Flyers Rally Late, but Ottawa Wins in Shootout

(Kate Frese/SB Nation)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Entering the third period, things looked bleak for the Flyers. They were on their way to a fourth straight regulation loss, trailing 3-1 to the lowly Ottawa Senators.

But a furious rally allowed them to get at least one point, with the game-tying goal coming in the final seconds of regulation. Unfortunately for the Flyers, the game went to the dreaded shootout, where the Flyers lost after six rounds to the Senators, 1-0, to seal the 4-3 loss on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers opened the game with some good scoring chances and had a couple of power plays, but failed to take advantage. That opened the door for Ottawa.

Matt Duchene opened the scoring at 10:53 with a great individual effort to cut to the net and lift a shot over Alex Lyon.

Just 39 seconds later, Ottawa struck again. Lyon made a couple great saves on the Senators, but got caught out of position and had to scramble back into the crease. The Senators jammed the puck at the side of the net and it was Derick Brassard who poked it in to give the Senators a 2-0 lead.

Ottawa had two power-play chances in short order right after the pair of goals, but did not score.

Shots were 10-8 Ottawa after the first period.

The Flyers started the second period strong and finally were able to turn the momentum with a goal.

Claude Giroux picked up speed through the neutral zone and dropped a pass to Travis Konecny. Konecny's shot was stopped and the rebound for Sean Couturier was also stopped with a great save by Craig Anderson. But the puck remained loose and Anderson got caught out of the net. Radko Gudas ended up with the puck back near the blue line and dished to Couturier at the side of the net and he scored to cut the lead to one with his 27th goal of the season.

The Flyers carried the momentum for most of the period, getting several scoring chances that were stopped by Anderson and one shot by Nolan Patrick that hit the post. Unfortunately for the Flyers, those missed opportunities eventually allowed the momentum to turn the other way.

Giroux lost his balance and the puck at the Ottawa blue line, sending the Senators away on a two-on-one. Ryan Dzingel threaded a pass to Chris DiDomenico for the goal, making it a two-goal game again with 6:58 to play in the second.

The Flyers had the only power play of the period with 2:29 to go, but struggled to generate zone time.

Ottawa nearly took advantage of that in the closing seconds. The Senators managed to beat Lyon again, as Duchene came from behind the net and caught Lyon leaning with a shot to the short side. But the play was challenged by the Flyers for offside and was overturned after a video review.

Shots through two periods were 24-20 in favor of Ottawa.

Michal Neuvirth entered the game in relief of Lyon to start the third period.

The Flyers heavily controlled play in the third period, generating a number of scoring chances throughout the period. In total, shots were 16-3 Flyers in the final period.

The Flyers finally cut into the lead at 14:15. Brandon Manning fired a shot from the point that was deflected by Scott Laughton in front of the net for the goal to cut the lead to one.

The Flyers frantically tried to get the equalizer in the final few minutes of the game, but couldn't solve Anderson as the final seconds started to wind down. With 8.5 seconds remaining, the Flyers had a face-off in the offensive zone that was essentially their last chance. Couturier won the draw and the Flyers quickly cycled the puck to Shayne Gostisbehere for the shot. Nolan Patrick was there to pick up the rebound and score with 2.6 seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime.

Overtime came and went without much in terms of scoring chances, and the game went to a shootout.

The shootout went six rounds before Mike Hoffman finally ended things with a goal in the sixth round using the Peter Forsberg move on Neuvirth.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Flyers, who get a point out of the defeat but miss out on a chance at two valuable points in the standings.

Konecny had three assists in the game. 

Lyon made 20 saves on 23 shots in two periods. Neuvirth faced only six shots in the 25 minutes he played, but stopped all six.

The Flyers are back in action on Tuesday in Carolina as they take on the Hurricanes at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• OTT Matt Duchene (12) (Colin White, Mike Hoffman) 10:53
• OTT Derick Brassard (13) (Cody Ceci, Ryan Dzingel) 11:32

2nd Period

• PHI Sean Couturier (27) (Radko Gudas, Travis Konecny) 3:53
• OTT Chris DiDomenico (4) (Dzingel) 13:02

3rd Period

• PHI Scott Laughton (8) (Brandon Manning, Konecny) 14:15
• PHI Nolan Patrick (5) (Shayne Gostisbehere, Konecny) 19:57

Overtime

• No Scoring

Shootout

• PHI Jordan Weal – Save
• OTT Matt Duchene – Save
• PHI Nolan Patrick – Miss
• OTT Erik Karlsson – Save
• PHI Jake Voracek – Save
• OTT Tom Pyatt – Save
• PHI Claude Giroux – Save
• OTT Chris DiDomenico – Miss
• PHI Wayne Simmonds – Save
• OTT Derick Brassard – Miss
• PHI Shayne Gostisbehere – Save
• OTT Mike Hoffman – Goal

Game Statistics