Flyers' rally comes up empty in overtime loss to Senators originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers saw a comeback bid fall short Saturday afternoon as they suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to the Senators at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Matvei Michkov and Jamie Drysdale provided the Flyers’ goals. Michkov trimmed Ottawa’s lead to 2-1 in the second period before Drysdale tied the game a little over halfway through the third period.
But the Senators recovered as Tim Stutzle scored the OT winner with his second goal of the day. Trevor Zegras was a step behind in coverage after skating toward the bench for an attempted change.
“He wanted to come off, but you’ve got to be decisive,” Rick Tocchet said. “It was a tough play, but you’ve either got to come hard or you’ve got to stay on.”
The Flyers (8-5-2) have lost their last three home games, scoring just 1.67 goals per game.
They’ve played a lot of close games this season, with nine being decided by one goal. They’re 4-3-2 in those games.
Tocchet’s club is 0-1-1 against the Senators (7-5-3) with one more matchup to go Feb. 5 back here in Philadelphia.
• Samuel Ersson made his first start since Oct. 28 after being activated off injured reserve before Thursday’s game.
The 26-year-old converted 10 saves on 13 shots. The Flyers were able to shore things up after a rocky start and allowed just one shot in the third period.
But it wasn’t enough and an early hole didn’t help.
“I’ve got to do a better job getting the team ready,” Tocchet said.
Ottawa jumped out to a 2-0 lead not even six and a half minutes into the game. The goals came in the span of one minute and five seconds.
On the first goal, Bobby Brink was unable to play the puck up the boards, which allowed the Senators to find a wide-open Stutzle for a blast from the circle.
The Flyers were poor in coverage again on the second goal when Michael Amadio made a move in close off a nice pass by Claude Giroux.
Senators netminder Linus Ullmark stopped 20 of the Flyers’ 22 shots.
• Michkov has scored a goal in back-to-back games, a really good sign for the Flyers.
The 20-year-old winger fended off Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson before making a move toward the net and ripping home a shot. He screamed to the crowd in celebration.
In the first period, the Flyers had a failed power play. Michkov and Travis Konecny had some words on the bench. It didn’t look like they saw eye to eye on what they were trying to execute.
But after Konecny recorded an assist on Michkov’s goal in the middle stanza, he gave the youngster a fist-pound and patted him on the head. Two competitive guys working through things.
• Giroux has enjoyed seeing his old team.
His first-period helper gave him 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 11 career games against the Flyers.
• Carl Grundstrom, who was acquired in the Ryan Ellis trade, made his Flyers debut after being called up Friday from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.
The 27-year-old winger came to the Flyers with 292 games and 43 goals on his NHL résumé. He wore No. 91 and opened the game on a line with Konecny and Noah Cates.
• The Flyers have three days before their next game Wednesday when they host Connor McDavid and the Oilers (7:30 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
