The Philadelphia Flyers went the distance for a second game in a row but this time around fell in overtime to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 4-3.
After a quiet first period, Nicolas Deslauriers opened the scoring which was then followed by goals from Tim Stützle and Noah Cates to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead heading into the third. Fabian Zetterlund and Thomas Chabot scored in the third in between a goal from Garnet Hathaway to send this game to overtime.
Travis Sanheim was whistled for an interference minor and the Senators made no mistake as Stützle finished off some pretty passing to give his club a clutch victory and officially claimed the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Anton Forsberg made 29 saves for his 11th win on the season, whereas Ivan Fedotov allowed 4 goals on 26 shots for his 4th overtime defeat.
Looking for their third win in a row and sixth in their last seven games, the Flyers visited the Senators on the second leg of their back-to-back.
The Flyers have played some of their best hockey late in the season and it coincides with the firing of John Tortorella. Preceding their current run, they had lost 11 of 12 games and scored 22 goals in that span compared to the 29 they’ve scored over their last 6 games with Brad Shaw at the helm.
As for the Senators, they entered Sunday’s matinee with a playoff spot locked up for the first time since 2017-18.
They were without the services of Brady Tkachuk, Ridly Greig, and David Perron but still boasted talented players like Stützle (72 points in 79 games), Drake Batherson (63 points in 79 games), and Jake Sanderson (55 points in 78 games).
Forsberg got the call in between the pipes as he looked to improve on his 10-12-2 record, 2.66 GAA, and .904 SV% versus Fedotov who earned the call for the Flyers.
FIRST PERIOD
After a very quick moving period, the first real play of consequence came with 5:51 remaining in the opening frame after Tyson Foerster was called for a tripping minor against Stützle.
With 19 seconds remaining on Foerster’s minor, Nick Seeler was interfered with by Adam Gaudette, giving the Flyers an opportunity with the power play. Both teams struggled on the power play with neither one of them recording a shot on goal.
The period came to a close with the Flyers holding a slight edge in shots at 8-6.
SECOND PERIOD
With 10:26 remaining the in the period, the Flyers jumped onto their second power play of the game after Ottawa was assessed a bench minor for too many men on the ice.
At the 11:43 mark, Deslauriers finished up the loose change in the blue paint for his second goal of the season. After a solid power play, the Flyers won the offensive zone draw, Jamie Drysdale’s point shot was stopped before it trickled through Forsberg, which allowed Deslauriers to finish the play.
53 seconds later, the Senators tied the game after Stützle walked around Egor Zamula and finished low blocker past Fedotov. After the Flyers coughed it up in the middle of the offensive zone they went off for a change, which allowed Chabot to take advantage and sent a long outlet pass to Stützle.
The Flyers then reclaimed their lead with 2:41 remaining after Cates followed his own rebound before wrapping it around and beating Forsberg for his 16th of the season. Cates fired a shot off the rush, kicked the rebound to his skate, then went around the net before deflecting it off the skate of Travis Hamonic.
With 13 seconds left in the period, Sean Couturier was assessed a tripping minor, giving the Senators 1:47 of power play time to start the third period.
THIRD PERIOD
The Senators weren’t able to tie the game on the power play but they kept that momentum riding as Zetterlund tied the game at the 4:41 mark. Chabot kept the puck in the zone with a one-touch pass to Shane Pinto at the side of the net before he found a streaking Zetterlund for the finish.
It didn’t take long for the Flyers to reclaim their lead once again after Hathaway beat Forsberg for his 10th goal of the season at the 7:33 mark. Seeler was able to keep the puck in the zone, Hathaway then danced around former Flyer Hayden Hodgson – who might’ve been tripped by Deslauriers – along the boards before wiring a shot short-side.
With 7:05 remaining in regulation, the Senators tied things back up after Chabot wired a shot top-shelf past Fedotov for his third point of the game. Jake Sanderson’s point shot managed to knock Fedotov’s stick loose, Angus Crookshank and Stützle managed the get the rebound from behind the net before the former found Chabot in the faceoff dot.
With 2:39 remaining, Michael Amadio and Matvei Michkov were both sent to the box with the former receiving a cross-checking minor and the latter getting the gate for embellishment.
After a quiet first period, both teams lit the lamp three times apiece in the final 40 minutes, sending this one to overtime.
OVERTIME
19 seconds into the overtime session, Sanheim was called for an interference minor.Right off the hop the Senators gained control of the puck and after seeing 3-4 shots getting blocked, Stützle finished things off at the 1:38 mark for his second of the game.
The German international wired a one-timer from his office after some crisp one touch passes between former Flyers captain Claude Giroux and Batherson.
UP NEXT
The Flyers host the Columbus Blue Jackets in their final home game of the 2024-25 campaign on Tuesday (7:00pm; NBCSP)
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