Late comeback falls short as Flyers lose to Capitals to conclude ugly homestand

The only reason the Flyers didn’t lose all four games of the just-completed homestand is because they played the Sabres in one of them. Washington won the other three at the Wells Fargo Center, completing the hat trick on Saturday night.

The Flyers were sloppy all week and paid for it. They say their overall game is taking the right steps, but the standings say otherwise. This time, it was a loss to the Capitals, 5-4.

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“I do believe our game is trending the right way,” said Claude Giroux, who then allowed, “it’s hard to evaluate it that way when you’re losing games, but we’re doing a lot of good things out there.”

Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere scored third-period goals for the Flyers, who got a rare bad start from Brian Elliott. The Flyers (13-9-3) missed a chance to make up some ground on Boston (32 points) and remain three points behind the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division.

The Flyers have lost five of their last seven, needing a shootout over the lowly Sabres to salvage the week’s only victory.

“This is challenging for everyone right now,” said coach Alain Vigneault, who decided to bring the Flyers in for a rare practice on Sunday. “Frustration is not what we need. What we need is good, smart work.”

Vigneault had hoped to give No. 1 goalie Carter Hart “a couple more” off days to get the cobwebs out by having him sit out on Saturday. Turns out, he could only give him a few more hours.

We know we can do it. We like playing for each other. When we get a win, it’s going to turn into a couple wins. For us, [we need to] just keep the confidence going, keep doing what we’re doing, and things will turn up.

Vigneault’s mildly surprising decision, announced at 10 a.m. Saturday, to start Elliott for a second consecutive game was a gamble that failed after Elliott gave up three goals on 10 shots and was lifted early in the second period -- sometime around 8 p.m.

“There’s no doubt [Elliott] was fighting it a little bit,” Vigneault said. “When you give up the number of goals we’re giving up at this time, that it’s not easy for anyone. But we’re going to continue to work and continue to try and get better.”

James van Riemsdyk and Nolan Patrick also scored for Flyers, who trailed by scores of 3-1 and 5-2.

Patrick made it 3-2 off a sweet feed from Jake Voracek. It was Patrick’s first point in 18 games and his first score in 23 games. He had started on the fourth line but was moved up with Voracek and Giroux during the game.

Patrick had a neutral-zone turnover that led to Daniel Sprong’s opening goal. Giroux followed it up with a blueline giveaway that Carl Hagelin deposited as the Caps went to intermission with a 2-0 lead.

“Personally, I know I can play better,” said Giroux. “Frustration comes out. We need to keep battling.”

The Flyers have given up seven goals in their last three first periods. Crowds continue to be restricted to 3,100 at the Wells Fargo Center, which is probably a good thing. The Flyers would have gotten a Philly serenade after the opening 20 minutes and would have deserved every boo.

Hart went in after Elliott gave up a softie to defenseman Nick Jensen 29 seconds after the Flyers had made it 2-1. It was the 12th time the Flyers gave up a goal less than than two minutes of scoring themselves. It’s an esoteric stat, but the simplest translation is they are constantly killing their own momentum.

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Hart gave up a goal to Alexander Ovechkin in the second period, the 716th of Ovechkin’s career and his fifth in four games against the Flyers this season (four against Hart). Ovechkin needs two goals to pass Phil Esposito for sixth all-time.

Fortunately, Ovechkin and the Capitals aren’t on the Flyers’ schedule again until April 13. But the Flyers’ next challenge won’t be easy. They’ll spend the next week in New York with two games against the Rangers, who just got back their superstar, and the Islanders, who came into Saturday in first place in the East Division.

The Flyers came into March just three points out of first place with games in hand on the teams in front of them. They head to New York three points away from sixth place.

“We’ve dug ourselves a hole to make the playoffs,” Giroux said, “[but] we have confidence that we’re going to get back into the race.”