Maybe John Tortorella was right when he hit the brakes.

In early October, the head coach said the Flyers had “so much shit to do” before they could even talk about the playoffs as the next step.

So far this has certainly looked like it was true.

The Flyers lost to the Capitals 4-1 on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Tortorella's club is 1-4-1 and has been outscored 25-13. The Flyers have only scored one goal in two home games. They were defeated 3-0 by the Canucks in their home opener three days ago. They have lost five straight after picking up a 3-2 shootout win over Vancouver to open the season.

“It's still early in the season, I'm not too worried about it, there's a lot of people in this room scoring goals,” Travis Sanheim said. “We will continue here. I’m not worried at all.”

Against the Capitals, Sanheim sank a 4-on-4 shot just 34 seconds into the third period, bringing the Flyers to 2-1. But just over a minute later, Washington scored on a 4-on-4 to quickly stymie the Flyers' momentum. John Carlson's pass deflected off Egor Zamula's skate and found the net.

“If we just stay and play our game — it’s not a safe game, it’s a very aggressive game — we’ll achieve our goals,” Tortorella said. “There is a fine line between playing aggressively, being on guard and looking forward and cheating and hoping. That’s when (the game) goes the wrong way, back the other way.”

“So that’s what we need to pay attention to here. We have a group of men here who are going to find out. We just have to do it together and not get lost in panic or frustration and forget how we play.” “

This was the first game of a back-to-back home game between the Flyers and Capitals (4-1-0).

• Samuel Ersson really wasn't the Flyers' problem. The 25-year-old has given the team a good chance of victory in his four starts.

Against Washington, he made 25 saves on 29 shots. Jakob Chychrun sealed the game with 5:53 minutes left in the third period.

The Flyers' second power play unit conceded two shorthanded goals in the first period.

“There are moments when I feel like I have to come up with a big save,” Ersson said. “Right now we're maybe struggling a little bit with our confidence and I think this is kind of a moment where I have to step up and save myself there.”

Zamula struggled in that second period, allowing the Capitals to outscore him on the two goals. On the second marker, Bobby Brink fumbled a pass, putting Washington on ice.

“The first game is a little difficult jump for me, I tried to keep it in the offensive zone,” Zamula said. “I think I can take a step back or eat it, I don’t know. The second is just a bad loss of the ball for us and in the back of the net. … We have to play better and support each other.” offensive zone more and more.

Zamula finished the game minus-3. Scott Laughton was minus-4.

The Flyers played pretty well at 5-on-5 in the first period. However, the power play was very costly and completely swung the momentum towards the Capitals.

Offensively, the Flyers didn't produce much at all in the second and third periods. Their power play ended 0 for 3 on the night.

“I think the biggest key is that there is a certain level of frustration,” Tortorella said. “They want to play well, they want to win a hockey game, they want to score a goal at home. You can't allow frustration to turn into betrayal, you can't forget the structure we have. “We're kind of going through this twice because it's the beginning of the year and we're in this jam, so the pressure is still on bigger.”

Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 17 of the Flyers' 18 shots. In the last two periods of the game he only had to take eight shots. From January 18 through the end of the last regular season, Lindgren was the only goalie to play more often than Ersson.

“We have a lot of confidence in this group,” said Ersson. “We know what we are capable of. It doesn't really affect us at the moment. We hit a lot of posts, the crossbars here and there. We’ll get chances, we’ll transform, it’s just a question of when.”

The Flyers lost their fifth straight game with a 4-1 loss to the Capitals on Tuesday night.

• The Flyers saw the return of an important figure in Nick Seeler. The sophomore defenseman missed the first five games after suffering a puck to the peroneal nerve in his right leg on Oct. 1.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that – the leg just shut down for a while,” Seeler said Monday. “But it feels a lot better.”

The 31-year-old was the key to success on the Flyers' backend. Going back to last season when he missed time in March, the Flyers have gone 5-8-3 without Seeler, allowing 4.07 goals per game and 13 power play goals.

Seeler played in place of Erik Johnson alongside Jamie Drysdale, a crucial pairing for the Flyers. Right off the bat, Seeler made two effective plays in a penalty shootout in the first period. The club's PK was 5 for 5.

• After playing on the left wing of the fourth line for half of the home opener last Saturday, Sean Couturier found himself back at center ice. He brought Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov to the front row. The Flyers had to juggle their lines a lot early in the season.

“It's tough for Torts, we get so many penalties, it takes the boys out of the flow of the game,” said Couturier. “He tries to include everyone. That’s up to us, we have to be more disciplined.”

In six games, the Flyers captain hasn't scored a goal or an assist. It sounds like the winger experiment isn't quite over yet.

“Sean has had ups and downs like everyone else,” Tortorella said Monday. “I actually thought his best minutes, which were more involved, were him playing on the wing. … I really liked him there.”

• Jett Luchanko and Tyson Foerster were healthy scratches, while Noah Cates and Nicolas Deslauriers entered the lineup.

The 18-year-old Luchanko has four games under his belt, which could equate to a nine-game stretch. The 2024 first-round center went scoreless on three shots.

“He makes some really good plays, he made a lot of really good backhand plays,” Tortorella said Monday. “Good plays, sometimes problems. Makes some really good defensive plays, struggles at times. He's 18, you know? But I still like what he brings to the table and we'll continue to evaluate him and see where we go from there.”

• The Flyers and Washington are back in action on Wednesday, this time in the nation's capital (7:30 p.m. ET/TNT).

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