Flyers-Stars observations: Cam Talbot’s struggles, Oskar Lindblom’s strong play

DALLAS — The Flyers suffered their eighth defeat in their last 11 games, losing in Dallas on Tuesday night, 6-2.

Here are some takeaways.

The Flyers have been eliminated from the playoff race since Saturday. They would have been eliminated a lot sooner if they played like they did Tuesday. Basically, they played for half the 60 minutes. Not a good recipe.

They were awful in the first 10 minutes and the final 20 minutes of the game. In between, they showed some heart and urgency for 30 minutes.

Next season’s motto should be “60 Hard Minutes.” Maybe a reminder will help.

Allowing the first goal isn’t a catastrophe. Allowing the first two goals?

Well, that’s a different story.

The Flyers on Tuesday fell into a 2-0 hole for the 30th time in 80 games, a mind-boggling 37.5 percent of the time. They have won four of those 30 games.

“When you’re always chasing the game, it’s tough,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said. “You’re going to get more tired, so I think for us, it’s about bearing down a little bit and getting better starts.”

Left winger Oskar Lindblom was the Flyers’ top player Tuesday. The 22-year-old scored his 15th goal and was one of the team’s few players who went all-out all night, continually driving to the net.

But his strong play couldn’t prevent the Stars from clinching a Western Conference playoff berth.

“It’s kind of embarrassing to go out and lose, 6-2, in this kind of game,” he said.

Lindblom’s 15 goals are the most by a Flyers rookie since Gostisbehere had 17 in 2015-16, and the most by a Flyers rookie forward since James van Riemsdyk had 15 in 2009-10.

Center Nolan Patrick didn’t score — he has one goal in his last 21 games — but the second-year center picked up his first assist in nine games and went to the net hard while playing his best game in a while.

With two games left, the 20-year-old Patrick has 13 goals, the same number he scored last season.

In his final start of the season, Cam Talbot allowed six goals on 30 shots. Two of those goals were his fault, including a back-breaking third-period tally that deflected off his stick and into the net and gave Dallas a 5-2 lead.

Talbot was outstanding in the third period before allowing the strange short-side goal to Blake Comeau.

“I wasn’t good enough,” said Talbot, whose mistake-prone defense left him vulnerable many times.

Talbot has played in only four games with the Flyers, three as a starter, but he has not been impressive. It’s a not a lot of games, and Talbot, who will turn 32 next week, went a long time between starts, so there’s no reason for alarm.

That said, Talbot also struggled this season with Edmonton. He didn’t exactly make the Flyers’ brass confident that he will be a viable backup to Carter Hart — if Talbot returns. (I think he will.)

In four games with the Flyers, Talbot, a pending unrestricted free agent, had a 3.70 goals-against average and .881 save percentage.

He did not resemble the goalie who finished fourth in the Vezina Trophy voting after a superb 2016-17 season — he had a 42-22-8 record, 2.39 GAA, and .919 save percentage — with the Oilers.

Before making Talbot an offer, the Flyers at least need to explore their options. Brian Elliott, whose injury-plagued season is cause for concern, is a potential free-agent goalie, as are Robin Lehner, Curtis McElhinney, Ryan Miller, and Anders Nilsson.