from Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Daily News,
They began the weekend four points out of the last playoff spot. They now stand seven points behind the Bruins with 15 games to play.
The players said that they needed better effort all around.
The coach, however, disagreed. He actually appreciated the effort, in general, but somehow he was even less kind.
"Our top players, mentally, weren't there," Craig Berube said.
Coincidentally, the next question concerned top defenseman Mark Streit, who was a minus-4 and had his fingerprints on the first goal of the game . . . and little else that was good, Berube agreed.
"Mark - he's played real good hockey for us this year," Berube said. "Again, the defeat in Boston had a lot to do with that."
Top player Wayne Simmonds, usually a tireless competitor, said, "Today was awful. It's our compete level. We don't come to play every night."
Top player Claude Giroux, the captain, said, "We don't compete the right way."
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