VOORHEES, N.J. — Maybe an early-season slide was par for the course.
Maybe the Flyers were destined for some lumps.
After all, the organization isn't touting itself as a contender. It hasn't publicly set the playoffs as an expectation. It had another future-centric offseason and was tied for the third-youngest roster in the NHL to open the 2024-25 season.
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But should the Flyers really be 1-5-1 and already on a six-game losing streak? Especially when they want to be competitive and get better each year?
Even though John Tortorella has always been hellbent on not putting the cart before the horse, he knows the Flyers' start can't simply be chalked up to a part of the process.
"We're young, we're rebuilding, we are going to take some gut punches," the head coach said Friday. "But we're better than this. Easy. We're going to get slapped around a little bit here. We are. We're just young."
Last season, the Flyers surprised many by putting themselves in the playoff race all the way up to Game 82. They lost their No. 1 goalie in January and one of their better defensemen at the March trade deadline, which undeniably hurt their chances. The Flyers dropped 19 of their last 28 games (9-14-5) to miss the postseason.
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"I'm not sure, did we overachieve last year?" Tortorella said. "[Sean] Walker's gone, a number of different situations, the whole goaltending situation. Let's face it, we have a goaltending situation."
To the Flyers' credit, they haven't disregarded the future in their plan.
"We have been very transparent," Tortorella said. "Two years — this year and next year — we're not bringing in free agents. We have to develop our kids."
Two weeks ago, the Flyers had 12 players 25 years old or younger in their opening night lineup. Three of those players — Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee and Tyson Foerster — combined for 70 goals last season. This season, they've combined for three so far. And they're not the only players who have underperformed.
"Where we're at as a team right now, and it falls on the coaching staff and players, our kids have got to play better, [the ones] that played last year," Tortorella said. "Tip's got to play better, Tyson's got to play better. We're hoping for them to not just get to their game last year, but get better this year. That's how we survive. But we're going to get punched, we are. There's no question about it. But we're not as bad as this."
Tortorella's club has an important back-to-back set this weekend at the Wells Fargo Center. It starts with a tough test Saturday against the Wild (1 p.m. ET/NBCSP), a team that is 5-0-2 and has won four straight, all on the road.
The Flyers are coming off a 6-3 loss Wednesday to the Capitals. But there was a possible turning point when they outplayed Washington over the second half of the game, rallying from a 4-0 deficit and nearly tying the game at 4-4. Their offense came to life and they badly needed that. We'll see if it carries over to the weekend.
"I think we've got to start from the puck drop," Sean Couturier said. "It's maybe a little easier to play when there's no pressure and you're down three and you can just go hard and not worry about mistakes. But that's something we'll have to learn to manage and be better from the start."
This was not the start Tortorella envisioned for Year 3 of his tenure with the Flyers. Even in a rebuild.
"All I know is we're better than we're playing right now," he said. "We can carve it up any way you want, the No. 1 priority for me right now with this hockey club is to play better than our last game. And then play better than that game. And then hopefully try to join together here and be consistent. It's so magnified because it started right at the beginning of the year. That's something we're fighting here, too."