When the Flyers Game Presentation coordinator flashed up on the big screen hanging over center ice in the first period that the Flyers were 10-0-1 since the Eagles won the Super Bowl, you knew he was going to be the Mush of the Week.

It was only minutes later that the Carolina Hurricanes scored their first goal.

It was only two hours later that the Flyers were licking their wounds following a thorough 4-1 defeat at the hands of those Hurricanes.

It was an ugly game. A shoddy effort. One of those games that happens from time-to-time during the course of a hockey season. And it ended the Flyers twelve-game point streak.

But, you had to see this coming right?

There were games in this streak where you were perplexed as to how they came away with a win. Especially recently. They were pretty awful in Montreal on Monday – and won in a shootout. They weren’t very good in either of their home games last week against the Habs or Columbus – both wins. They were miserable defensively against the Rangers a week ago Sunday – but New York was even worse. They struggled offensively in Columbus two weeks ago – and won. They played inconsistently against the Devils in the game before that – and got a point in a shootout loss.

In reality, the Flyers haven’t played a complete, 60-minute game since stunning the Knights in Vegas on Feb. 11.

That’s eight straight games where mediocre or poor play has been creeping into their game. And yet, they’re 6-1-1 in those eight games.

But, it came to a head last night. The Flyers lost a lot of board battles. They were outskated to pucks. They were outshot badly. Carolina was just the better team.

“The last few games there were some bad habits creeping into our game and we got exposed with some of them tonight,” Andrew MacDonald said after the game. “They were the better team the whole night and they deserved to win.”

And it wasn’t just AMac who saw it coming.

“If we play like we did today, we aren’t going to have success Saturday (in Tampa) or Sunday (against the Florida Panthers),” Jake Voracek said. “We recently probably won a few games that we shouldn’t have… but we found a way.

“I don’t think any loss is a good loss – and it’s hard to say you saw this coming, because when you are winning, you aren’t thinking about losing, but in the locker room we know we didn’t play good enough to win this game. Now we have to move on.”

And this will be the test for the Flyers.

As kind as the schedule was in February is as sinister as it is in March:

  • Tampa and Florida back-to-back on the road – which is always a tough trip, but more so with the Lightning being the best team in the East and with the Panthers playing really good hockey of late (11-3-0 in their last 14 games).
  • Four games in six nights vs. Pittsburgh, at Boston (back-to-back nights), and vs. Winnipeg and Vegas – all four teams with better records than the Flyers and being considered as legit Stanley Cup contenders.
  • Three more games in four days vs. Columbus, at Carolina and then back home vs. Washington (back-to-back nights) – three teams desperately fighting in the Metropolitan Division and playoff race.

If you count last night, this is a 10-game gauntlet that will really shape the Flyers as they head into April and potentially the playoffs.

Everyone from the coach on down was talking about putting this behind them and moving on quickly. It’s the way the Flyers have to approach it.

If not, they run the risk of going streaking in the wrong direction.

1) Last night should be the final nail in the coffin for Brandon Manning as a regular in the lineup. I’m not sure how much more Dave Hakstol can lean on him.

In a curious decision, Hakstol started his fourth line and third defensive pairing in each period. It’s really not a big deal at the beginning of the game – or even the second period, as it’s just one shift. But, down 3-0 to start the third? Really?

That wasn’t even the issue. What was a bigger concern was that Hakstol had that five-man unit on the ice a lot against the line of Jeff Skinner, Derek Ryan and Justin Williams. And, well, it didn’t go so well.

Manning also had a pair of giveaways that didn’t lead to goals, but certainly led to chances for the Hurricanes.

Oh, and he led the Flyers in ice time.

Wait, what?

Yeah. Manning and Radko Gudas were constantly out against the Carolina top line – and it ended up being a poor choice.

And Gudas isn’t looking great either:

Really… if you aren’t going to clean the porch, get off the porch. Not sure what Gudas is doing on this play, but letting Williams set up camp can’t be part of the gameplan.

Johnny Oduya continues to have visa issues and hasn’t been able to join the team yet, but if he does soon, I have to think he’ll get a look ahead of one of these two.

And yes, Travis Sanheim is playing really well in the AHL – the Flyers just have to be careful – they only have three recalls remaining that they are allowed to make before the end of the season. If you turn to Sanheim now, it would leave the roster a little less-flexible.

2) In goal, Petr Mrazek had his first pedestrian game since joining the Flyers.

He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t good either. He just… was.

He was fighting rebounds all night. The first goal is one he shouldn’t let squeak past him. He went down too early on the fourth goal, although, it was tipped ever so slightly, which could have distracted him.

You can’t expect the goalie to bail you out every game. This one isn’t on Mrazek, but it goes to show the fine line the Flyers walk sometimes – and how easy it is to step on the wrong side of the line.

3) The scoring depth really isn’t there.

I know I’ve been harping on this for a few games now – that the notion that since so many players have 10 goals, then the Flyers have good offensive depth – but it’s starting to prove that depth isn’t there.

They’ve scored one goal in the last two games – against teams who combined heading into last night had a minus-61 goal differential.

If the top line isn’t scoring – and they did get the lone goal last night on a pretty series of passes from Claude Giroux to Sean Couturier to Travis Konecny for a tip in – the Flyers are in trouble.

There is so little confidence outside of the top group of players that Hakstol, trailing by two goals with just under seven minutes to play, chose to burn his timeout in the middle of a power play so he he didn’t have to put his second unit on and could keep his top guys out there longer.

That has to be a little bit of a concern.

4) The good news is, the rest of the division lost too.

Despite the loss, the Flyers got help with Pittsburgh being crushed by Boston and New Jersey losing in Florida.

So, the Flyers are still in second place, one point behind Washington and two points ahead of Pittsburgh. They also are four points ahead of the first Wild Card team – New Jersey.

The only gap that closed is between the Flyers and Carolina, who are the first team on the outside of the playoff race looking in, but the Flyers are still 11 points up on Carolina – so they should be OK.

Should, being the operative word.