I am going to be as blunt as possible. This team stinks right now. They look completely disjointed. Everything seems forced. There’s no fore-check and little chemistry. I know it’s early. But you have to be a little concerned with the start. They couldn’t score two on Ilya Bryzgalov. That’s worrisome.

You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out that this should’ve been an automatic two points. I could care less if it was another back-to-back. The Flyers lost team leader Scott Hartnell for at least a month. They’re already without Danny Briere and have looked awful so far. Not so tonight against our exhausted team. They were much better, dominating the first period with their physicality. Niklas Grossman battered Marian Gaborik. No response.

So far, the new Blueshirts lack identity. It doesn’t help that John Tortorella had one of his worst games. By sitting out Chris Kreider for goon Kris Newbury, he shortchanged his bench. Newbury looked okay in a couple of rare shifts but then lost his head instigating a fight with Tye McGinn. A foolish act that resulted in the game-winner. A Jakub Voracek put away in which Brian Boyle fell down. Ugly.

Tortorella’s fourth line was seldom used. He may as well have not dressed them. Stu Bickel had his early scrap with Tim Sestito. That was it. Jeff Halpern took a penalty kill shift in the third and only was used twice on face-offs. That’s what he was brought in to do. But because he was 0-4 last night, Tort’s hardly playing him. When you already miss Arron Asham, it’s not a good sign. Neither was the coach’s decision to go exclusively with two lines for the first half of the second in a back-to-back.

Outside of Henrik Lundqvist, there was little else to get excited about. The game had all the excitement of a fly on the wall. It was an embarrassing effort. In a season where you need every point, Tortorella cost his team two. Inexcusable.

QUICK HITS

-Bryzgalov only had to make one quality save on another extended five-on-three. It came on Rick Nash, who was ignored by teammates. Why did we trade for him again?

–Mike Del Zotto was dreadful. He played almost 24 minutes and stunk. Why Tortorella continues to roll him out on the power play is mystifying. He saw twice the action Anton Stralman (11:07) did. Why?

–Taylor Pyatt scored once again. It was his third straight game with a goal. It came on the power play off a brilliant feed from Marian Gaborik, who was probably our best forward. To the surprise of nobody, Tortorella didn’t use Pyatt on the five-on-three. Pyatt did pass up a golden opportunity to shoot. Nash cleared space. Instead, he passed for Del Zotto.

-Lundqvist was on. He made 11 saves in the first and finished with 31 altogether. By far his best performance. Without him, it would’ve been a blowout.

-To the fans ripping on Boyle. Where were you last Spring? Short memories.

–Ryan Callahan played his usual spunky game, leading our team in shots (4) and hits (5). It wasn’t enough.

-Tortorella needs to break up the Staal/Del Zotto pairing. It’s about as mismatched as Manti Te’o and his imaginary girlfriend. Stick Stralman back with Staal and have MDZ play with Steve Eminger. Speaking of which, did he play?

–Derek Stepan is a nice player but boy does he get muscled off the puck a lot. Outside of that, great move to get around a Flyer defenseman for a point blank chance. He nearly tied it on our five-on-four.

–Ruslan Fedotenko looked ugly in those orange jerseys. But he had a strong shift with the Flyers down two men, including a big clear. Should’ve kept him.

–Carl Hagelin does many things well. But in order for this team to have any success, they need offense from him.

-So, the Rangers recalled a glorified AHLer. But gave up on Chad Kolarik for ex-Shark Benn Ferriero. What kind of offensive talent does he possess? And they trade Kolarik to the Pens. Brilliant.

-Between the gross mismanagement going on in Connecticut and the lack of depth Slats has left us with, you really got to wonder sometimes. If you’re keeping track, Tomas Kundratek and Bobby Sanguinetti are both in the NHL. We’re stuck with Eminger, Bickel and Matt Gilroy. What am I missing here?

-Our team is getting softer instead of tougher. They parted with valuable players like Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky for Nash. Understandable. But when you do that, you lose some of your core. They were part of that identity and guys Tort trusted. Brandon Prust is now helping the Canadiens, who aren’t as bad as advertised. And Fedotenko filled his role well for the enemy.

-Finally, Mike Sauer probably will never return and that’s a shame. Slats still hasn’t replaced him. He made a huge difference defensively and brought edge that’s severely lacking on our back end. Our GM also included Tim Erixon in the Nash trade. Dylan McIlrath needs a year in the AHL and Brady Skjei is far away. Suddenly, our D is a mess.