Flyers’ scoring struggles contribute to 5-1 loss to last-place Chicago Blackhawks

It’s plain and simple, the Flyers need points.

They’re not getting them.

The end of the regular season is rapidly approaching and, entering Saturday, the Flyers had just eight games left with the teams chasing them having games in hand. So you’d think facing several teams mired in the bottom of the NHL, those games would be easy pickings for a Flyers team sitting in third place in the Metropolitan Division.

You’d think wrong.

After a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, the Flyers lost to the 31st-ranked team in the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-1, on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. The loss stung even more as the Washington Capitals have jumped the Flyers for third place in the Metro after losing in a shootout to the Boston Bruins. Philly is now the second wild card.

The Flyers needed a quick start and didn’t get one. Just two minutes into the game, Jarred Tinordi put the puck on net, and Sam Ersson made the easy blocker save. The only issue is, he sent it right to Lukas Reichel, and the 21-year-old winger carried it around behind the net before knocking in his own rebound between the post and Ersson’s left skate.

Like the game against the Canadiens on Thursday, the Flyers once again found themselves in a 2-0 hole before the first period ended. Off the rush, rookie phenom Connor Bedard hit Philipp Kurashev with a pass from the top of the right faceoff circle to the top of the left circle for the wrister.

But, unlike the game in Montreal, the Flyers were able to cut into the Blackhawks’ lead quickly. After Scott Laughton dropped the gloves with Ryan Donato late in the first period, the Flyers’ own rookie phenom, Tyson Foerster, scored 17 seconds into the second. Off a defensive-zone draw, the Flyers broke out and Foerster picked the puck up in the neutral zone, skated in, and rifled a shot from above the circles for his 20th goal of the season.

But the feel-good vibes were short-lived. Nick Foligno scored a power-play goal late in the second period as he crept down the slot to make it 3-1 late in the middle frame. In the third period, Egor Zamula’s pass attempt in the neutral zone to Travis Konecny on the far side was blocked by Joey Anderson; he broke in all alone on Ersson and scored low glove side. MacKenzie Entwistle put the game out of reach when the Blackhawks broke out three-on-two.

Cam Atkinson, Marc Staal, Nic Deslauriers, Olle Lycksell, and Ronnie Attard were each a healthy scratch. ... Ivan Fedotov served as the backup goalie and got a big cheer from the crowd by the glass when he hit the ice for warmups. ... Foerster is the first Flyers rookie with 20 goals since Matt Read in 2011-12. Read scored 24 that season.

The Flyers host the New York Islanders on Monday (7 p.m. on NBCSP).