Flyers are put through punishing practice

"It's our own fault," said winger Scott Hartnell, whose team just finished playing four games in a six-night span. "We have to earn our days off."

The Flyers are 5-4-1 and have had problems in five-on-five situations - and in surrendering goals late in periods.

"You have to do whatever is in your power to win games," Stevens said. "We haven't been doing that enough lately, and that's why we are here today to get extra work in and not be comfortable with losing games. Let's get back to work here . . . and we'll take days off when we start winning hockey games."

Hartnell said the Flyers "need to get back to fundamentals, and our bodies have to get back in shape. We might have let our bodies slip the last week or two with all the time off."

The Flyers recently played one game in an 11-day span.

In Tuesday's 4-2 loss in Washington, the Flyers blew a 2-0 lead. Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, including an empty-netter.

The Flyers had a season-high 43 shots but managed just power-play goals from Hartnell and Braydon Coburn.

"We can't be satisfied just because we had good chances," winger Ian Laperriere said.

In other words, the Flyers need to start cashing in on opportunities around the net.

Jeff Carter was one of the players who had lots of chances Tuesday. Carter had six shots and clanked one drive off the post. He has gone six games without a goal, his longest drought in two seasons.

"You have to maybe do a little more in practice to make sure the near-misses turn into goals," Stevens said. "Jeff's obviously an important guy on our team and he contributes in a lot of other ways besides scoring, but at the end of the day we need guys like Jeff scoring goals. And the harder you work, the more breaks you're going to get."

A year ago, Carter had a breakthrough season with 46 goals. The Flyers were 25-4-6 when he scored.

This season, the Flyers are 2-1 when he scores, 3-3-1 when he doesn't.

After practices, the music is usually blaring in the Flyers' locker room. Yesterday, it was turned off. It was not an edict from Stevens, but it was the players who wanted a more serious approach.

"It's kind of good," Laperriere said with a smile, "because the music we listen to is awful."

The players, jolted by their mediocre start, seemed to have a more businesslike manner yesterday.

"We know we have a good team," Laperriere said. "If you come back happy and smiling after a loss, you're in the wrong business. I'm glad guys aren't happy."

Stevens addressed the players sternly, and reminded them of the importance of early-season games.

"If you look back on last year, we missed home ice by one point," said Stevens, whose team finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and handed home ice to Pittsburgh in the first playoff round. "That one point last year would have given us home-ice advantage, and it could have been a difference. Right now, we have to start putting points on the board and start climbing in the standings and make it as easy as possible on ourselves as we move through the year."

Stevens added that "the points in October are as important as points in March, and we need to get more points right now."

Breakaways. Blair Betts (shoulder) took contact yesterday and, unless there are setbacks, he and defenseman Ryan Parent (groin) will return from injuries Saturday afternoon against visiting Carolina. . .. Four of the Flyers' big offensive weapons - Carter (minus-5), Hartnell (minus-5), Danny Briere (minus-5), and Mike Richards (minus-3) - are a combined minus-18.