Defense-challenged Flyers continue March swoon, fall to New Jersey Devils, 4-3

It continued to be a brutal month for the free-falling Flyers on Tuesday as they looked like a team telling general manager Chuck Fletcher he should be a seller before the April 12 trade deadline.

They got off to another sluggish start, had defensive breakdowns throughout the night, and didn’t resemble a team in a playoff race, losing to the younger, speedier New Jersey Devils, 4-3, at the boo-happy Wells Fargo Center.

“I don’t think we’re playing a full 60 minutes right now,” losing goalie Carter Hart said. “We can’t just show up the last 10 minutes of the third and expect to win a game.”

The Flyers are 4-8-1 in March, during which they have allowed 57 goals in 13 games (4.4 per game). They have lost eight of their last 11 games.

“We’re giving up too many pucks, too many quality chances,” said Sean Couturier, who tallied two late goals to make the final score deceivingly close. “We have to be smarter with the puck and without it, also. Be in better position. ... All 23 guys need to bear down and grind it out.”

Playing their fifth game in seven days, the Flyers didn’t come close to matching the strong overall play and intensity they displayed the previous night in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Islanders.

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The Flyers (15-12-4) remained two points behind fourth-place Boston in the East Division, with the Bruins having three games in hand.

Captain Claude Giroux was asked if he thought the team needed a trade if it was going to reach the playoffs.

“We have a lot of confidence in our group. I still think we’re going to make the playoffs,” he said. “We need to be a little more consistent in our game, and it starts with me. You can’t play one good game and then one bad game and keep going like that.”

“Obviously, we have consistency issues at this time, and it’s my job to find the right buttons to push,” coach Alain Vigneault said.

Trailing 2-1 early in the second period, the Flyers had two golden scoring opportunities while shorthanded, but they couldn’t connect.

On a two-on-one, Joel Farabee set up Couturier on the first scoring chance, but his shot hit the right post with 15:31 left in the period.

About 2½ minutes later, Kevin Hayes had a shorthanded breakaway after P.K. Subban fell down, but the Flyers center fired wide, so the Devils maintained their 2-1 lead.

The missed opportunities would haunt them.

New Jersey, which has improved recently but still entered the night with the league’s 27th-worst point total, took a 3-1 lead when Yegor Sharangovich scored on a one-timer from slot with 10:28 to go in the second. Phil Myers’ turnover put the sequence in motion.

Ty Smith set up Travis Zajac at the doorstep for a tap-in to make it 4-1 with 24 seconds left in the second.

After they controlled Monday’s game but lost in overtime to the Islanders, the refrain coming out of the Flyers locker room was this: Even though we only got one point, this was something we can build on.

Didn’t happen in the first period. Didn’t come close.

The Flyers were sloppy with the puck in their own end, had no forecheck, and had little attack time as they fell into a 2-1 hole in the opening 20 minutes.

In other words, they played like they have for most of March.

“We didn’t look like we had a lot of jump at the start of the game, and their speed and skill level showed,” Vigneault said. “We didn’t seem like we had a lot in the tank.”

New Jersey had 28 shot attempts to the Flyers’ 11 in the first.

The Flyers started the night using the same lines and pairings for the second straight contest, the first time that had happened since Games 1 and 2. Injuries, the COVID-19 protocol, and poor play have caused Vigneault to juggle the lineup.

Veteran defenseman Justin Braun, who was paired with Travis Sanheim the last two nights, was hopeful the continuity would help.

“It’s nice to have the same group and get used to each other a little more – and get your tendencies down with your own teammates,” Braun said before the game.

Vigneault changed all four lines in the third period as he tried to inject some energy. He got the two late goals from Couturier -- the last one with 62 seconds left to cut the deficit to 4-3 -- but the Flyers ran out of time.

Which is beginning to sound like their plight with seven weeks left in the season.