Andrej Meszaros

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Erik Gustafsson was a step behind, clawing to get back into a sprint that resulted in yet another odd-man rush against the Flyers. Diving to swipe an Islander's stick out of the way, Gustafsson missed and his sliding body pushed the puck into an empty net for an own-goal. "I saw the puck and I knew where it was," Gustafsson said. "I tried to launch myself to get his stick out of the way. It's tough to take right now. We wanted this one. We needed this one. " Gustafsson's gaffe, which created a two-goal cushion for New York with 1:37 to play, will be the indelible image from the Flyers' 4-1 hiccup on Long Island.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - The Flyers' patchwork defense caught up with them on Saturday afternoon. Winnipeg scored four goals in a 6-minute, 28-second, second-period span en route to a 4-1 victory over the Flyers at the earsplitting MTS Centre. "We came out flat in the second period, and that can't happen, especially this time of the year," captain Claude Giroux said. The Flyers, who began the day three points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot, had their season-best, four-game winning streak snapped.

PARAPHRASING Mark Twain a bit here, but any rumor of the Flyers' death has been greatly exaggerated. At least for now. The Flyers followed up a pair of wins over the weekend with perhaps the most dramatic victory of the season on Wednesday night, beating visiting Montreal, 5-3. "We won't give up. We still have a chance," said youngster Sean Couturier, who ended a 27-game streak without a goal. "If we keep winning, we'll be back in the mix. " The Flyers not only have won three in a row for the first time all year, they finally won a game that they had trailed after the first period.

Max Talbot's injury and the team's mini-surge apparently have changed the Flyers' plans: They now could be a buyer as Wednesday's 3 p.m. trade deadline approaches. They made a minor move Monday, acquiring enforcer Jay Rosehill from Anaheim for speedy winger Harry Zolnierczyk. Rosehill, a left winger, is expected to be at the Flyers' practice Tuesday in Voorhees. The Flyers announced that Talbot suffered a broken left leg in Sunday's wild 5-4 overtime win over Washington and that he would be sidelined indefinitely.

Forward Max Talbot, arguably the Flyers' best penalty killer, left Sunday's game with what appeared to be a serious leg injury. The Flyers called it a "lower-body injury. " Based on comments the players made after their wild 5-4 overtime win over Washington, it's likely the veteran forward will be sidelined for a while. With a little more than a minute remaining in the second period, Talbot collided knee-on-knee with Mike Green. The players got tangled, and Green's skate appeared to hit the back of Talbot's leg. Talbot, who had scored his fifth goal earlier in the game, was carried to the locker room.

Despite playing with a depleted defense, the Flyers jolted the Boston Bruins, 3-1, and ended their four-game losing streak Saturday afternoon. With a sellout crowd watching at the Wells Fargo Center, goalie Ilya Bryzgalov made 33 saves as the Flyers moved to within four points of the Eastern Conference's eighth playoff spot. "It was pretty imperative today to finish it the right way and come off with a good win," winger Mike Knuble said. "We're running out of time, so we have to do it at some point.

The Flyers' already struggling blue line took a major hit Friday, as the club announced lengthy injuries to both Andrej Meszaros and Braydon Coburn. Meszaros, 27, will undergo surgery on April 2 to repair a torn left rotator cuff. The Flyers said Meszaros will be out indefinitely, but for all intents and purposes, his season is over. The Flyers' last game is on April 27. Meszaros already missed 19 games this season with a left shoulder injury. He had surgery in 2009 on the same shoulder to repair a torn labrum.

Let the record reflect that the three games lost in the past week mark the spot where the Flyers' 2013 season died an ugly death. With 15 games to play, the Flyers (13-17-3) are not yet mathematically eliminated - they've just been playing like a team that knows it needs to go 13-2 to make the playoffs. Here are five things the Flyers can do to make the last month of the season a lot more interesting: 1. Play the kids on 'D' When Braydon Coburn went down with an apparent shoulder injury on Thursday, joining Nick Grossmann and Andrej Meszaros on the injury list, Paul Holmgren had a decision to make.

Maybe it's because opponents now have a book on them, or maybe it's because some of the second-year Flyers are pressing. Whatever the reason, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn are going through sophomore slumps. Ditto Matt Read, who has stumbled after a hot start. Entering Thursday's game against the New York Islanders, all three were in long goal-scoring droughts: Couturier at 24 consecutive games, Schenn at 12, and Read at nine. Coach Peter Laviolette was asked whether he was concerned that the streaks might start weighing on the players.

You know it's a lost season when you blow a two-goal lead against your longtime patsies, as the Flyers did on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The New York Islanders rallied past the Flyers in a shootout, 4-3, extending the home team's losing streak to four games. Josh Bailey won it in the shootout. Colin McDonald's second goal of the third period, a drive that appeared to deflect off defenseman Bruno Gervais, snapped a 2-2 tie with 4 minutes, 23 seconds left. But while on a six-on-four power play with their goalie pulled, the Flyers tied it with 29.8 seconds left.