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Listless Flyers needed Steve Mason's wake-up call for more effort

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Goalie Steve Mason called out the Flyers after their latest sleepy loss. Good for him. It's about time someone did.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Goalie Steve Mason called out the Flyers after their latest sleepy loss.

Good for him. It's about time someone did.

This is a team that has shown little sense of urgency, little pushback, too many times during this forgettable 50th-anniversary season.

This is a team that will set unwanted NHL history: No team has ever missed the playoffs during a season in which it won 10 straight games.

This is a team that would have had the late Ed Snider demanding accountability if he were still around.

Mason took a step in that direction by calling out the team for its listless performance in a 3-2 defeat Tuesday to going-nowhere Winnipeg, which used a goalie who was a third-stringer last month, had five defensemen sidelined by injuries, and had three AHL call-ups among its defenders.

And yet, with their playoff hopes alive but slim, the Flyers had little attack time and played as if it were an exhibition game in September.

"We need to be a more desperate club," Mason said.

The Flyers played hard in a 4-3 overtime win over Carolina on Sunday. But that comeback victory was sandwiched between losses in New Jersey and Winnipeg. The Flyers looked uninterested in both defeats. For a team still in the playoff race, the lack of pushback was mind-boggling.

That falls on the coaches and team leaders.

Quite frankly, a lot of them seem to be in denial.

That's why it was nice to see Mason step up. Maybe it will make the players look in the mirror.

The fact that the Flyers made it easy on Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson for most of Tuesday's game was alarming. They rarely tested him and rarely had traffic in front of the net against a group of very raw defensemen - one who made his NHL debut, another playing in just his second game.

"It was up to us to make them feel uncomfortable," Mason said. "We're also facing a goaltender who hadn't had a start in two months, and I don't think we made it hard enough for him. We need a better effort. We keep playing like this and we'll be mathematically eliminated before you know it. We've got to stop this win-one-lose-one [habit]. We have to have some growth on the team here."

The Flyers aren't overly talented. No one expected them to contend for the Stanley Cup this season. Showing some desire, some heart, was expected, especially with their playoff hopes still alive.

Paul Holmgren, the club president, said the Flyers were a tired team when they dropped a 6-2 decision last week in New Jersey because they had faced Pittsburgh the previous night.

"The New Jersey Devils have a lot of pride; they're trying to win, too," he said. "It's not as easy as it seems just because a team is below you" in the standings.

That said, Holmgren agrees with captain Claude Giroux: The Flyers have underachieved.

"We're all disappointed. We've left points on the table, and that hurts," said Holmgren, who is in Minnesota, where the Flyers will play Thursday night. "But I think overall, the team has played pretty well."

Not really. Since their 10-game winning streak ended, the Flyers have 14 wins in their last 40 games (14-21-5). That's the NHL's second-worst record in that span.

The Flyers have a team very similar to last season's, when they finished 41-27-14 (96 points) and reached the playoffs. You could even argue that, on paper, this team is better because it has added talented rookies Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny.

Yet the Flyers (33-31-8) will probably finish with about 12 fewer points than last season.

"Let's face it. We need to get better in certain areas," Holmgren said. "It's a very competitive league; there aren't many easy games anymore. For us to be the competitive team we want to be, we have to get better. The players we have need to get better. Other teams are trying to do the same thing, so it's a difficult league. . . . Since the salary cap was instituted, [teams have] gotten closer and closer."

Holmgren said the Flyers "are a better team than our record shows, in my opinion."

The Flyers are 22nd out of 30 teams in goals per game (2.53), 24th in goals allowed per game (2.94), 13th on the power play (19.6 percent success rate), and 23rd on the penalty kill (79.3 percent).

They are the definition of mediocre. Or worse.

Again, this isn't surprising. This was a retooling season, a season to incorporate some rookies into the lineup. More rookies (Oskar Lindblom? Sam Morin? Travis Sanheim?) will be added next season.

But many of the veterans have slumped. And the team's overall hunger, or lack of it, has been the biggest disappointment.

"Do our players need to play better? Absolutely. Do our goaltenders need to play better? Absolutely," Holmgren said. "We need to get better in a lot of areas. We need to continue to upgrade our skill, and I think through the draft, Ron [Hextall, the general manager] has done that. It's part of the process.

"We'll continue to get better as we add some of these young players," he added.

Holmgren, who believes having veteran center Valtteri Filppula for a full season will make the team better in 2017-18, said Giroux and Jake Voracek "have not had as good a year as we hoped. That doesn't mean from an effort standpoint, but from a production standpoint."

Asked if the Flyers needed to trade one of their five core forwards and give the team a new identity, Holmgren said it was Hextall's decision, "but I like our team. I just think collectively we didn't play the way we need to play and be the team we thought we would be."

Especially in the effort department in some recent games.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull www.philly.com/flyersblog