The Philadelphia Flyers are sinking down the Eastern Conference ranks by the day.
After falling 5-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday in Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers finished their homestand 1-6-0 and were outscored 30-11.
It took a shootout against the Tampa Bay Lightning to get the one victory in the season-long seven-game span.
With only the San Jose Sharks having acquired less points than the Flyers in the last 20 games, John Tortorella's club has dropped 14 in that span.
In Saturday's blowout to Carolina, the Flyers were heavily outmatched throughout all three periods, exposing inexperience.
"It's an eye-opener," Tortorella said after the loss. "It just gives you an idea of where we need to get to. And I think there are teams that are better. But they are one of those teams that are always on their toes and they just press. They're the best team in the league doing that. They force you into those battles, they're very confident they're going to win a lot of them. We certainly tried."
One of the Flyers' biggest anchors has been goaltending. Between Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov, Philadelphia boasts the worst save percentage in the NHL (.875).
"I think with Sam, as we move forward, we're hoping it's going to be a tandem," Tortorella said on Saturday morning. "We're not going to ask Sam to play 55, 60 games if he's the guy. I think it's going to be a tandem. We're still evaluating. He has been inconsistent. Sometimes you watch him play and you think he has got it but then he falls off."
The Flyers shipped out several key pieces of their lineup in the last couple of months, including Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Scott Laughton. Coming together in the final stretch of the season will be an uphill climb given the Flyers' schedule.
"It's a hard time and we've got some things ahead of us," Tortorella said. "So we've just got to be together and try to help one another out because it's going to be very difficult."
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