Philadelphia Flyers
Flyers Earn a Point But Can’t Complete OT Win vs. Senators
The Philadelphia Flyers, once again, overcame a slow start on Saturday and forced overtime against the Ottawa Senators, but could not hold on, losing 3-2. Philly earned a point in the OT loss.
It took the Flyers a long time to get moving, especially after quickly falling 2-0. However, once they settled in, Philly looked dominant for a good portion of the game. Matvei Michkov scored, making it two straight games with a goal for him. Jamie Drysdale also tacked on a tally for Philly.
The Flyers would get the game to overtime, but could not finish strong, with the Senators taking advantage of a line change.
With the overtime loss, Philadelphia’s record dropped to 8-5-2. Here is how we got to the final score.
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Slow Start
Once again, the Philadelphia Flyers started a game with a flat first period. It feels like a growing trend, aside from the Montreal game on Tuesday. Saturday’s game against the Senators was no exception.
The Flyers looked lifeless in period number one. They were not generating any offense. No bodies were getting in front of the net. In fact, there was little to no net-front action at all in the first period. Philadelphia was only able to fire off four shots on goal in the first, despite having a power play chance.
Ottawa struck first in Saturday’s action, with Tim Stutzle getting things started. The Flyers struggled to move the puck out of the defensive zone, keeping the Senators’ possession alive. David Perron hit Stutzle with a cross-ice feed, and Stutzle buried the one-timer.
Just over a minute after the Stutzle goal, Michael Amadio tacked on another. Amadio had all the free space in the world to get his shot off. While Sam Ersson will definitely want that one back, he got no help from the defense.
Eventually, both the defense and Ersson would settle in, and Ottawa would be held to just two goals after 20 minutes.
Flyers Come to Life
Whether it was Rick Tocchet’s message at the first intermission or sparked by some individual efforts, the Flyers looked like a completely different hockey team in the second period.
It took a little bit into the second period for the Flyers to start grooving. After not getting anything going in front of the net in the first period, Nikita Grebenkin had a sequence in the second frame where he got to the net and just kept jabbing at the puck until the whistle blew.
No, Grebenkin did not score, but it felt like a turning point for the Flyers. After that, the offense began to gain more and more momentum. Travis Konecny had a great shift not long after Grebenkin’s attempt at sparking life, where he set the team up for two of their best looks all day.
Again, nothing came from it, but the Flyers flipped the switch and went from being dominated to dominating.
Finally, Matvei Michkov(3), another great individual effort, showed flashes of strength as he skated around the offensive zone, eventually found his shot, and got the Flyers on the board just over halfway through the second.
Christian Dvorak (5) and Konecny (8) picked up assists on the goal.
The Flyers kept fighting in the second period, but could not wipe out the full deficit before the second intermission.
Drysdale Forces OT, Flyers Can’t Hang On
Philadelphia came out of the second intermission with the same hunger they had in the second period. The offense had plenty of early chances, and the defense held Ottawa to just one shot in the third period.
Defensively, the Flyers really did settle in after the rough first period and held the Senators to practically no chances as the game went on.
The period was just about to cross the halfway point, and the Flyers still had yet to even the score. That was until Trevor Zegras fired a shot on goal. Ullmark was not able to corral the puck. The Flyers had bodies in front, as Jamie Drysdale (2) got a shot off, and evened the score at two apiece.
Christian Dvorak got his stick on the puck right before the Drysdale shot, giving him his second primary assist of the night.
The Flyers would have a few more chances as the period progressed to take the lead, but they could not convert, and the game went to overtime.
Only one shot was taken in the extra period, and it was not by the Flyers. It looked like Zegras was trying to get off for a chance when the Senators caught the Flyers with a two-on-one rush. Zegras tried to hustle back to cover Stutzle, but could never get there.
Drake Batherson found Stuzle for the backdoor goal, and the Senators would win the game in overtime, 3-2.
What’s Next for the Flyers
The Flyers will remain at home, but do not play until Wednesday when they host the Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 p.m. EST at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
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First negative for Zegras. His hesitation to make the line change and not cover his responsible man resulted in the loss. If these slow starts continue they will quickly submerge to the bottom of the conference. It’s a very fine line this year with all of the parody in the East. They need to start getting shots on net and bodies in front at the start of the game, not starting in the second period.