Odd start for Flyers, but good signs emerging; patience needed with Nolan Patrick, Oskar Lindblom | Sam Carchidi

The Flyers are a paradox on skates.

They play solidly in just one period and still win. See victories over Pittsburgh (twice), New Jersey and the Islanders.

They put together their best five-on-five performances of the season and find a way to lose. See the last two games, when they blew late leads against Boston.

It can be maddening to watch, but, believe it or not, there were more good signs in their two recent defeats to the Bruins than there were in many of their (fortunate) victories.

“We’re churning in the right direction,” left winger James van Riemsdyk said after Friday’s 2-1 loss to to Boston.

In the last losses to the Bruins, the Flyers’ active forecheck started to re-emerge. So did their defensive structure, which took a hit when Matt Niskanen stunningly retired after last season.

A year ago, the Flyers’ relentless forecheck and their ability to spend a majority of games in their opponents’ end became their identity as they won nine of their last 10 games before the pandemic stopped the regular season in March.

They lost that identity in the playoffs and huffed and puffed to beat Montreal in the first round, and then fell to the Islanders in the conference semifinals. Never mind that the latter series went seven games. The Islanders were clearly the better team. They pushed around the smaller Flyers, won most 50/50 battles, and tilted the ice in their favor.

Twelve games into this abbreviated season, the Flyers are still trying to regain that pre-playoffs identity, which hasn’t been easy because their best player, Sean Couturier, has only played one full game after suffering a rib injury.

But Couturier is expected to return to the lineup soon (perhaps as early as Sunday), and, good signs are slowly starting to emerge — even if they did blow two games to Boston. One loss was because their penalty kill had a late-game meltdown and surrendered three goals, the other defeat was because Brian Elliott, who has been mostly superb so far, allowed a bad goal on a wrist shot from near Center City.

Before the Bruins came to town, the Flyers’ next four games — two against Boston, which had the most points in the NHL last year, and two against powerful Washington — figured to tell us if they were a legitimate East Division contender.

The two losses to Boston could have easily been wins. The defense played with more cohesion and had better zone exits, and, unlike most of the Flyers’ earlier games, the attack time was fairly even.

“I liked the way we competed,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “I didn’t like the final result, but for the most part, I liked our five-on-five.”

“I think the last two games have been our best five-on-five games, and we didn’t win,” said center Kevin Hayes, whose team plays Peter Laviolette’s Capitals at noon on Sunday. “I take positives from the games. I’m sure our coaches will show us stuff we did correctly and did poorly. We’ll learn from there. Hopefully we can put together a full 60 [minutes] together soon and get the two points.”

Couturier’s return will bolster the special teams and give the lines more balance. It will also move Nolan Patrick down to the third line, where he will get better matchups.

The way Patrick and Oskar Lindblom rebound from major health issues was always going to be the key to this season. Lindblom, of course, missed most of last season after his stunning cancer diagnosis. Patrick didn’t play last season because of a migraine disorder.

The two young forwards have not been major factors yet. Vigneault calls them a “work in progress,” but he is optimistic with the strides they are making. Both seem to be concentrating more on defense to offset the loss of Couturier. Both have two goals in 12 games — one of Lindblom’s tallies was an empty-netter — and haven’t gotten into an offensive flow.

“I think they’re coming along fine,” Vigneault said. “Coming into this season, knowing what those two young men have been through, when Chuck [Fletcher, the general manager] and I talked, the word that came up was patience. Missing such an amount of time, it’s going to take a player an adaptation to find his rhythm and find his game. I think both Nolan and Oskar are going through that right now. They’re working extremely hard, on the ice, off the ice, in the video [room] with the coaches; they’re watching their shifts.”

Lindblom took a hard hit to his chin from Boston’s Connor Clifton late in Friday’s game and did not return. The good news: He was at practice Saturday.

As for Lindblom and Patrick finding their offensive mojo, Vigneault said: “It’s a work in progress, and there’s no doubt in my mind that when you have two young men putting in the time and effort like they are, it’s just a matter of time before they do find their game.”

That bodes well for a Flyers’ team still searching to regain the hard-working identity they displayed toward the end of the 2019-20 regular season.