The Philadelphia Flyers looked to be on the fast track toward returning to the playoffs after defeating one of the best teams in the NHL.
The Flyers' fortunes turned in a hurry, however, losing seven straight games (0-5-2) to fall on the wrong side of the playoff picture since posting a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on March 23. Philadelphia (36-31-11, 83 points) will look to reverse course on Tuesday when it continues its four-game road trip against the Montreal Canadiens (29-36-12, 70 points).
Amid the losing streak, the Flyers have dropped out of third place in the Metropolitan Division. Now, they are battling with several teams for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
"I think the teams you see that do well are playing their best hockey right now," Philadelphia's Garnet Hathaway said. "And they're going to continue that until the playoffs. So that's what we need to do. We need to play our best hockey. We can't think about what happened, can't look back, can't change anything, so we've got to keep going."
They also need to forget their last performance, a 6-2 setback to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Flyers permitted the game's first three goals before Olle Lycksell attempted to alter that momentum with his first career NHL goal. The Blue Jackets, however, tallied three more times to put the game out of reach.
"It's a loss. It's an ugly one," Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. "We can't get discouraged. No one is going to help us out of this, and being discouraged is not going to help it. We've just got to stay positive."
So, how do the Flyers get back on track?
"Playing aggressive, I think," Scott Laughton told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Not giving guys time with the puck, making it hard on guys, blocking shots, doing the little things at this time of year that need to be done, and they're not."
Included in the Flyers' current losing skid is a 4-1 setback in Montreal on March 28. Owen Tippett scored a goal in that game as well as in Philadelphia's 3-2 shootout victory over the Canadiens on Jan. 10.
Like the Flyers, Montreal is mired in a slump. The Canadiens dropped their third game in a row with a 5-2 setback to the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Cole Caufield scored 30 seconds into the first period to extend his goal streak to four games. Caufield, who was playing in his 200th career NHL game, did not dent the scoresheet in two encounters against Philadelphia this season.
Defenseman Mike Matheson set up a pair of goals for the second consecutive contest Sunday to give him nine of his team-leading 47 assists over the last six games. He set up three goals in Montreal's victory over Philadelphia on March 28.
While the Canadiens will miss the playoffs for the third straight season following their spirited run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, coach Martin St. Louis said he sees positives.
"We're doing a good job at being process-driven," he said. "We're not quite there yet but we're getting closer."
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