 4-on-4 just 34 seconds into the third period to draw the Flyers within 2-1. But Washington took the goal right back at 4-on-4 a little over a minute later to quickly quell the Flyers' momentum. John Carlson's pass deflected off of Egor Zamula's skate and into the net.

"If we just stay and play our game — it's not a safe game, it's a very aggressive game — we'll get our goals," Tortorella said. "There's a fine line of playing aggressive, on your toes and checking forward versus cheating and hoping. That's when [the play goes] the wrong way, back the other way.

"So that's what we have to watch for here. We've got a group of men here that are going to figure this out. We just have to do it together and not lose ourselves through panic or frustration and forget about how we play."

This was the first game of a home-and-home back-to-back set between the Flyers and Capitals (4-1-0).

• Samuel Ersson really hasn't been the Flyers' problem. The 25-year-old has given the team a decent chance to win in his four starts.

He made 25 saves on 29 shots against Washington. Jakob Chychrun sealed the game with 5:53 minutes left in the third period.

The Flyers' second power play unit surrendered two shorthanded goals in the first period.

"There are some moments I feel like I've got to come up with a big save," Ersson said. "Especially right now, we're maybe struggling a little bit confidence-wise and I think it's kind of one of those times I've got to step up and make a save there."

Zamula struggled at the point on that second unit, allowing the Capitals to get behind him on the two goals. On the second marker, Bobby Brink flubbed on a pass, which sprung Washington up ice.

"The first one, I think it's a little hard bounce for me, I tried to keep it in the offensive zone," Zamula said. "I think I can step back or eat it, I don't know. The second one, it's just a bad turnover for us and in the back of the net. ... We need to play better and support each other in the offensive zone more and more."

Zamula finished the game as a minus-3. Scott Laughton was a minus-4.

At 5-on-5 in the first period, the Flyers played pretty well. The power play was super costly, though, swinging the momentum completely in the Capitals' direction.

The Flyers did not generate much at all offensively over the second and third periods. Their power play went 0 for 3 on the night.

"I think the biggest key is there's a frustration level," Tortorella said. "They want to play well, they want to win a hockey game, they want to score a goal in the home building. You can't let the frustration turn into the cheating, you can't forget about your structure as we're going through this. It's kind of doubled up because it's the start of the year and we're in this jam, so there's even more pressure."

Washington netminder Charlie Lindgren stopped 17 of the Flyers' 18 shots. He faced only eight shots over the final two periods. From Jan. 18 to the finish line last regular season, Lindgren was the only goalie to play more than Ersson.

"We've got a lot of belief in this group," Ersson said. "We know what we are capable of. Right now, it's not really bouncing our way. We're hitting a lot of posts, crossbars here and there. We're getting chances, we're going to convert, it's just a question of when."

• The Flyers saw the return of an important piece in Nick Seeler. The second-pair defenseman missed the first five games after taking a puck to the peroneal nerve in his right leg on Oct. 1.

"I've never experienced something like that — leg just kind of shut off for a while," Seeler said Monday. "But it feels a lot better."

The 31-year-old has been a glue guy for the Flyers' back end. Dating back to last season when he missed time in March, the Flyers have gone 5-8-3 and surrendered 4.07 goals per game and 13 power play goals without Seeler.

Playing in place of Erik Johnson, Seeler was alongside Jamie Drysdale, a crucial pair for the Flyers. Right off the hop, Seeler made two effective plays on a first-period penalty kill. The club's PK went 5 for 5.

• After playing half of last Saturday's home opener on the left wing of the fourth line, Sean Couturier was back down the middle of the ice. He centered Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov on the first line. The Flyers have had to juggle their lines a lot early in the season.

"It's tough on Torts, we're taking so many penalties, it gets guys out of the flow of the game," Couturier said. "He's trying to get everyone involved. That's on us, we've got to be more disciplined."

Through six games, the Flyers' captain has no goals and an assist. It sounds like the winger experiment isn't totally over.

"Sean, just like everybody else, has been up and down," Tortorella said Monday. "I actually thought his best minutes, more involved, was him playing on the wing. ... I actually liked him there."

• Jett Luchanko and Tyson Foerster were healthy scratches as Noah Cates and Nicolas Deslauriers drew into the lineup.

The 18-year-old Luchanko is four games into what could be a nine-game audition. The 2024 first-round center has gone scoreless with three shots.

"He makes some really good plays, he has made a lot of really good plays on his backhand," Tortorella said Monday. "Good plays, struggles at times. Makes some really good defensive plays, struggles at times. He's 18, you know? But I still like what he brings and we're going to keep on evaluating him and see where we go from there."

• The Flyers and Washington are right back at it Wednesday, this time in the nation's capital (7:30 p.m. ET/TNT).

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