PHILADELPHIA — If the Flyers needed any more convincing that they have hit rock bottom, a 6-3 spanking by the last-place New York Rangers on home ice Saturday afternoon pretty much removed all doubt.

The Flyers’ fifth straight regulation loss, which extended their winless streak to six games (0-5-1), has momentarily pushed them out of the playoff picture. In the last six games, they have been outscored, 31-12.

The Flyers surrendered one power-play goal, running that total to four in the past two games, after a 6-3 loss in Pittsburgh Thursday.

Coach Rick Tocchet was not about to push the panic button. Teams go through dry spells, and he’s seen enough of them to know how the recovery works.

“We’re not a team that can open it up,” Tocchet said. “When you’re a little bit tired, you lose a little bit of confidence, you have to stay with structure. It’s on me to get these guys back on the rail.”

The Flyers showed a little life in the third period but by then it was too late.

“We just have to play a certain way to be able to compete,” Tocchet said. “You saw when we tried to open it up. . .there’s a time and place to go but I think we’re kind of caught in between. We’ve got to get back to our identity and that’s playing smart hockey, playing disciplined.”

New York’s attack was led by Mika Zibanejad’s hat trick and Artemi Panarin’s two-goal effort.

The Flyers surrendered goals on each of New York’s first three shots of the game in a span of a minute and 20 seconds, hushing the sellout crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

“We’re getting behind the eight-ball, we’re losing two-, three-nothing before the game starts,” Tocchet said. “You can’t chase.”

Travis Konecny opened the scoring with a shot from the right dot past Ranger Spencer Martin at 6:22. Martin was playing just his third game of the season, with starter Igor Shesterkin injured and backup Jonathan Quick ineffective.

Then the roof caved in on Flyers starting goalie Aleksei Kolosov. Panarin was left open in the left circle and he scored at 7:05. Just 21 seconds later, Zibanejad took advantage of a New York faceoff win and sent a 40-footer beyond Kolosov’s reach. Finally, the Rangers broke in three-on-one against Kolosov, who had no chance on Brennan Othmann’s short-range shot at 8:25. It was the Ranger forward’s first goal of the season.

“Obviously they (the players) are frustrated,” said defenseman Cam York, who was on the ice for four New York goals after doing the same against Pittsburgh. “We’ve kind of just been shooting ourselves in the foot, making silly mistakes. It’s correctable stuff.”

The question is: How soon?

“It’s not that we haven’t done it this year,” York responded. “But we’re going to continue to work at it. Clean it up.

“I think guys are probably overthinking right now. Myself included. Things we haven’t done all year we’ve been doing. It’s been a frustrating go but we have to correct it.”

The three-goal bushwhack was all for Kolosov, replaced by Sam Ersson in a reversal of Thursday. Zibanejad scored two more goals in the second period as the onslaught continued.

Ersson began the litany of errors by firing a puck over the glass, leading to Zibanejad’s second goal at 5:38 to make it 4-1.

Then, at 8:25, the Flyers experienced a complete breakdown to lead to Zibanejad’s third. Many of the Ranger fans in the house started throwing hats on the ice.

Panarin added his second goal at 14:31 to make it 6-1 before Travis Sanheim scored shorthanded off a rush with Konecny. A third-period goal by Trevor Zegras made the final score a bit more respectable.

Sean Couturier’s voice was subdued postgame. Losing games in this fashion does not sit well with the captain.

“Down 3-1 in the first 10 minutes or whatever, we’ve got to be better,” he said. “I think it’s important to stick together. A lot of pressure, outside noise but it’s on us to figure it out and we’ll come out stronger.”

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NOTES >> Flyers center Rodrigo Abols was injured at the 6:10 mark of the first period. He collapsed in the offensive zone’s right corner and had to be helped off the ice by two teammates. He did not return to the game. When asked about Abols’ condition after the game, Tocchet responded: “It’s not good.” … Konecny continues to move up some significant Flyers statistical categories. Saturday was his 692nd game with the Flyers, moving past Simon Gagne for 13th place. His 303 assists are tied with Eric Desjardins for 15th place on the Flyers’ allt-ime list. … The Flyers begin a three-game trip Monday in Vegas. The trip continues with games in Utah Wednesday and at Colorado Friday. … Sanheim’s 60 career goals move him past Behn Wilson and into a tie with Shayne Gostisbehere for fifth among Flyers defenseman. Sanheim also has 54 even-strength goals, one behind Ivan Provorov for second.

https://www.mcall.com/2026/01/17/humbling-by-rangers-extends-flyers-winless-streak-to-six-games/