Postgame 5: Flyers fall to Ottawa in 5-3 Loss

The Philadelphia Flyers fell to the Ottawa Senators, 5-3, at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday afternoon. A third period 3-2 lead slipped away and the Senators kept building momentum from there.

The Flyers had three-point performances from defenseman Egor Zamula (two goals, one assist) and Joel Farabee (one goal, two assists). Tim Stutzle scored twice for Ottawa, while former Flyers Zack MacEwen and Claude Giroux tallied vital goals for Ottawa. Vladimir Tarasenko netted the game-winning goal.

In the first period, power play and even strength goals by Zamula staked Philly to a 2-0 lead. The opening frame was otherwise not particularly inspiring from either team.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 11:57 of the first period on an unusual power play goal. There was a scramble around the Ottawa net. Most of the players thought goalie Mads Sogaard had the puck. In reality, it was loose and went around the boards. From the left side boards, Zamula (PPG, 4th) fired the puck into the mostly open net. Assists went to Farabee and Cam York.

Zamula struck again to make it 2-0 at 16:40. With Farabee controlling the puck from the right boards, Zamula got open over the middle. After receiving a good pass from Farabee, Zamula (second of the game, 5th of the season) wired home a shot. The assists went to Farabee and Cam Atkinson.

In the second period, the Flyers spent more time in their own end than they would have wanted, and the Senators outscored (2-1) the Flyers. Fortunately for Philadelphia, the Flyers were able to take a 3-2 lead into the third period.

Philly paid for a miscue high in the attack zone at 4:04 of the second period. A pass attempt back to Zamula at the point and MacEwen (2nd goal of the season) jumped on the puck and soloed to beat Samuel Ersson with a 30-foot wrist shot.

The Flyers restored a two-goal lead with a power play marker at 10:50 of the second period. Taking a pass along the blueline from Zamula, Farabee had time and space to fire off a wrist shot and score (PPG, 17th). The assists went to Zamula and Konecny.

A delayed penalty on Tyson Foerster turned into an Ottawa goal by Stutzle (9th) at 11:45 of the second period to cut the Sens' deficit to 3-2. After a video review, it was ruled that the puck crossed the goal line in the scramble at the net -- with apparently no Flyer touching the puck -- before the whistle blew. The assists went to Shane Pinto and Thomas Chabot. The goal was initially credited to Tarasenko but changed after the period.

Longtime Flyers captain Giroux (14th) tied the game at 3-3, backhanding a goal from the low slot at 3:19 of the third period. The assists were credited to Brady Tkachuk and Jacob Bernard-Docker.

The Flyers were unable to capitalize on an Atkinson breakaway. Moments later, Mathieu Joseph took the puck away from Nick Seeler at the blueline. Ottawa broke out on a 2-on-1 and Tarasenko (12th) fired home the go-ahead goal from the right slot at 15:07 of the third period.

Stutzle scored his second goal of the game (10th of the season) into an empty net at 18:37 after Jakob Chychrun forced a turnover and got the puck up to Stutzle.

Samuel Ersson took the loss. He stopped 29 of 33 shots on goal. Sogaard earned the win with 22 saves on 25 shots.

The Flyers went 2-for-4 on the power play. The Senators were 0-for-3.

Owen Tippett (lower-body injury) did not play. Nicolas Deslauriers returned to the lineup. With Tippett unavailable, the Flyers went with a three forward, two defensemen alignment on their top power play unit. Cam York stepped onto the unit.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
27 Noah Cates - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway

44 Nick Deslauriers- 25 Ryan Poehling - (rotation)

6 Travis Sanheim - 9 Jamie Drysdale
8 Cam York - 26 Sean Walker
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
5 Egor Zamula

33 Samuel Ersson
[79 Carter Hart]

TURNING POINT

The Flyers won the special teams battle for the day, but Ottawa won the war at even strength. The Stutzle goal on the delayed penalty was a bad harbinger of things to come.

POSTGAME 5 

1) Shots on goal were tied at 2-2 through the first 5:03 of play. Ersson denied a wraparound attempt by Rourke Chartier on the next shift. After a sleepy start, Hathaway landed the game's first solid check.

A mild scrum ensued at 5:59 after a whistle in the Ottawa defensive zone. At 6:19, Frost put the puck on net from close range off a Farabee centering pass. A TV timeout ensued.

Ersson made two saves during an extended defensive zone shift with the Frost line on the ice. It ended with a Seeler interference penalty at 8:14. Shots on net were 5-3 Ottawa. The Flyers staged a strong kill with no shots or chances allowed.

The Flyers went to their first power play at 11:21 as Jake Sanderson high-sticked Ristolainen in a board battle in the Philly zone. PP1 started the man advantage. Giroux won the draw against Couturier and cleared the puck down the ice. Shortly after play moved back the other way, Zamula scored.

Sogaard stopped a Farabee one-timer from the top of the left circle at 13:29. Zamula scored again at 16:40. Konecny took an offensive zone interference penalty at 17:16. With 19 seconds left on the Konecny penalty, Josh Norris took an interference penalty high in the attack zone. The Flyers took 57 seconds of carryover power play time into the second period.

2) First period shots on goal were tied at 8-8. Shot attempts were 15-14 Ottawa. Scoring chances were tied at 5-5. High-danger scoring chances were 1-1 per Natural Stat Trick. Faceoffs were 12-5 Ottawa.

3) The Flyers were unable to score on the carryover power play. Konecny had a golden chance in the waning seconds. Shots on goal were 2-0 Flyers through 2:24. Ottawa's MacEwen scored at 4:04.

The Flyers went to the power play again at 4:36 and Bernard-Docker clipped Farabee with a high stick. PP2 started this power play. Neither unit connected. Konecny put an unscreened point shot on net as the penalty expired.

At 8:43, Farabee received a cross-seam pass from Frost on the other side. Sogaard made the save. Shots on goal were 5-3 Ottawa at this point. At the other end of the ice, Chartier had the first Ottawa scoring chance since the McEwen goal.

Cates won a puck battle and was tripped by Bernard-Docker just inside the Ottawa blueline at 10:32. Philly went to their fourth power play. Farabee cashed it in at 10:50.

Foerster was called for slashing. During the delayed penalty, it was ruled that Ottawa put the puck in the net before the whistle at 11:45.

At 18:32, Laughton generated a chance from the center slot. Sogaard stopped it. The Sens iced the puck with 19.1 seconds to go in the period. Frost lost the left circle draw.

4) Second period shots on goal were 12-9 Senators (20-17 Ottawa overall). Shot attempts were 26-21 Senators with 21-10 margin in Ottawa's favor at 5-on-5 (41-35 Senators overall). Scoring chances were 13-8 Senators (18-13 Senators overall). High-danger scoring chances were 6-3 Ottawa (7-4 Ottawa overall). Faceoffs were 15-11 Senators (27-16 Ottawa overall).

5) Ersson covered a puck that bounced on net at 2:10. It was the period's first shot on goal for either team. At 3:19, Giroux scored against the Couturier line to tie the game.

After the Giroux goal, the Frost line generated very heavy pressure -- including a deep slot shot by Farabee and a deflection on net by Frost -- that Sogaard stopped. As play continued, there was a dangerous-looking collision at the net before an injury stoppage at 5:04. The Ottawa trainer came out to check on the goalie. He was OK.

Through eight minutes of the third period, shots on goal were 5-3 Ottawa. Frost fired a shot on goal from the right slot at 9:21. The puck rebounded to the opposite slot but no Flyer could pounce.

Atkinson took a slashing penalty at 10:10. Phillly was fortunate to avoid a goal during the delayed call. Ottawa was guilty of a hand pass 13 seconds into the power play. Ersson made a 10-bell save on a wide-open Drake Batherson to keep the game tied. Batherson's followup attempt missed the net with open space in the cage. Konecny narrowly missed on a shorthanded bid from the right circle, drawing iron.

Foerster sprung Atkinson on a breakaway with a stretch pass. Sogaard stopped him at 14:42. Then, at 15:07, Tarasenko put the Senators ahead 4-3.

Third period shots on goal were 14-8 Senators (34-29 Ottawa overall). Shot attempts were 23-19 Senators (64-54 Senators overall). Scoring chances were 16-10 Ottawa (35-23 Senators overall). High-danger scoring chances were 9-4 Senators (17-7 Senators overall, according to Natural Stat Trick). Faceoffs were 13-8 Senators (40-24 overall in the Senators' favor).