Flyers not interested in moral victories entering ‘tough stretch’

BOSTON -- Sure, it’s great that the Philadelphia Flyers played well at times against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday. Sure, it’s great that for 40 minutes they played even against the team that has the most points in the NHL (95). Sure, it’s great that they made a furious three-goal comeback that ended one goal short that had the Bruins sweating until the final seconds ticked down.

But it’s not enough.

“We’ve got to be really careful with the moral victories here,” Flyers coach John Tortorella cautioned after the 6-5 loss. “I appreciate how hard we worked and kept on playing. We’ve got to be really careful. We’ve got to find a way to get points. Certainly not enough guys going consistently. Important guys, consistently. So, we move by it and get ready for Toronto.”

The Flyers are in the midst of a punishing stretch, having lost 6-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday before falling to the Bruins on Saturday. From here, they move on to a 10-day odyssey that includes games against the Maple Leafs at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, TSN4, TVAS), followed by games against the Carolina Hurricanes, Bruins, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers, all teams with championship aspirations.

And it’s not like the Flyers have much cushion. Despite the New York Islanders losing their past four, including 5-2 at the Rangers on Sunday, Philadelphia has not been able to capitalize. It leads the Washington Capitals by one point, and the Islanders by three, for third place in the Metropolitan Division with both teams having played one fewer game. The Capitals gained ground with a 2-1 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday and a 5-2 victory at the Calgary Flames Monday.

But Tortorella said that can’t be the Flyers’ focus.

“We’re just going to get ready to play our games and try to find a way to get points,” said Tortorella, who returned Saturday from a two-game suspension for unprofessional conduct. “That’s the only way you can stay in the hunt. So, we can’t be concerned about the other stuff going on with other teams. We have to be concerned about our club.”

With the strength of the Metropolitan this season, falling behind Washington or New York could mean not just losing out on third in their division, it could mean falling out of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture entirely. The Capitals hold the second wild card in the East, and the Islanders sit five points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning and two behind Washington.

And in a season in which the surprising Flyers have played better than just about anyone anticipated at the start of the season, that would be a devastating end.

On Saturday, they went into the third period tied 2-2. But the Flyers saw that vanish in a blink, with goals by Charlie Coyle (1:08), John Beecher (3:45) and Jake DeBrusk (4:04). It was the second straight game in which they’d given up the first three goals of the third, with the Maple Leafs pulling away Thursday.

Since a four-game winning streak that culminated in a win against the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 12, it has been an up-and-down stretch for Philadelphia. It has gone 5-7-2 in its 14 games since, not enough to fall out of third in the Metropolitan but also not well enough to gain any ground and make its final month of the season any more comfortable.

“It [stinks],” forward Joel Farabee said. “We can say we liked the effort and we competed and things like that, but at the end of the day we need the two points. Personally, I like the effort, but it definitely [stinks], especially going in that third period tied. We really felt like we gave ourselves a chance to win.”

But the Flyers couldn’t find a way.

“It’s a just tough one to swallow,” center Morgan Frost said. “But I think we still feel good about ourselves and about our game. Going into this tough stretch, I guess you can call it a building block. I think if we play that way a lot of nights, we’re going to come out with two points.”

Even so, what ultimately could they take out of a game in which they stood toe-to-toe with the Bruins, a game in which they inserted themselves back into it with three goals in that wild-and-hairy third period?

Not moral victories, surely. Not at this point of the season with a month remaining between the regular season and the playoffs, between the moment when some teams get to continue their seasons and some head home prematurely.

“I think you go one game at a time,” captain Sean Couturier said. “No matter what, you win, you lose, you’ve got to move on. We need a big response next game.”