Flyers Extend Winless Start With Seventh Straight Loss to Hurricanes

The Philadelphia Flyers suffered a franchise-record seventh consecutive loss Sunday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, falling 4-1 to the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes as the team remained winless at 0-5-2. Philadelphia struggled offensively and defensively while continuing its worst start in franchise history.

According to TSN, the Flyers have been outscored 28-8 through seven games and are the only winless team in the Eastern Conference. The team had previously opened seasons with six straight winless games in 1999-00 and 2008-09.

The loss intensified pressure around coach Rick Tocchet after fans at the arena chanted "Fire Tocchet! Fire Tocchet!" during the final moments of the game.

"I think we go off the rails at certain points of the game. I don’t know if it’s experience, pressure, I don’t know," said Rick Tocchet, Flyers coach.

Tocchet’s team has lost 13 of its last 14 games dating back to a playoff series lead against Pittsburgh, including a second-round sweep by Carolina. The Flyers have also dealt with injuries to Travis Konecny, Cam York, and Rasmus Ristolainen.

"There’s still a lot of hockey left. Of course, if we don’t figure this out soon, we’ll be chasing and it’s going to be too late. But yeah, there’s no quitting," said Sean Couturier, Flyers captain.

Couturier said Philadelphia cannot rely only on its individual talent to solve its problems. He pointed to effort and preparation as areas needing immediate improvement.

"We can’t skill our way out of this one. We have a lot of talent, but we can’t skill ourselves out of it. We’re going to have to work and grind and it starts the next practice. We better figure it out," said Sean Couturier, Flyers captain.

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere told reporters over the weekend in Boston that the team should not overreact to its poor run.

"It’s not the time to panic because of a bad stretch," said Daniel Briere, Flyers general manager.

Briere also addressed expectations after Philadelphia signed Trevor Zegras to a four-year, $36.5 million extension following his career-high 26 goals and 67 points last season. Zegras has two points and no goals this season.

"What happened last year was pretty cool, and maybe you feel like it’s just going to keep happening, and you’ve made it. But the reality is we’re a team that needs to have everybody working in the same direction. The way we’re built, the full team is important to have everybody. We don’t have a superstar that’s going to come out and score four or five goals in a game to win a game by himself," said Daniel Briere, Flyers general manager.

Zegras said the players remain supportive of Tocchet, who spent parts of 11 seasons with the Flyers as a player before becoming the team's coach.

"Fully behind," said Trevor Zegras, Flyers forward.

The Hurricanes also highlighted their recent success in Philadelphia with a social media post after the victory, referencing their recent run of wins in the city.

"We’ve won more games in Philly in the last nine days than the Flyers, Eagles, and Phillies combined this month," said Carolina Hurricanes social media team.

Tocchet said the focus must remain on finding a way to win rather than looking too far ahead while Philadelphia searches for its first victory.

"You start thinking about the long term, then you’re really going to be in trouble. You’ve got to try to win. How you win the next game," said Rick Tocchet, Flyers coach.