Impotent Flyers rally to batter the Blackhawks after Mike Yeo calls out the team | Marcus Hayes

Mike Yeo is mad as hell, and he’s not gonna take it anymore.

It’s about time.

For decades, Flyers coaches and brass have protected their precious players like they’re diarrheic ducklings. Guess what hit the fan?

On Friday, for the second time in 14 hours, Yeo crushed his club with a damning, public indictment. Every note he hit was right on key.

He said after a gutting loss Thursday night and after a Friday afternoon team meeting, again and again, that his Flyers lack “passion.” They need more “character,” commitment,” “buy-in,” “leadership,” and “attitude.” They don’t play hard enough often enough.

Twenty-seven hours later the Blackhawks visited, and the wilted skaters rose to the occasion. They played like the Bullies of yore, with speed and physicality, delighting a crowd that, for a change, nearly filled the barn.

They instigated three scrums, contributed to a two-team, seven-man penalty-box party in the third period, and won, 4-3. Granted, the “W” came against a ratty team that took two penalties for too many skaters, but a win’s a win, and the Flyers only had three wins in their last 24 games, so they were delighted, and Yeo’s valuation was validated.

“Team got called up pretty loudly by Coach, and I thought the boys responded the right way,” said veteran forward Kevin Hayes.

Well, Coach?

“A positive step,” Yeo said afterward.

Geez, Coach.

What onions on this guy. Yeo is an interim coach of a historically bad team. He doesn’t care. He’s seen too many missed checks, too many intercepted passes, and too little effort to let this pass any longer.

He lost it after he watched his team commit 15 turnovers Thursday night -- 15 more lazy, dumb plays from a talent-thin team that can’t afford to be this lazy or this dumb. Yeo and his staff have done all they can do.

He wants gladiators, not tergiversators. It’s on the players now.

“They’re the ones out there who have to be warriors,” he said.

Sadly, when the heat is on, the Flyers have melted like snowflakes.

They didn’t melt Saturday. For a change.

The team infuriated him Thursday night when it blew four leads and lost to the Wild, 5-4, and he tore into the players in the locker room afterward, then ripped them in his news conference.

“We crumbled,” he admitted.

After watching game film, Yeo wasn’t any happier Friday, and he called a lunchtime meeting to rip them again.

“I’m still angry today, to be honest with you,” Yeo said Friday. “I’m angry that we don’t have a little more attitude.”

They have three wins in the last 24 games, they’re 8-18-6 since Yeo replaced Alain Vigneault in December, and they seem certain to supplant the 2006-07 team as the worst in franchise history.

“Some of these times we’re going out there and we’re not giving 100 percent,” he said.

» READ MORE: The Philadelphia Flyers, who haven’t won a Stanley Cup in 47 years, have never been worse | Marcus Hayes

So what? So, this:

“We’re probably going to have to get a little bit dirty here,” Yeo said, “to make sure we push this group to a way higher level of commitment.”

By “dirty,” Yeo said, he meant that players will start losing playing time, if not their jobs.

“I don’t expect us to win every single night, but we have to be willing to get our nose dirty,” Yeo said. “We have to be willing to play hard. If you don’t win, you can accept that.”

He carved out no exception. He didn’t applaud Scott Laughton or Claude Giroux, who have been playing pretty well, and he didn’t single out Ivan Provorov, the $6.75 million defenseman who’s been playing like a Dollar Store washout.

He will accept no excuses. The Flyers played most of the season gutted by injuries, but now, as the team gets healthier, the play somehow is getting worse.

“We’ve got players coming back,” Yeo said. “If guys aren’t doing the job, obviously, ice time is going to reflect that.”

Yeo thinks the Flyers might be distracted by trade rumors; Giroux is on the block, among others. He believes they might be intimidated by the competition. They could be overwhelmed by the hopelessness of a lost season.

“Do you come to the rink and feel sorry for yourself?” Yeo said. “Do you come to the rink and say, ‘OK, maybe it’s not our night tonight?’”

Two of the more prominent leaders, Sean Couturier and Hayes, have played 29 and 20 games, respectively. Coots is done for the year, but Hayes returned Saturday and set up the game’s first goal on his second shift.

» READ MORE: ‘I feel like I owe it to my teammates': Kevin Hayes to return vs. Blackhawks

Yeo’s miserly approval Saturday is understandable, considering how chapped he was Thursday and Friday.

“We’ve let some bad habits creep in,” Yeo said Friday, and the players -- many of them good friends -- weren’t holding each other accountable. “There’s a difference between being a good teammate and being a good guy.”

Having more good players would help, but even mediocre players can play hard.

“I’m not saying we’re going to guarantee wins,” Yeo said. “We certainly can guarantee a great work ethic. We have to make sure we play with passion.”

Saturday, there was passion. Saturday, there was work ethic. Will there be passion and work ethic when Vegas visits Tuesday?

“I hope ... everything’s going to be great and shiny and perfect the rest of the way,” Yeo said Friday, “but I’m pretty sure that’s not the reality.”

Mike Yeo might be mad, but he ain’t crazy.