The Philadelphia Flyers split their season-opening road trip by suffering a 5-2 loss at the hands of Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre for the Senators’ home opener.
This game marked the 4th time in Giroux’s career that he faced off against the Flyers, who had 5 points in 3 previous meetings against his former team. Giroux was honored for achieving 1,000 points last season before the game started. Giroux’s former teammates, Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton, participated for their former team captain.
Emil Andrae, the Flyers’ 2nd round pick in the 2020 draft, made his NHL debut while Tyson Forester made his season debut after not starting in the season opener. Coach John Tortorella started the game with Garnet Hathaway, Ryan Poehling, and Nicholas Deslaurier, nicknamed the PHD line, with Cam York and Travis Sanheim on defense, and Carter Hart in net.
FIRST PERIOD
Ottawa quickly got the scoring started with Jakob Chychrun’s 1st goal of the season at 2:36, assisted by former Flyer Zack MacEwen and Ridly Greig.
The Senators would go on the power play a few minutes later as Sean Couturier got called for boarding. Ottawa showed off their quick and strategic passing but couldn’t execute until Chychrun scored his 2nd of the game with a one-timer with 20 seconds left in the penalty.
Nick Seeler took the 2nd Flyers penalty after getting called for tripping. Luckily the Flyers did kill the penalty and got their first power play opportunity as Drake Batherson got caught for hooking Cam York. Then Claude Giroux got penalized for holding York’s stick and gave Philly a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:41.
The Flyers took advantage of the power play chance as Foerster shot the puck at Ottawa goalie Anton Forsberg, but Travis Konecny collected the rebound in front of the net and tallied his 3rd goal of the season, cutting the Senators lead in half.
In the final minutes of the 1st period, Brady Tkachuk and Travis Sanheim would get penalized for roughing, creating a 4-on-4 situation. Tim Stützle drew a penalty after cross-checking Sean Walker as the 1st period ended, so the Flyers would carry 1:50 of power play time into the 2nd period. The Senators outshot the Flyers 12-6 in the 1st.
SECOND PERIOD
Heading into the 2nd, Flyers could not capitalize on the power play. Throughout the 2nd period, the Senators had the offensive momentum by limiting the Flyers to 3 shots in the entire second frame.
Ottawa, with a power play due to a Foerster slashing call, would score their second goal on the advantage thanks to Jake Sanderson.
18 seconds later, the Flyers got back on track as York would score his 1st of the season as his shot ricocheted off the post and into the net.
But it wasn’t smooth sailing for the Flyers after that as Brady Tkachuk scored his 1st goal of the year with 5.1 seconds left.
THIRD PERIOD
Just 1:31 into the 3rd, Tkachuk shot the puck and Hart made a sprawling save, but unfortunately Tkachuk scored on the rebound.
The Flyers would gain 2 more power play opportunities in the 3rd period but could never get the power play unit set up.
The Flyers power play went 1-for-4 on the power play today as the Senators went 3-for-4. Carter Hart had 26 saves on 31 shots, Travis Sanheim lead the team with 23:58 TOI, and Cam York lead the team with 4 shots.
UP NEXT
The Flyers now have their home opener on the horizon as they’ll face the Vancouver Canucks at 6pm at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.
