Ugly loss reminds us Flyers are still a work in progress | Bob Brookover

Maybe it was just a really bad night for a really good, young team. There's no debating that it was the Flyers worst performance of the still-young season. After taking a 1-0 lead on a first-period goal by Sean Couturier, the Flyers surrendered five straight goals on Tuesday night in a 6-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks that sapped some of the feel-good emotions the team had created by winning five of its first eight.

By the end of the evening, the orange-clad crowd at the Wells Fargo Center had thinned significantly. Those who remained alternated between booing the Flyers and spelling the name of the football team that plays across the street — sure signs that something had gone awry.

"We had a chance to make this a hell of a home stand to start the year [and] we slipped," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "We went 3-2 on the home stand. It's an average run."

The 5-4 overall record is rather pedestrian, too. Even though there have been times when the young Flyers have looked faster and far more explosive than their recent predecessors, the game against the Ducks was a reminder that they are still a work in progress.

"That's our record, so we have to deal with it," captain Claude Giroux said. "We've played some good hockey all season long, and we're going to keep getting better and keep working on how we want to be as a team. We're just going to go back to work."

That meant going back to practice Wednesday, but the path ahead is a difficult one. Four of their next five games are on the road against Ottawa, Toronto, Chicago, and St. Louis. All four of those teams made the playoffs last season and are off to terrific starts this season.

"It's a tight league now," Couturier said after accounting for both of the Flyers' goals against the Ducks. "Every night, everyone can win, and it's a matter of little details that make the difference."

The little details and the big ones escaped the Flyers against an imposing Anaheim team that knows how to forecheck and win blue-line battles. Whatever the Flyers could do wrong against the Ducks, they did.

There was Travis Konecny's unforced turnover in his own end that allowed the Ducks to tie the score near the end of the first period — a couple of cardinals sins that could be expected from a young team but that cannot be tolerated by a team with playoff expectations.

There was Brandon Manning out of position early in the second period as Anaheim defenseman Brandon Montour blew past Flyers forward Jori Lehtera and wristed a shot into the net.

There was the tripping penalty on Giroux, who had been visibly frustrated by some non-calls, that led to Anaheim's third goal, a Nick Ritchie backhander off a rebound.

"We've got to do a better job of keeping our composure," Giroux said. "We weren't happy with some of the calls, and I was the first one to lose my composure."

After the Flyers failed to score on a 5-on-3 advantage that started near the end of the second period and extended into the third, the Ducks tacked on two more goals, with the second one being a softie that bounced between the legs of goaltender Brian Elliott. Elliott's overall performance was suspect enough that it would be surprising if Michael Neuvirth is not in net Thursday night against the Senators.

Even Ivan Provorov, the best of the Flyers' young players, had a difficult night against the Ducks. An abysmal turnover by the second-year defenseman led to a penalty shot for Ondrej Kase late in the third period that completed the scoring for the Ducks.

"You have to take the bad with the good," Hakstol said. "We'll evaluate it all and look at it and try to get better from it."

In addition to the suspect play, the Flyers noted that the ice was dreadful. And there was the hard hit that drove Nolan Patrick head-first into the glass early in the second period. The second overall pick in the most recent draft was knocked out of the game, but the next day he said he would be ready to play on Thursday.

Yes, it was a difficult night for the young Flyers. Now, we wait to find out whether it was the start of turbulent times or just a blip on the road back to the postseason.