Flyers fall at home to Blues, 4-2

Like a seasoned safe cracker, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette is spinning numbers on the dial, looking for the line combinations that will open the vault to the club's offense.

Seven of the 12 forwards who played for the Flyers in Saturday's 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the Wells Fargo Center were not on last season's team, and Laviolette jumbled his lines for the second straight game in an attempt to find out who fits best with whom.

But the coach's tinkering couldn't fully explain the Flyers' second straight defeat. A lackadaisical first period and a couple of poor plays by goalie Ilya Bryzgalov certainly factored into the defeat.

Trailing most of the game by two goals, defenseman Matt Carle gave the Flyers hope with a power-play goal to make it 3-2 with 6 minutes, 46 seconds to go in the third period. The ugly goal was awarded after video review, but Scott Hartnell took a cross-checking penalty during the pileup in front of the net and Bryzgalov gift-wrapped the fourth goal for the Blues.

In an attempt to stickhandle the puck, Bryzgalov lollygagged in front of the net and Matt D'Agostini took it from him and shot into an unprotected net with 5:40 left.

Bryzgalov had said Friday he hadn't found his comfort zone, and he offered evidence he was telling the truth. He has allowed 16 goals in his past four games.

The Blues arrived at their hotel around 3:30 a.m. after defeating Carolina in overtime Friday night at St. Louis, but it was the Flyers who began the game as if they were rubbing sleep from their eyes.

The Blues scored a goal less than two minutes after the opening faceoff, made it 2-0 midway through the first, and were threatening to build on their lead before Laviolette called a timeout, more than likely to remind his team the game had started.

The Flyers didn't immediately respond to whatever it was Laviolette said, but they showed signs of awakening after they killed a power play at the end of the period and they went on to carry the play through most of the second period, when matters became more contentious.

Still, the Flyers faced a 3-1 deficit going into the third period.

Bryzgalov appeared as stunned as everyone else in the building when a shot by defenseman Kent Huskins from between the blue line and faceoff circle got through him at 1:48 of the first. Jason Arnott set up the goal by taking a faceoff from Claude Giroux and drawing it back to Huskins.

St. Louis rode the wave of momentum from the early goal, dominated the puck and quickly tested Bryzgalov's resilience. The goalie made two solid saves but was left to fend for himself when T.J. Oshie ended up alone near the side of the crease and scored. At that point, the Blues were outshooting the Flyers, 8-2. The Flyers were fortunate to only be down 2-0 after the first period.

Briere, who had one goal in the first six games, gave the Flyers the emotional jolt they needed when he lifted a perfect shot over the shoulder of Blues goalie Brian Elliott just 56 seconds into the second to bring the Flyers within 2-1.

Shortly after Briere's goal, rookies Matt Read and Brayden Schenn had scoring chances and the Flyers continued threatening through most of the period. It seemed inevitable they would tie the score when they were on their second power play of the period, but the Blues backed in to keep several shots from getting in on Elliott. Thirty-three seconds after the Blues killed off that second power play, defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo pounced on a loose puck in front of Bryzgalov and made it 3-1 with 4:24 to go in the second period.

Contact staff writer Ray Parrillo at rparrillo@phillynews.com or @rayparrilloinq on Twitter.