The Philadelphia Flyers (25-16-6) have now lost games in consecutive days after dropping Sunday’s matinee to the Ottawa Senators, 5-3.
In a game where both teams were playing on back-to-back days, the Flyers had a great first period but lost their luster in the final 40 minutes. Egor Zamula scored the game’s first two goals before Zack MacEwen cut the deficit in half in the second period. Joel Farabee gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead at the midway point before Ottawa scored the next 4 goals.
Claude Giroux tied it in the third before Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game-winner on an odd-man rush after an ill-advised Nick Seeler turnover. Mads Søgaard made 22 saves as he earned his first victory of the season, while Ersson made 29 saves on 33 shots in the defeat.
After a very disappointing loss yesterday against the Colorado Avalanche, the Flyers returned to the ice to play the struggling Senators. The fight and the resiliency were on full display as they never gave up even though they were trailing by 3 entering the final frame against a Stanley Cup contending club – so at least there was a silver lining entering Sunday.
Samuel Ersson was always expected to tend the twine on the back-end of a back-to-back set, Owen Tippett was out due to a lower-body injury that he suffered in the third period, Nicolas Deslauriers made his return, while Bobby Brink and Marc Staal remained out of the lineup.
As for the Senators, it hasn’t been the season they expected after making waves last year. They were expected to improve but they sat last in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference and 4th-last in the NHL before Sunday’s slate of games kicked off. Offensively, they ranked 11th in goals and 8th in shots but their goaltending has been putrid for most of the season. Joonas Korpisalo was 9-15-1 with a 3.56 GAA and .887 SV% while Anton Forsberg held a 3.35 GAA and a .889 SV% through 16 games.
Tim Stutzle paced the club with 33 assists and 41 points in 41 games, Claude Giroux followed him with 38 points, while Brady Tkachuk led the team with 19 goals. Mads Søgaard earned his 2nd start of the season after allowing 6 goals on 33 shots in his last game against Colorado 5 days ago. Reported Flyers trade target, Shane Pinto, also made his season debut after his lengthy suspension and contractual holdout.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers skaters were stuck on the ice and in their own zone for nearly 2 minutes before Nick Seeler was sent to the box for an interference minor at the 8:14 mark of the game – a rather unnecessary penalty to take with tired legs. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic kill as the Senators were unable to register a shot on goal.
With 8:39 remaining, Jake Sanderson was found guilty of a high-sticking minor against Rasmus Ristolainen deep in the Flyers zone. The 28th-ranked penalty went head-to-head with the 32nd-ranked power play but it was the latter that struck in quick order for an early 1-0 lead just 36 seconds later.
Mads Søgaard made the initial stop on Joel Farabee‘s shot from the face-off dot and as the rebound went high in the air and towards the other side of the ice, no one saw the puck except for Egor Zamula, who fired it into the open cage.
Claude Giroux and the Senators complained about the whistle being blown before the puck crossed the line, but upon further review the goal stood and Zamula claimed his 4th goal of the season and 2nd on the power play.
Zamula then scored his 2nd of the period and 5th on the season with 3:20 left on the clock after firing a hard shot from the point. Cam Atkinson‘s hot run continued as his hard forecheck forced a turnover, and he then found Farabee along the boards before he fed Zamula for his 2nd assist and 23rd point in his last 22 games.
The Senators jumped on their second power play of the period after Travis Konecny was called for an interference minor with 2:44 left in the period. With 19 seconds remaining on Konecny’s minor, Josh Norris was nailed for an interference penalty of his own against Garnet Hathaway.
The period came to an end with the Flyers entering the intermission with a round of applause from the crowd, a 2-0 lead, and 8 shots apiece.
SECOND PERIOD
4:04 into the period, former Flyer Zack MacEwen raced in on a breakaway after Zamula fumbled with the puck at the blueline and sniped a shot high-glove past Samuel Ersson for his 2nd of the season.
32 seconds later, Farabee was clipped by an errant Jacob Bernard-Docker stick as the Flyers hopped on their 3rd power play of the game. They then received their 4th power play after Bernard-Docker returned to the sin bin for a tripping minor with 9:28 left.
Only 18 seconds later, Farabee ripped a shot low-glove and off the post to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead at the 10:50 mark. Zamula earned his third point of the game after setting up Farabee’s 17th goal of the season, and Travis Konecny also received an assist.
The Flyers believed they were on their way to another penalty killing situation after Tyson Foerster was whistled for a slashing minor. However, with the delayed penalty the Senators stormed Ersson’s crease, the puck crossed the line, but the referees had to check if the whistle blew before or after. Upon further review, the referees overturned the call and awarded a good goal with 8:12 left. It was given originally given to Vladimir Tarasenko but later handed to Tim Stutzle.
The period came to an end with the Flyers up 3-2 but the Senators looked to be the more dangerous team, especially after the initial kill to start the second period. The Senators held a 20-18 shot advantage through 40.
THIRD PERIOD
After Claude Giroux just missed on a tap-in seconds before, the former Flyers captain was able to gobble up his own rebound after he beat Sean Couturier at the front of the net just 3:22 into the final frame of regulation.
The Flyers came back with pressure on the next shift that culminated into a crease opportunity for Hathaway. He was tripped up by Bernard-Docker as he was dancing his way into the blue paint but as he fell, his skate went up and came very close to Søgaard’s neck. Fortunately, he was no worse for wear.
The Senators almost converted on yet another delayed penalty but were stopped several times in the blue paint. However, with just 9:50 left on the clock, Atkinson was nailed for a slashing minor. Fortunately, the Flyers survived but in large part due to Ersson’s heroics.
After Atkinson failed to convert on a breakaway, Nick Seeler turned the puck over after the Flyers were cycling with an errant pass attempt. Mathieu Joseph deflected it forward and hopped on a 2-on-1 with Tarasenko, who finished the odd-man rush with a one-timer past Ersson with 4:53 left.
With 1:50 left to play, Ersson was pulled for the extra attacker but Stutzle iced the game just 27 seconds later with the empty net finish. Jacob Chychrun cleared the puck through the air before Stutzle deflected the puck past the defensemen and then scored from the corner.
UP NEXT
The Flyers play the Tampa Bay Lightning for the first time this season on Tuesday (7:00pm ET, NBCSP) at Wells Fargo Center.
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