With all due respect to the New York Islanders, who put in a scrappy effort, the Flyers pretty much gave away two sorely needed points tonight and are in a full-fledged tailspin.

It was very disappointing to see the Flyers fail to compete for long stretches of play, commit an array of unforced turnovers, give up 47 shots and four goals to the NHL's lowest scoring team-- a club that came in having lost seven in a row and that made it's own share of mistakes tonight.

Really, there's not much more to say. The Flyers once again came up with a too-little-too-late surge at the end of the game, but deserved to lose again. You can't spend the night chasing the game and expect to win.

It's as simple as that. The majority of the Flyers player was guilty to some extent tonight of not coming ready to play from the drop of the puck. They were horrendous in their own end of the ice, terrible on faceoffs, and unable to finish all but one transition chance.

In recent days, I've written a lot about the Flyers' play of late being part of the normal ebb and flow of the season.

But tonight's performance was flat out unacceptable -- the type of performance in a string of bad games that merits a closed-door meeting.

****

The Flyers (30-20-2-3, 65 points) will look to snap a three-game losing streak tonight when they travel to Long Island to take on an Islanders team (24-25-5-2, 55 points) that has been in a tailspin.

Philly has lost four of its last five games. The Islanders have lost seven in a row (0-6-1) and are currently six points off the pace for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers have controlled the season series to date and are 5-1-1 in the last seven games they've played at the Nassau Coliseum.

It's high time for Philadelphia to sort out some of the defensive issues that have come up to bite them at times this season. The Islanders typically work hard against the Flyers but the team has scored the fewest goals in the NHL this season (134) and only 11 during their recent slide.

Meanwhile, the Flyers need to get some of their own players scoring again, especially at five-on-five. Mike Knuble has been carrying too much of the recent goal-scoring load. Here's a look at some key individual players' recent production, excluding the injured Simon Gagne (no goals in his last six games, one in the last 11) :

* Daniel Briere hasn't scored a goal in eight games and has one goal in the last 11 games. He has not recorded a point in the three games against the Islanders this season.

* Jeff Carter's last goal was nine games ago against the Devils. He has one goal in the last 13 games.

* Kimmo Timonen has only two points since the All-Star break, three points in the last nine games and hasn't scored a goal since his three-point (1 G, 2 A) game against Florida back on January 16.

* Mike Richards has one goal in his last 10 games, and four goals in the last 21 games. He does, however, have 15 assists during that span.

* Scott Hartnell has one goal and two points in the last six games.

* R.J. Umberger scored twice in the Penguins game and has six of his 11 goals on the season against his hometown club. Prior to that, he had three goals in the last 26 games, dating back to his hat trick against the Penguins in December.

* Rookie Steve Downie has one goal (a game-winner in Atlanta) in his last 10 games.

* Sami Kapanen, who may be moved up temporarily to a scoring line with both Upshall and Gagne out and callup Kyle Greentree playing in his first NHL game, has two goals and three points in his last 43 games.

I'll say it again: Offense is fickle, and there's no such thing as too much depth because it can disappear in a hurry. But defense and goaltending are what keep teams winning consistently, even when it goes through some rough patches offensively.


Flyers lines:

Umberger/Kapanen - Briere - Lupul
Hartnell - Richards - Downie
Umberger/Kapanen - Carter - Knuble
Cote - Dowd - Greentree

Timonen - Vandermeer
Hatcher - Jones
Smith - Kukkonen

Niittymäki
[Biron]


Scratches:
Gagne (Concussion)
Coburn (Ruptered artery)
Upshall (Ankle sprain)
Fitzpatrick (IR, sports hernia)
Rathje (LTI)

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