One day before the Flyers departed for their opening night game in Boston, reporters asked Kimmo Timonen if all the changes on the roster had produced a looser, more relaxed atmosphere in the locker room compared to last season.

"We'll see," said the veteran defenseman. "We haven't played a game yet, we haven't lost. Everyone is happy now, because it's the preseason. We'll see how we respond the first time we lose a few games in a row. I like our group in here, but we haven't faced adversity yet."

Now the Flyers are facing their first adversity. Losers of three of their last four games, the good feeling produced by the Flyers' first-week victories against both 2011 Stanley Cup finalists has faded away. At these times, there is a human temptation to internally start pointing fingers at which individuals are to blame, rather than focusing on what needs to be done as a team to get back on the winning track.

So we're about to find out how this year's leadership group steers the team in the suddenly choppy waters. As exhibited in last night's 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues, pretty much everyone -- from Ilya Bryzgalov to Peter Laviolette, from Claude Giroux to Jaromir Jagr, from James van Riemsdyk to Jakub Voracek and from Andrej Meszaros to Braydon Coburn -- needs to respond a lot better than they did last night.

******

The Flyers' first period effort last night was a disgrace. They didn't skate and they couldn't execute even basic plays.

At the defensive end, you could have driven a bus through the gap, which gave St. Louis way too much operating room and contributed to numerous turnovers on breakouts. Players tried to stickhandle through three defenders or else made low-percentage long passes.

Meanwhile, Ilya Bryzgalov allowed his first truly soft goal of the season on the Blues' first goal of the game. There was no deflection and any screening was up high in the zone. The goalie simply had his glove in the wrong place. But Claude Giroux losing the defensive zone faceoff to Jason Arnott made the point shot by Kent Huskins possible in the first place.

The second St. Louis goal was also a team effort in the wrong way. Yes, Meszaros committed a horrendous gaffe that caused an odd-man rush for the Blues but when you watch the replay of the rush, Giroux coasted on the back-check until it was way too late to have any chance at catching up to T.J. Oshie before he gathered Carlo Coliacovo's rebound and stashing the puck home.

At the offensive end of the ice, there was zero puck pursuit. The Flyers' couldn't dump the puck in and retrieve it if their lives depended on it. Philly also couldn't carry it in because they were always outnumbered and the passing was atrocious. The Blues' had one easy exit after another. The Flyers fourth line of Sean Couturier, Max Talbot and Andreas Nodl was the only one that generated any sort of forecheck in the opening 20.

The second period was a lot better for the Flyers, but ultimately proved frustrating. That's what happens when one team plays focused hockey for 40 minutes and the other puts in 10 minutes of good work.

Danny Briere sniped a goal in the opening minute, and suddenly the Flyers were right in the game. That was followed by several strong shifts and a midperiod 4-on-3 power play which presented the Flyers a golden opportunity to tie the game.

The Blues entered last night with miserable special teams numbers -- 70.8 percent on the penalty kill, and 1-for-25 (4 percent) on the power play. The Flyers were 25 percent (8-for-32) on the power play. So the 4-on-3 opportunity was Philly's chance to swing the game. Instead, the opportunity went by the boards and the Blues' Coliacovo beat Meszaros and restored the two-goal cushion shortly after the expiration of the St. Louis penalty.

So now the Flyers were right back where they started the period: down by two goals. The Blues were the better club over the latter stages of the middle stanza.

During the second intermission, someone said that the Flyers still had a real good shot of winning because the Blues figured to be tired in the third period of back-to-back games. My thought was "No way. The Flyers haven't done nearly enough to wear down the Blues. They've got plenty left in the tank to close this game out."

There was no faulting the Flyers' effort level in the third period. The work ethic was there. The results were not. Finally, the Flyers got a power play at the 12:31 mark on a Roman Polak slashing penalty. What followed was one of the most bizarre and ugly power play goals you will ever see.

Matt Carle pinched in, took a feed from Voracek and put a weak shot toward the net that ticked off the post and skittered along -- and then slightly over -- the goal line before it was swept back. Referee Dave Jackson waved no goal. Simultaneously, Scott Hartnell, locked in a massive jostling match in front, cross-checked a Blue into goalie Brian Elliot and then plowed himself forward into what became a big pile-up in the crease.

Now the puck was over the goal line again, and Jackson pointed to the net, signifying a goal. However, trailing referee Brian Pochmara waved it off, calling a cross-checking penalty on Hartnell. The play went to a review, where it was determined that the puck had gone over the line on the initial Carle shot, which happened ahead of the penalty call on Hartnell. So the goal stood and Hartnell (who was initially credited with an assist later changed to Briere) went to the box with 6:46 remaining and the deficit reduced to 3-2.

It was time for the Flyers to stage a strong PK against the struggling Blues' power play. Instead, Bryzgalov and Coburn got their communications crossed up -- Bryzgalov said after the game that there needs to be a system of "three little words" that are easily understood, and that it didn't happen. As a result, the puck was turned over to Matt D'Agostini, who stashed it the net to strike a fatal blow.

******

I want to reiterate that the Flyers as a team were not very good last night, nor were they up to par in the game against Washington. The buck has to stop with the players.

However, I think it should also be said that Peter Laviolette came up small this week. The bag skate and all the line changes utterly backfired as both a motivational and strategic tool. After the game, he pointed out that a few things -- such as Danny Briere's revised line with Schenn and Simmonds -- had worked during the game.

In the bigger picture, though, I think the coach rocked the boat a little too much after one regulation loss. He tinkered too much with things that had been working well for the most part. Likewise, although Schenn has played pretty well in his first two games (his -3 plus-minus rating and zero points is not really accurate to his play), I did not see the need to make roster changes after the Ottawa game.

But this, too, shall pass. Even if these Flyers are going to be a consistent winning team this season, they will have stretches where the coach pushes the wrong buttons and the team makes him look like a fool. It's up the players to respond the right way.

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