This game could have gone in any direction, but the Philadelphia Flyers found another way to come up short on Thursday night in Ottawa.
They gave the Senators five power plays, and that last one turned out to be crucial.
A penalty on new Flyer winger Michael Bunting led to a man-advantage goal by Carter Yakemchuk at 13:01 of the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie and pushing the Flyers’ winless streak to five games (0-3-2) with the final score of 2-1 at Canadian Tire Centre.
Every player on the Flyers felt this was likely their best performance of the season, even if they didn’t achieve the desired result.
“We didn’t get the result that we needed but at least we had a good effort,” captain Sean Couturier said in a televised interview. “We can get some good things out of it tonight, at least. We have to keep grinding and find a way to get one here.”
Late in the third period, the Flyers showed perhaps their most energy all season, firing shots at the Senator net.
In what ways did they display more inspired hockey after four lackluster performances?
“We didn’t change much; it was just more of a commitment to play our style,” Couturier said.
“Competing, winning battles. I thought we did a better job at that. Less turnovers. We executed a little better. But we still have to find ways to capitalize on our chances. At least there are some positives here tonight.”
Coach Rick Tocchet seemed pleased with how hard they played overall.
“The compete was there,” Tocchet said. “The guys really worked hard. [But there was] penalty trouble. The passing was better. We have something that we can build on.”
The Flyers’ Travis Konecny jumps in front of Senators’ goaltender Linus Ullmark in the third period at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)
Tocchet’s team had a five-on-three chance for 27 seconds in the second period but couldn’t convert.
“We have to make some plays under pressure during that five-on-three,” he said. “We had a couple looks but never found them. We’ll go back to the drawing board.”
The Flyers finally scored their first power-play goal of the season at 7:46 of the second period.
Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark made a save on Trevor Zegras but couldn’t hold onto it and Matvei Michkov backhanded it into the net from close range to tie things up.
This marked Michkov’s second goal of the season; no other Flyer has more than one goal yet.
This goal ended an 0-for-12 slump for power plays for Philadelphia. Power-play struggles have been an issue for years now for them; scoring like this can help boost their confidence significantly.
“I think it’s good,” Zegras said in a second intermission interview about getting that power-play goal and hopes for improvement moving forward in that area. “I mean we were having trouble scoring goals and getting shots before this; getting a power-play goal will definitely help our five-on-five confidence.”
The Senators took an early lead when ex-Flyer Nick Cousins scored against them with a mid-range shot past Joseph Woll at 10:14 of the first period.
The bright side is that Philadelphia managed to kill off four straight penalties by Ottawa during those opening minutes.“It was huge killing off four in a row,” Zegras noted. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before at any level.”
Short shots
The Flyers’ five-game winless streak is their longest start since 2008-09.… Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen sat out his second consecutive game due to an injury he suffered last Saturday against Carolina.… They’ll be back on Saturday with a 1 p. m. matchup against Boston Bruins at TD Garden.… The Senators held pre-game tributes for former goaltender Ray Emery who played for both teams before tragically drowning in an accident back in 2018 at age 35.… The Flyers now sit with minus-13 goal differential which ties them as having one of worst records currently across NHL.… Tocchet commented about Bunting wearing No.58 saying: “A little rusty; he was trying out there.” … Woll received praise from Tocchet after putting together three solid performances so far saying: “He’s solid; he’s professional-really good game from him.”
Wayne Fish is a freelance writer. Follow his coverage at www. flyingfishhockey. com
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