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Hakstol: ‘We’re not happy. These aren’t easy times’

Dave Hakstol, Brayden Schenn,  Wayne Simmonds, Sam Gagner

Philadelphia Flyers coach Coach Dave Hakstol looks on with players Brayden Schenn (10), Wayne Simmonds (17) and Sam Gagner (89) during the third period against the New Jersey Devils in an NHL preseason hockey game in Newark, N.J., Friday, Oct 2, 2015. The Devils defeated the Flyers 3-2. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

AP

The Philadelphia Flyers lost 4-1 in Vancouver on Monday -- their fourth straight defeat, and third game in a row with just a single goal of offense.

Needless to say, head coach Dave Hakstol knows it’s not good enough.

“We’re gonna stay with it,” Hakstol said following tonight’s defeat. “This group’s gonna stay. But we’re not happy. These aren’t easy times, but the group will stay together and keep working hard.”

With just 21 goals through 11 games, Philadelphia now owns the NHL’s second-worst offense. Only Anaheim has scored less. It’s a notable decline from a Flyers team that scored 2.59 goals per season last year and had two of the NHL’s best scorers in Jakub Voracek (81 points) and Claude Giroux (73).

What a difference a season makes.

Voracek’s been mired in a slump all year long -- he’s still without a goal -- while Giroux hasn’t been his usual productive self, tonight’s pretty solo marker notwithstanding.

Yet to hear Giroux explain it, the Flyers are playing well enough and producing enough chances -- even if the end result doesn’t show it.

“We generated a lot of offense,” Giroux said. “We played the way we wanted to play. Obviously we have a lot of things to work on, but the score doesn’t show how much better we played.”

The captain’s comments might raise some eyebrows, especially given how stagnant the offense has looked.

But if there’s a silver lining for Philly, it’s that both Giroux and Hackstol are finding positives in a sea of negativity.

Or maybe they’re fishing for them?

“You guys might not see it from the outside,” Hackstol said. “But I see a lot of things in our end in terms of playing the rush, breaking pucks out.

“A lot of things that we’re doing better.”