Briere scores on return but the Flyers get struck by Lightning

Lightning 2 - 1 Flyers

Danny Briere grabbed a goal on his return from injury but it was the Flyers only goal of the game, as they lost at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning: their third straight defeat.

Briere's goal was more than the Flyers deserved, as they piled on the pressure in the first period, compiling 18 shots in the opening session.

But Philly were frustrated for much of the opening 20 minutes, as Lightning goalie Mike Smith produced save after save to keep the hosts at bay, before Briere broke the deadlock late in the period with the Flyers up 5-on-3; Simon Gagne and Mike Richards assisting the centre.

However these missed opportunities proved costly for Philly and despite some good work by Biron in the home net, he couldn't prevent two former Flyers coming back to haunt their old team.

Ex-Philly winger Mark Recchi broke away and set up Jussi Jokinen for Tampa's equaliser, before centre Vaclav Prospal completed the turnaround inside six second period minutes.

Both the goals came off Flyer mistakes but aside from that Philly managed to restrict the Lightning's offensive chances, with new defensive signing Matt Carle playing his way to the game's third star.

But for the second straight game the Flyers offense cooled off, with Tampa limiting them to five shots in the final period, leaving Philly to rue the chances they spurned early in the game.

A lot of credit has to go to Lightning goal-tender Smith, who was the player of the game after saving 34 of the Flyers 35 shots, but this will be little consolation for Philly who can't seem to get things going offensively and defensively in the same game.

The Flyers couldn't even fight properly- Philly's Arron Asham and Tampa's Ryan Craig had two goes at each other but neither could keep their feet for more than 30 seconds:

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The season may only be 13 games old but already the Flyers are in their second major skid, with only the New York Islanders between them and the bottom of the Atlantic division.

In fact Philly's 4-6-3 record is the third worst in the NHL and with a three game road trip looming, Coach Stevens will need to use all his experience to try and get his side back to winning ways.

Tuesday night may be his best chance to do so, as the Flyers head to New York to take on the Islanders, before two tougher games at Pittsburgh and Montreal.

Things are going to have to change quickly if the team want to avoid a repeat of two years ago, where the Flyers finished with the worst record in the league.