STARTING LINEUPS:

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Forwards
Giroux-Couturier-Voracek

Weal-Filppula-Simmonds

Read-Lehtera-Konecny

Leier-Laughton-Raffl

Defensemen
Provorov-Gostisbehere

Sanheim-Hagg

Manning-Gudas

Goalie
Neuvirth

Top Scorers
Voracek(12pts), Giroux(11pts)

OTTAWA SENATORS

Forwards
Dzingel-Brassard-Stone

Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt

Burrows-Thompson-DiDomenico

McCormick-Chlapik

Defensemen
Phaneuf-Karlsson

Oduya-Ceci

Claesson-Wideman

Borowiecki

Goalie
Anderson

Top Scorers
Brassard(10pts), Stone(9pts)

FIRST PERIOD

Brandon Manning starts the game off with a slashing penalty just 36 seconds in.
55 seconds later, a floater to the net and a powerplay goal for Phaneuf, 0-1.
Flyers getting some chances from the point but nothing finding twine.
Through 7 minutes we’re seeing more of the Flyers’ newfound speed that was missing in the loss to Anaheim on Tuesday.
Radko Gudas with a HUGE turnover just over 8 and a half minutes into the period, big save by Neuvirth. He’s been very shaky of late.
Almost 10 minutes in, we have more careless play in the Flyers’ zone and the puck squeaks by Neuvirth once again. Borowiecki makes it 0-2, Senators.
12 minutes in and the Flyers will get their first powerplay, desperately need to change the pace here.
A short handed goal from Pageau makes it 0-3. Poor puck handling and slow feet are killing this team lately.
Some decent play from our 1st line has been the only bright spot in this one through 17 minutes.
Powerplay for the Flyers’ with 2:33 to play, Borowiecki slashing, big chance to end this period on a high note.
Amazing save from Anderson with 50 seconds left in the period keeps the Flyers’ scoreless and the powerplay comes to an end.
No urgency from the Flyers has this one at 3-0 after one. Hakstol needs to change something to find a spark.

SCORING

(1:31) Senators; G: Dion Phaneuf, A: Chlapik, DiDomenico

(9:50) Senators; G: Mark Borowiecki, A: Hoffman, Pageau

(13:28) Senators; G: Jean-Gabriel Pageau, A: Karlsson

PENALTIES

(0:36) Flyers; Brandon Manning, Slashing

(11:56) Senators; Derick Brassard, Slashing

(17:27) Senators, Mark Borowiecki, Slashing

SHOTS

Flyers 14

Senators 12

SECOND PERIOD

Less than 2 minutes into the second and Anderson has made a couple more key saves.
Jake Voracek has had a few quality chances and still can’t find his first goal of the season.
3 minutes into the period, tremendous pressure from the Senators but a few lucky bounces keep the score at 0-3.
The Flyers’ 4th line has been battling the entire game but can’t get an edge against a buzzing Senators team. Another quality shift for them 5 minutes into the period.
6 minutes in, a late poke by Gostisbehere starts a short lived brawl. First real signs of physicality from either team all night.
Pyatt gets a great chance on Neuvirth with 13:25 left to play, quality save by Neuvirth.
12 minutes into the period and we’re caught in a neutral zone battle. Flyers can’t get anything going and the Senators are more than happy to let the clock run down.
Jake Voracek gets some good luck and makes this one 1-3. Well deserved first goal of the season for him, he’s played hard.
Konecny scores on a breakaway after a Gudas takeaway. Flyers are back in this one with 4:37 seconds left in the period. 2-3.
Neuvirth stands on his head again, has played well all period.
Much more urgency from the Flyers as the period draws to a close, 2 quick goals will do that.
Dzingel dishes a nice pass to Stone who scores. Buzzkill. 2-4 Senators. 2:23 left.
Period comes to an end with the Flyers one closer than they were last period and with a lot more confidence.

SCORING

(14:30) Flyers; G: Jake Voracek, A: Couturier, Provorov

(15:23) Flyers; G: Travis Konecny, A: Gudas

(17:37) Senators; G Mark Stone, A: Dzingel, Karlsson

PENALTIES

None

SHOTS

Flyers 11 (25)

Senators 9 (21)

THIRD PERIOD

4 minutes into the period and the Flyers have had a ton of pressure. A few good chances but Anderson continues his strong play.
Raffl with a GREAT chance but the puck slides just wide of the net, 15:00 left to play.
Flyers causing turnovers in the neutral zone and much stronger on zone entries, if only they controlled play like this in the 1st period. Shots are 4 to 0 in favor of Philadelphia through 9 minutes.
Brandon Manning blasts a huge shot home from the point and makes it 3-4.
Senators challenge for goaltender interference.
Goal is overturned. Highly questionable call. 2-4 Senators.
9 and a half left in the period, a defensive breakdown sends the Senators down the ice on a 2-on-1. Pyatt fires and Ottawa’s first shot of the period finds twine. 2-5 Senators.
Gudas with a high hit on Wideman who heads to the locker room, given a minor and a game misconduct. Borowiecki responds and catches a minor. 4-on-4 for the time being.
Voracek lets frustrations get the best of him and we’ll have 4-on-3 hockey for Ottawa until Borowiecki is out of the box.
Karlsson slashes Laughton and gets 2 minutes in the box. 3-on-3 for a short bit.
From 3-on-3 to 4-on-3 to 4-on-4… and Provorov scores on a blast. 3-5 Senators.
Ottawa gets a short 5-on-4 which they don’t score on and finally were back at even strength. Needless to say, there’s some frustrated players on the ice tonight for both teams.
Neuvirth comes up with another huge save with 2 and a half left to play.
The Flyers pull Neuvirth with 2:10 left to play and a huge opportunity arises for them.
Couturier gets a stick on a Gostisbehere shot and scores with 1:47 left to play. 4-5 Senators.
A bouncing shot rings off the post and Neuvirth thanks the hockey gods for that one.
A great chance for the Flyers is saved by a sprawling Anderson. One and a half to go.
Philadelphia pulls Neuvirth again with 1 minute to go. Major pressure out front of Anderson but to no avail.
The officials take a look to see if the puck crosses the line with 56 seconds left in the game.
Puck clearly crossed the line but the play was deemed complete. No goal.
This one ends in a flurry, but the Flyers lose in Ottawa 4-5. Tough.

SCORING

(10:33) Senators; G: Tom Pyatt, A: Thompson, Pageau

(15:18) Flyers; G: Ivan Provorov, A: Konecny, Couturier

(18:14) Flyers; G: Sean Couturier, A: Gostisbehere, Voracek

PENALTIES

(11:45) Flyers; Radko Gudas, Charging served by Matt Read

(11:45) Flyers; Radko Gudas, Game Misconduct

(11:45) Senators; Mark Borowiecki, Roughing

(12:18) Flyers; Jake Voracek, Roughing

(13:36) Senators; Erik Karlsson, Slashing

SHOTS

Flyers 15 (40)

Senators 7 (28)

TAKEAWAYS

Radko Gudas has played very poorly of late. He’s hurt the team more than he’s helped them by being on the ice and that’s never okay.
Sean Couturier is establishing himself. As a long time Coots-doubter, I’m taking this with a grain of salt but he’s made plays this year that have been truly impressive. Hopefully he can continue to build on this performance and develop even more chemistry with Giroux and Voracek.
The absence of Andrew MacDonald was not the reason for the defensive collapse tonight.
Raffl is playing well. No points, but he’s playing hard and has played a part in Laughton’s resurgence.
Ottawa is a good hockey team, or they at least looked like one tonight. Anderson is still solid in net and they gave the Flyers fits tonight while missing 3 top-6 players.
Travis Sanheim is making careless mistakes and truly doesn’t look ready for the NHL at this point.
Sam Morin NEEDS to be on this hockey team. Reason being (aside from the above bullet point), he’s a steadying force on the blue line. The presence of Robert Hagg has been a welcome one as he’s been able to anchor a pairing so guys like Gostisbehere can play their game. Morin plays a similar style and also comes with a huge frame to clear bodies from in front of his own net net, another problem the team had tonight. Bring. Him. Up.
Doubts about Dave Hakstol are creeping in for a lot of Flyer’s fans. Rightfully so.

In the end, poor officiating at the end of a game is something Flyers fans aren’t foreign to. This one stings a little more than usual though. The NHL really needs to take a long look at their rule book in my opinion, but that’s a topic for another time. Regardless of the calls on the ice, the Flyers played a terrible first period and playing catch up usually doesn’t bode well for a team. A hard fought 40 minutes doesn’t always make up for a lazy first 20. It’s easy to blame the officials but if the team played the way they’re capable of playing from the start they wouldn’t have needed the game to come down to an errant call. At 5-5-0, the Flyers need to tighten up and make sure this season doesn’t slip away early like in years passed. They’re surely capable of great things but a young team can go off the rails fairly easily. The pressure is on Hakstol to make the necessary adjustments to right the ship. His team has the talent, nows the time to execute.