A lack of focus, players ‘nervous,’ and a dismal effort that said everything about the Flyers

The frank words and dejected silence between them felt just as damning as the dismal play.

"I don't think it was an energy thing. I think it was a focus thing," defenseman Nick Seeler said after the Flyers crumbled to the Eastern Conference-worst New York Rangers, 6-2, on Monday night.

"We pissed away a game here tonight in front of him," said captain Sean Couturier in defense of – and probably in apology for – goaltender Dan Vladar, who definitely didn't have a great game after getting pulled for Sam Ersson ahead of the third period, but didn't get done a whole lot of favors either.

"[We] didn't help him at all…We were just awful," Couturier continued.

What else really was there to say?

The Flyers were pushed around on their home ice at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

They were consistently battled off of loose pucks.

They were undisciplined, too often leaving the front of their net unchecked while getting tagged for lazy, and costly, penalties trying to defend opposing rushes up the ice with their feet still.

They struggled to get clean looks at the New York net and really challenge Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, as bizarre as that seems since, for once, they went above 30 shots on goal for a game.

And they really struggled to keep the Rangers' shots away, or rather, those rebounds and second chances that bounced out to leave Vladar with no chance of saving unless a teammate got there to clear the puck away.

Rarely, no one did.

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

Dan Vladar had a brutal night in the crease, and his Flyers teammates didn't do him many favors.

They fell behind right away, again, but you could just see there was nothing in the tank to fight back with.

They were in a 3-0 hole as the seconds ticked down in the first period. Boos ushered them off the ice.

It snowballed into a 6-1 ditch by the end of the second. The building emptied out, and yet the boos echoed through just as loudly.

But what else really was there to say?

• MORE FLYERS
• Flyers crumble against Rangers, waffle after the trade deadline
• Alex Bump left the nerves behind, and made an instant impact on the Flyers
• Why the Flyers held off on a Rasmus Ristolainen trade: 'It just did not make sense value-wise'

The Flyers are still within reach of the playoff picture, technically, but the regular season is pushing into mid-March. The amount of games left to recover are dwindling and, let's be real, when you turn in an embarrassing effort like Monday night's against a bottom-feeding team like the Rangers, which has already, openly, thrown up the white flag on its season, you don't really have a chance of climbing into the race.

"I thought some guys looked nervous," head coach Rick Tocchet said afterward. "We have moments where, we had [Christian Dvorak's stopped breakaway], things could've changed. We had a power play, and all of a sudden, bing bang, it's 3-1 [then] 4-1, and then you're chasing the game.

"You can't be nervous. You gotta trust your instincts."

But if a team is left talking about a lack of focus, about nerves, and about 'pissing away a game' to a rival well below even them in the standings, and this late into the schedule, then it has no shot.

Not for a while, and definitely not now.

"Vladdy deserved better," Seeler said. "[Ersson] deserved better. Our fans deserve better than that, so everyone's gotta get on the same page."

"You're gonna get games like this where you get kicked in the teeth," Tocchet said. "This is where your character and passion, all that stuff, is going to be tested."

But after Monday night's rolling over, what else really is there to say about these Flyers?

SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter

Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick

Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports