Postgame 5: Flyers Drop 4-3 OT Verdict to Sens

The Philadelphia Flyers lost in overtime to the Ottawa Senators, 4-3, at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday afternoon. The Flyers finished 1-1-1 against Ottawa in the season series.

Tim Stutzle had two goals and an assist for the Senators, including the game-winning tally. Defenseman Thomas Chabot generated a goal and two assists. Nick Deslauriers, Noah Cates and Garnet Hathaway scored for Philly.

The first period was fairly low-event. Flyers winger Hathaway and Ottawa's Hayden Hodgson (a former Flyer) tried to inject some physicality and emotion, although nothing escalated beyond minor skirmishes. Ex-Flyer Nick Cousins engaged in a chirping battle or two in the otherwise sleepy opening 20 minutes.

With the game still scoreless and shots on goal 7-5 in Philly's favor, Ottawa went to the game's first power play at 14:25 of the first period for tripping Tim Stutzle. With 19 seconds left on the penalty, Adam Gaudette was called for interference as he set a pick on Nick Seeler.

In the final 7.2 seconds of the period, Matvei Michkov had a look from the high center slot. First period shots on goal were 8-6 Flyers.

The Flyers had the lone shot on goal through nearly the first five minutes of the second period before Ottawa had the first bonafide scoring chance.

Eight minutes into the middle frame, Shane Pinto nearly broke the scoreless deadlock. Tom Gilbert pinched in for a chance on the next shift. Ottawa had the game's last six shots on goal at that point.

Ottawa was caught with too many men on the ice at 9:34. On the ensuing power play, Foerster completed a stretch pass to Travis Konecny for a breakaway. Konecny's shot beat Anton Foersberg but hit the post.

Karsen Dorwart won a battle down low to trigger a goal sequence. The play ended with Deslauriers (2nd goal of the season) potting a Cam York rebound after Hathaway got the puck back to the point. Time of the goal was 11:43.

A mere 53 seconds later, the game was tied at 1-1. Stutzle (22nd) got a step on Egor Zamula and went onward to beat Ivan Fedotov at 12:36. The assists went to Chabot and Travis Hamonic.

Three shifts later, Owen Tippett raced through the neutral zone and set up a scoring chance for Ryan Poehling on a one-timer.

Breaking a stretch of one goal in 17 games, Noah Cates (16th goal of the season) reclaimed the rebound of his own routine shot from the right circle, swooped around the net and scored on a backhanded wraparound for a 2-1 lead at 17:17 of the second period. The goal was unassisted officially but a nice pass from Emil Andrae ahead to Cates started the sequence.

Sean Couturier's skate tripped Dyan Cozens at 19:47 of the second period. Ottawa to 1:47 of carryover power play time into the third period. Second period shots on goal were 14-9 Flyers.

The Flyers killed off the carryover 5-on-4 PK time. With manpower back at 5-on-5, Couturier self-created a scoring chance off a bouncing shot on net. As play resumed after a stoppage, Michkov hit the outside of the net on a Couturier rebound.

Fabian Zetterlund (19th) forged a 2-2 tie at 4:41 of the third period. First, Chabot kept the puck in the offensive zone. Pinto saucered a pass to Zetterlund in the slot, who sniped a shot past Fedotov.

The Flyers fourth line struck for a second time in the game, restoring a 3-2 lead 7:33 on a short-side Hathaway goal (10th) from his off-wing. The Senators argued that Deslauriers interfered with Hodgson on the front end of the play, to no avail. The lone assist went to Seeler.

Michkov had a golden chance to provide an insurance goal at 9:35 and he got loose on a breakaway. Forsberg made a good read and came up with a key save to keep the score at 3-2.

Hathaway blocked two shots in succession from Drake Batherson. Moments later, he was on the receiving end of a hard but clean hit by Gilbert.

At 12:54, the game was deadlocked again. Fedotov lost his stick amid traffic at the net. Moments later, after Chabot found open space in the right circle, Chabot (8th) took a pass from Angus Crookshank and scored on the blocker side. The secondary assist went to Stutzle.

Michkov appeared to be shaken up a little bit at 17:21 on a cross-check by Michael Amadio. However, the officials ruled that Michkov embellished the hit and offsetting penalties were called. The teams skated at 4-on-4 for the next two minutes. With 38 seconds of 4-on-4 time left, Forsberg squeezed the pads to stop a Foerster wrister from the top of the left circle.

Third period shots were 10-9 Flyers (32-24 Flyers through 60 minutes).

Nineteen seconds into sudden death overtime, Travis Sanheim was called for interference in setting a pick on Sanderson for Foerster. The Flyers argued that Sanheim was simply stationary and Sanderson skated into him.

The 4-on-3 power play for Ottawa turned into a yard sale. Cates' stick broke and he never had a chance to get a new twig. Seeler was stung by the puck on a painful blocked shot, and had to play through the pain. Fedotov temporarily lost his stick -- for the second time in the game -- and it took three grabs to retrieve it from the crease.

Finally, at 1:40 of overtime, Ottawa ended the game. Stutzle (PPG, 2nd goal of the game, 23rd of the season) blasted home a one-timer from the right side. The assists went to Batherson and Claude Giroux.

Fedotov stopped 22 of 26 shots in a losing cause. Forsberg made 29 saves on 32 shots for Ottawa.

The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. They were 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster -27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
39 Matvei Michkov - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
22 Jakob Pelletier - 25 Ryan Poehling - 74 Owen Tippett
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Karsen Dorwart - 19 Garnet Hathaway

24 Nick Seeler - 6 Travis Sanheim
8 Cam York - 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula - 36 Emil Andrae

82 Ivan Fedotov

[33 Samuel Ersson]

Scratches: 55 Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (healthy).

PP1: Konecny, Couturier, Brink, Foerster, Michkov
PP2: Sanheim, Tippett, Cates, Lycksell, Drysdale

TURNING POINT

The Sanheim overtime penalty and the long 4-on-3 sequence with one Flyer (Cates) playing without a stick and another (Seeler) favoring his arm after a blocked shot made the eventual Stutzle goal feel almost inevitable.

POSTGAME 5 ("RAV4 THINGS" REVISITED)

1. A "Foers" of late: Entering Sunday's game, Tyson Foerster had five goals in the previous two games and nine points (eight goals, one assist) over the previous nine games. He did not get on the scoresheet on this day.

2. Speed line -- Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling, Jakob Pelletier: The line did not figure in the scoring on Sunday but generated a couple of quality scoring chances.

3. Between the pipes -- Ivan Fedotov: The hulking Russian netminder had an array of unorthodox saves and adventurous moments around the net or when playing the puck. But a few of his wins this season have come in similar performances.

4. Matvei Michkov watch: The Flyers' dynamic 20-year-old rookie winger brought 60 points (24g, 36a) for the season into Sunday's tilt. In Ottawa, Michkov had two high-end scoring chances in this game, most notably a breakaway, but did not earn a point.

5. X-factor -- Claude Giroux: The former Flyers captain made it 11 points in nine career games against Philadelphia. He started the puck rotation that ended in Stutzle's winning goal.