When the Flyers lost to Toronto on Thursday, I thought the team was at least on the right track to correcting the sorts of problems that came to roost in the ugly 4-1 loss in Ottawa and a narrow win over the Islanders in the game before the Ottawa debacle. Saturday's loss to Buffalo was more disturbing, but at least lack of effort wasn't an issue.

I cannot find a single positive thing from Sunday's game in Madison Square Garden. Once the club fell behind early in the first period, they basically quit on one another and stopped playing like a team. Up and down the lineup, the team flat out stunk.

Forget the Eastern Conference standings for the moment. Right now, the Flyers have to go back to square one -- this is no longer a question of simply tightening things up defensively and bearing down when they have a lead. They have to go one period at a time, and focus on winning the little battles that eventually add up to wins and losses. They didn't get into their current swoon in one game and they probably aren't going to get out of it in one game, either, regardless of what happens in tomorrow night's game against Edmonton.

If I were Peter Laviolette, I would have kept my post-game address to the club very short after yesterday's game. I would tell everyone that I didn't want to see their faces at the rink for any reason until Tuesday. With a three-game in four-night stretch, it's a matter of practicality, anyway. But I also think mentally everyone needs a day to regroup after what happened yesterday.

Today's Daily Drop at Versus.com discusses how the club's current struggles are the product of things the club got away with when it was still winning: blown leads, lapses in focus, offensive inconsistency, etc.

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