Listless Flyers fall to Bruins

BOSTON - The Flyers did not allow any shots for nearly the first 11 minutes Saturday afternoon, but after that, their Meltdown in Beantown was painfully quick.

They allowed three goals in a span 2 minute and 18 seconds of the first period en route to a 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

It was the Flyers' third straight defeat and it left them at 11-14-1, their second-worst 26-game start, points-wise, in the last 20 seasons.

"We're not happy with where we are, and it would be real easy to just point fingers and kind of quit at this point," forward Danny Briere said after coach Peter Laviolette held a 20-minute closed-door meeting with the players. "I really believe nobody is going to do that. We're going to keep working hard and find a way out of this mess."

The Flyers had few good scoring chances among their 23 shots, making life easy for Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.

Boston got first-period goals from Tyler Seguin (power play after a bad Andrej Meszaros clear), Chris Kelly (wide open in left circle) and Daniel Paille, who beat goalie Ilya Bryzgalov with a backhander after a turnover by Sean Couturier near the blue line.

After Paille's goal, Couturier - who is having a disappointing sophomore season - slammed his stick to the ice in frustration.

Seguin's power-play goal, off a great feed from Milan Lucic, started the rout.

"You look down the bench and everyone's heads were down. . . . It just seemed like we were all deflated right off the bat," winger Scott Hartnell said. "That's not what good teams do, and it's on us to pick each other up and support each other and be positive. We're down 1-0, and it seemed like we just packed it in."

"The margin for error is getting smaller and smaller to make the playoffs," said Couturier, a center who was demoted from the third to the fourth line, "and we'll have to pick it up."

The Flyers on Saturday played with the healthiest lineup they have had all season. Meszaros, sidelined since Jan. 24 with a dislocated left shoulder, returned to action and was paired with Erik Gustafsson.

The offense finally has all of its regulars, but it continues to struggle. Consider:

Briere has not scored a goal in the last nine games, and he is minus-8 for the season.

Couturier has two goals in 24 games and is minus-8, and Hartnell has one goal in 10 games.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Max Talbot each have one goal in 26 games.

The Flyers failed to recover from Thursday's 5-4 loss to Pittsburgh, a game in which they blew a 4-1, first-period lead.

"We were looking for a response from the last game, and that was not the response we were looking for," said coach Peter Laviolette, whose team will try to rebound Sunday night against visiting Buffalo.

"The best thing is we have a game [Sunday] at home and we have to be flying," Hartnell said.

Saturday's loss was the second time the Flyers were blanked this year (3-0 to New Jersey on Jan. 22).0

Contact Sam Carchidi at scarchidi@phillynews.com. Follow on Twitter @BroadStBull.