The calendar turned to November and with it the Flyers’ winning steak.

The Flyers suffered a 3-0 loss to the Bruins on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center, less than a week after dominating the Bruins 2-0 in Boston to start a two-game winning streak.

They struggled to find their offense against a desperate Boston team, eighth in the Atlantic Division and which had lost five of six, including being blown out 8-2 by the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

“Given their last two games, we knew they were going to come out strong,” said forward Owen Tippett. “I think through the pushes we’ve kind of established the way we want to play, but I don’t think we’ve gotten there enough.”

Ersson injured, Kolosov

With 13 minutes and 12 seconds left in the first period, Sam Ersson made a foot save on a shot that knocked the blade off his right skate. After saluting the referees who stopped the play, assistant equipment manager John Peters replaced him and the game continued.

But something was wrong with Ersson and when the broadcast returned from a commercial break at 12:24, they showed the goalkeeper shaking his head at the bench. Ersson then skated over and spoke with head athletic trainer Tommy Alva, and referee Peter MacDougall seemed involved in the conversation.

Ersson appeared to point to his left leg as Aleksei Kolosov stretched on the ice behind him. The Swedish goalkeeper left the match and did not return after stopping all eight shots. After the game, the Flyers revealed that Ersson suffered what they are calling a lower body injury. Coach John Tortorella said he did not speak to the coaching staff before speaking to the media.

Kolosov came in relief for the first time in his NHL career. He hadn’t played since his NHL debut on Oct. 27 in a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

“I feel a lot better,” Kolosov said through team consultant Slava Kuznetsov. “I had a better understanding of the game, so I feel a lot better today about the game.” Kolosov added that he felt better “about the style of play, the traffic in front of the net and all aspects of the game.”

The 22-year-old striker made a fine save on Pavel Zacha for his first save of the match before showing his athleticism by sliding to protect the left post during potential rebound attempts. But with 6:32 left in the first period, he couldn’t slide and press the pads quickly enough as Matthew Poitras collected a Hampus Lindholm point shot that went wide.

“It’s a difficult situation to face at any time,” Tippett said. “Obviously you come in cold, and he made some big saves for us. So, like I said, it’s a tough situation for him to come in but I think he handled it well and did well.

In the second period, Bruins forward Brad Marchand skated down the left wing with defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on top of him. After releasing him correctly because he was going behind the net – and he was scoring from behind, there’s a low percentage – Marchand skated in and fed Justin Brazeau, right on the bench, for the shot on reception.

Kolosov finished with 20 saves on 22 shots and saw his overall goals-against average drop to 3.29 and save percentage increase to .870. Marchand added an empty net with 3:39 remaining.

“I thought for the first part of the first period they had an early power play and they sped it up a little bit. I thought Erss was outstanding,” Tortorella said. “I thought it was a good stretch from us in the second half, trying to develop a little more offense.

“I thought we played hard in front of Koly, and I don’t think there will be a problem there at all (with the team playing hard for him). He has some personality in his game. He gets beats.

Lack of clichés…once again

The Flyers have struggled to make shots this season. When entering the game, they on average third lowest in the NHL at 26.2 per game. They didn’t even come close in this one, finishing with 20 and seeing eight more miss the net and 19 blocked. Generally, those blocking are the Flyers, who have only eaten 19 pucks. Conversely, the Bruins had 31 shots on goal.

“Yeah, I think right now we’re struggling to create sustained offense,” forward Sean Couturier said. “We have chances, but there are a lot of them and it’s successful. We need to find a way to step up our game.”

Natural Stat Trick brought down the Flyers for seven shot attempts in the first period at five-on-five, with only one more on the power play. It probably didn’t help that Travis Konecny ​​was flagged for a weak tripping penalty in the first minute of the game as Matvei Michkov was hampered.

“There’s no doubt offensively, we’re still not there,” Tortorella said. “We did such a good job in the middle of the ice in front of our goaltender, I thought we defended really well there. I still don’t think where we are offensively, in the offensive zone. (In the) First half of the game, we very rarely had a third guy high in the offensive zone with the two (defenders). Once we started doing that, we found ourselves with opportunities.

In the third period, Morgan Frost had the Flyers’ best chance when Tippett got around the Bruins defense and fed the center all alone at the right post. Frost made the shot quickly but Joonas Korpisalo made a spectacular glove save.

“You look at the shot totals after the game, and we’re not getting as many as we’d like,” Frost said. “But at the same time, it feels like every game we have quite a few A-level chances and we’re just not there at the moment. Yeah, it’s frustrating for everyone .

Not that the blame lies with Michkov – who was just named the NHL’s rookie of the month for October – but he didn’t get a point for the fourth straight game. Tortorella said the 19-year-old phenom likes to play on the weak side where the ice is open, but struggles, for example, to support his teammates in the corner of the offensive zone when they are shorthanded .

“He wants to carry a team. He wants to be the guy, and that’s what we love about him,” Tortorella said. “But like I said the other day, he’s finding out what the National Hockey League is.

“There’s going to be some struggles with him as he starts his first year in the league, but he made some good plays today. He made some nice plays that turned into offense. It just didn’t turn into goals.

Jay Greenberg honored

The Flyers honored Hockey Hall of Fame reporter Jay Greenberg in the Gene Hart press box. Before the game, the press line was named after the late, great, longtime Flyers reporter. Greenberg died in August 2021 due to complications from West Nile virus. He was 71 years old.

“Jay was a sensational reporter,” former Flyers reporter Sam Carchidi said at the news conference. “He was someone who cultivated sources, whether players, coaches, front office, executives, even equipment managers. He did it almost better than anyone. He was someone who truly loved hockey and respected the sport to the nth degree.

Winner of the 2013 Ferguson Memorial Award, given to members of the hockey writing profession whose words have brought honor to journalism and the game of hockey, Greenberg was the celebrated author of several Flyers books and spent five decades as a sports journalist, including with the Philadelphia Daily News.

“Dad loved writing, the art, the craftsmanship, putting the right words together and telling a compelling story,” said Greenberg’s daughter Liz. “When asked which team he supported, he declared his journalistic integrity. … He said what he was looking for was short games and good stories. To be clear, the short aspect of the game wasn’t because he wanted to leave early, oh no, it was to give himself enough time to write his article or column exactly the way he wanted, while meeting their late-night deadlines.

“This meant he was often the last person to leave the press box. So it seems very appropriate that today, with this honor, he remains forever in the press gallery, in memory and in spirit.

Breakaways

The Flyers had 30 hits in the game compared to 22 for the Bruins. … The referees didn’t order a blatant chokehold by Lindholm on Garnet Hathway in the first period, right in front of a referee who was yelling to let him go. … The Flyers played with the same lineup for the third straight game, including starting the game with the same lines. … Defender Egor Zamula, forward Nick Deslauriers and goalie Ivan Fedotov were left behind.

To be continued

The Flyers practice Monday before beginning a three-game road trip through the Southeast with a matchup against former teammate Sean Walker and the Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP).