The Philadelphia Flyers just suffered their first loss in regulation, but the club has plenty of chances to get over that defeat during the next eight days.

The Flyers play five times during that stretch, starting with Saturday night's matchup against the visiting St. Louis Blues.

After opening with a five-game point streak for the first time since 2002-03, Philadelphia (4-1-1) lost 5-2 to Washington on Thursday to begin its three-game homestand.

Despite the Flyers firing a season-high 42 shots - the fifth time they've outshot their opponent - newcomer Ilya Bryzgalov surrendered three goals in a 2:25 span of the third period in his worst performance of the season.

The Flyers, though, play six of their next eight at home, and they've won six times in St. Louis' last seven visits.

"That's the beauty of the sport," forward Wayne Simmonds told the Flyers' official website. "If you have one off-night, two nights later we get to go again and prove ourselves."

Brayden Schenn, acquired with Simmonds from Los Angeles in the offseason deal for former captain Mike Richards, is trying to do that after logging 11:03 of ice time Thursday in his season debut.

"There are a lot of good, skilled forwards here and they are going to play the guys that are going that night," he said.

It's uncertain who the 20-year-old center will skate with Saturday. He was on a line with Scott Hartnell and Jakub Voracek on Thursday, but Hartnell and Danny Briere could be paired up after coach Peter Laviolette juggled the lines during Friday's practice.

"We've played together before so we know each other, so hopefully that can kick-start something," said Briere, who had 34 goals last season but has just one so far. "That's hockey ... sometimes things are going stale and it helps to switch things around and I think that's what Lavy was trying to do."

Blues coach Davis Payne might need to make some tweaks with his team going 0 for 20 on the power play in the last six games, but St. Louis (3-4-0) picked up two big points Friday in a 3-2 overtime victory over Carolina.

Forward Matt D'Agostini's third goal of the season - tied with Jason Arnott and Alex Steen for the team lead - completed a comeback from two goals down to give the Blues some momentum heading into their four-game trip.

"(Vladimir Sobotka) just made a great pass right on my stick and I just steered it in," D'Agostini said.

Opponents have been doing plenty of that against Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who has a 4.18 goals-against average while losing his last three starts. Brian Elliott, though, is proving to be a valuable backup, winning both of his starts after making 27 saves Friday.

Elliott was 0-2-0 with a 5.86 GAA in two games against the Flyers last season while with Ottawa.

Halak is 4-2-0 with a 2.27 GAA in six starts versus Philadelphia. In his first appearance with St. Louis following an offseason deal with Montreal, Halak stopped 29 of 30 shots in a 2-1 overtime victory Oct. 9, 2010 - the teams' only matchup last season.

Former Blue Chris Pronger, who missed that game with a knee injury, has a team-best five assists and six points - two behind club leader Claude Giroux (five goals, three assists).