Tired Flyers need to play kids, and 4 other observations

Five observations from the Flyers' ninth straight loss, a 3-1 defeat against visiting San Jose on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center:

You can give the Flyers a pass for this listless loss. They were playing on back-to-back nights, and it was their fifth game in eight nights.

But there are no excuses for their meltdowns in their previous eight losses, during which they were outscored, 14-2, after the second period.

Play the kids. Play the kids. Play the kids.

Dave Hakstol wanted a heavy lineup against San Jose, which has one of the league's biggest teams. Hence, he played veteran wingers Dale Weise and Jori Lehtera.

But you can argue that the best way to counteract a big team is with speed. Yet, Taylor Leier and Jordan Weal watched from the press box.

Weise played 12 minutes, 41 seconds and had more ice time than rookies Danick Martel (8:49) and Nolan Patrick (11:54).

Again, play the kids.

From here, Weal hasn't been the same since he took a head hit from Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien a couple of weeks ago. If he has been benched the last two games because the Flyers want to get him healthy, that makes sense. But the Flyers aren't forthcoming about reporting injuries, so their motive is hard to tell.

The Flyers need a healthy Weal and need him to resemble the player who had eight goals in the last 19 games last season.

I haven't seen as many empty seats at the Wells Fargo Center in more than a decade. If that doesn't get the brass' attention, nothing will.

With their most physical defenseman (Radko Gudas) suspended, it's the perfect time to have Samuel Morin here. Instead, he's with the Phantoms. GM Ron Hextall is leery of having three rookies on defense, but at least the 6-foot-7, 227-pound Morin would clear bodies in front of the net and give the Flyers some much-needed snarl.