'Tough way to lose' for Flyers

CLAUDE GIROUX glided through the congratulatory handshakes at the Flyers' bench and smacked himself on the shin pad with his stick.

His third-period, power-play one-timer was, finally, an outlet of pent-up frustration.

On Wednesday night in New York, his lifeless Flyers made Rangers backup Cam Talbot look like Henrik Lundqvist. Talbot pitched just the fourth shutout of his career, sending general manager Ron Hextall on a postgame tirade in the locker room at Madison Square Garden.

Last night, despite a significant, 27-13 shot advantage through two periods, Giroux and the Flyers' suddenly stymied offense couldn't break Minnesota's Darcy Kuemper.

Before Giroux's game-tying strike with under 4 minutes to play, the Flyers' only goal of the contest came off the stick of defenseman Mark Streit.

Both Giroux and the Flyers collectively exhaled.

The only problem was they exhaled too soon, so caught up in solving Kuemper that they lost sight of the goal. There were still 3 minutes and 30 seconds left to battle for at least one point in the standings.

That's when Jason Zucker swooped in with 46 seconds remaining and tapped a goal past Ray Emery, gutting the Flyers with a 3-2 loss on the night they celebrated the induction of Eric Lindros and John LeClair into the team's Hall of Fame.

It was just the Flyers' second regulation loss to Minnesota in 10 games (7-2-1) at Wells Fargo Center since the Wild franchise joined the NHL in 2000.

"We battled hard. We were down. We got a pretty big goal there," Andrew MacDonald said. "Then it seemed like we took our foot off the pedal a little bit there in the last minute. Then it was over."

The shocked Flyers have now lost four in a row for the first time since Oct. 11-17 last season, just after Craig Berube took over as head coach from Peter Laviolette.

They have been outscored, 15-8, during their four-game skid. Not even Ron Hextall's wrath could awaken their suddenly staggering offense.

Yes, Jake Voracek has now registered a point in every game this season (16) in which the Flyers have scored at least one goal. The trouble is that the Flyers' top line hasn't gotten much help in the scoring department. It has been feast or famine.

"It's a tough way to lose," Giroux said. "We played the right way all game."

Still, the NHL is a results-oriented business, and the Flyers' secondary scoring hasn't been chipping in. R.J. Umberger hasn't scored in 10 games, ditto for Sean Couturier. Matt Read has one goal in his last nine.

Even Wayne Simmonds, the team's leading goal-scorer last season, has just one tally in his previous seven contests - same for Vinny Lecavalier. Lecavalier's line at least created scoring chances last night, something that hasn't been seen in weeks.

Streit called last night a "baby step in the right direction" after Wednesday's abysmal loss in Manhattan - though it still wasn't good enough to win.

"We played well," coach Craig Berube said. "If we play like that, we'll win a lot of hockey games. That's got to be the focus. That's the competitiveness that we're looking for, the skating. If we consistently do that, we'll win our share of games."

Defenseman Michael Del Zotto missed last night's game with a "lower-body" injury, suffered in the third period of Wednesday night's loss in New York when he dove to block a shot.

With Del Zotto out, Luke Schenn and Andrew MacDonald both rejoined the lineup. It was MacDonald's first game since Oct. 22 and Schenn's first since Nov. 8. To make room for both players, newcomer Carlo Colaiacovo was left out as a healthy scratch.

Also, after being bowled over by teammate Braydon Coburn at Madison Square Garden, goaltender Steve Mason sat in favor of Ray Emery. While that is not abnormal given back-to-back games, Mason did say after Wednesday's game that his "head hurt a little bit." He missed the start of the Flyers' first-round playoff series against New York last spring with a concussion.

Flyers defenseman Nick Schultz left Minnesota via trade in 2012, but he still remains the Wild's all-time leader in games played with 743 . . . Flyers chairman Ed Snider and former Flyers Craig MacTavish, Joel Otto, Chris Therien, Brian Boucher and Keith Jones all filmed congratulatory wishes for Lindros and LeClair, which aired on the scoreboard during the game . . . Minnesota trainer John Worley, then at the center of the Lindros family feud with the Flyers in 1999 over a collapsed lung and treatment of concussions, was omitted from Lindros' pregame thank you of team staff.

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