Flyers drop ninth straight with a 4-1 loss to Sidney Crosby and the Penguins

In front of one of the loudest crowds the Wells Fargo Center has hosted in a while, the Flyers came out against the Pittsburgh Penguins with pep in their step. But while the crowd’s booing of Sidney Crosby didn’t falter, the Flyers did, in a 4-1 loss that extended their skid to nine games.

After the Flyers placed four unanswered shots on goal, the Penguins came storming back. By the end of the period, they had outshot the Flyers, 15-7, and were up, 2-0, following Josh Archibald’s goal off a rebound and Crosby’s goal on a tip-in. Crosby’s goal gave him the most all-time of any player against the Flyers.

For the 11th time, the Flyers found themselves in a 2-0 deficit. The few minutes of competitive play faded into a distant memory as the Flyers came out in the second with less energy than they ended the first.

“We dug ourself a hole,” Kevin Hayes said. “We’ve been pretty good at coming out of those holes, and tonight, that wasn’t the case.”

It only took three minutes for the Penguins to make it 3-0 with a deflection goal by Ryan Poehling, at which point the boos for Crosby turned to boos for Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher. While the fans expressed their displeasure with Fletcher, Poehling scored again from his knees behind the goal.

While they eventually found a spark in the third, the Flyers once again had dug themselves too deep. Hayes’ third-period goal prevented a shutout. But none of the Flyers’ other 15 third-period shots on goal found their way past Tristan Jarry, and the Flyers lost again in front of a thinned-out but still booing crowd.

The surge was just “garbage time,” coach John Tortorella said. But Hayes hopes it’s something they can use as they try to prevent the skid from reaching double-digits.

“We said we might not win this game or tie this game, but we should set the tone tonight for this game for tomorrow’s game in the third period there,” Hayes said of Saturday’s game at the New York Islanders.

Tortorella is on a mission to figure out who is a part of the organization’s future, and his decisions Friday emphasized that no one is safe.

The forwards are decimated by injury, so change among the lines is expected. However, Tortorella went so far as to put young Flyers star Joel Farabee on the third line with Tanner Laczynski and Nicolas Deslauriers, who have been on the fourth line for most of the season.

Tortorella took it a step further when he moved Hayes, one of the only veterans among the forwards, from the first to the fourth line to start the second period. Hayes played the second-least amount of time in the second behind Deslauriers, who sat for five minutes for fighting. Tortorella also pulled Hayes from the top power-play unit.

Carter Hart is one of the only players Tortorella has consistently complimented, but he wasn’t spared, either. After he gave up four goals, Tortorella pulled him for Felix Sandström with 6 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second period, although he said it wasn’t on Hart.

Before the game, Tortorella said the Flyers were using defenseman Tony DeAngelo too much. They’re aware of it, and they’ve discussed it, but when the critical moments arrive, they still lean on him.

Through the first period he coached after saying that, Tortorella continued to rely on DeAngelo. But the team’s leader in on-ice minutes blocked a shot at the end of a shift in the second and limped down the bench to the locker room.

The Flyers had to kill a penalty without DeAngelo, but then he returned, a little worse for the wear but serviceable. And the Flyers put him to work again. Tortorella said the danger of relying on DeAngelo so heavily is that it’s starting to affect his play. That was clear through some of the mistakes DeAngelo made, but it didn’t change his usage. He finished with the second-most ice time. DeAngelo denied that the heavy minutes are affecting him.

The Flyers don’t have much else to turn to. Unlike the forwards, the defensemen are healthy. But they aren’t playing well. Ivan Provorov, who had the most minutes, had a rough game, and Travis Sanheim, who had the third most, is having a rough season. Justin Braun has not shown the consistency with which he played last season, and Rasmus Ristolainen continues to be a liability.

“Shawsy was trying to use everybody when it got out of hand,” Tortorella said, referring to assistant coach Brad Shaw. ”But Tony is in our top pair. When you’re trying to get out of things, you’re going to use your best players.”

With so many injuries to veterans, players in the Flyers organization are being given opportunities they wouldn’t be seeing on most NHL teams. Tortorella has been waiting for someone to take it.

So far, Owen Tippett has been the most opportunistic. But Friday night, Zack MacEwen and Kieffer Bellows made the most of their moments.

MacEwen looked like the best skater on the team. Early on in the first, he cut through Penguin after Penguin for a breakaway shot. He did it again in the third before getting tripped up, earning himself a penalty shot. While he wasn’t able to capitalize, he generated the most offense out of the forwards.

“I know getting an opportunity like this, it doesn’t come all the time in your career,” MacEwen said. “So my mindset is just to make the most of it and just try to keep building my game.”

Before the game, Bellows received praise from Tortorella, who said he’d be giving him a greater chance Friday. Bellows had the most scoring opportunities in the first period. He also set up Morgan Frost for an open look with a perfectly placed pass, but Frost’s shot was just wide of the net. Bellows finished with the most ice time of the forwards.

The Flyers play the second night of their back-to-back with a 7:30 p.m. game Saturday against the Islanders in UBS Arena.