Flyers cough up 3-1 lead to Senators, drop both games of back-to-back originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers relinquished a two-goal lead Sunday afternoon en route to a 5-3 loss to the Senators at the Wells Fargo Center.
Joel Farabee gave the Flyers a 3-1 advantage halfway through the game.
However, the Flyers couldn’t nail it down and suffered their second loss to Ottawa, a team at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
Vladimir Tarasenko buried the winner for the Senators with under five minutes left in the game. The Flyers were burned by an odd-man rush as Nick Seeler was the only one back in coverage. The defenseman’s pass was intercepted, which sent Ottawa the other way.
Tim Stutzle iced the game with an empty-netter.
“The part of the game I’m concerned with here is we just didn’t make enough plays,” head coach John Tortorella said. “We did not establish forechecking. In the second half of the game, we were just one and done. They generated so much momentum off of their goals. Once they scored, they generated momentum.”
Tortorella’s club dropped both games of a back-to-back set this weekend in Philadelphia. It allowed 12 goals in the two games.
“I’m going to leave them alone tomorrow and we get ready to play our next game,” Tortorella said. “That’s all you can do. I trust the group.”
The Flyers are 1-2-0 on their four-game homestand.
“It’s only two games,” Sean Couturier said. “We’ve been going one game at a time anyway all year, that’s our mindset. It’s not going to change now. It’s a tough loss, but we’re still all right here. We’ll be ready for Tuesday’s game.”
Egor Zamula provided the Flyers (25-16-6) an early jolt with two first-period goals. He finished with an assist, as well.
Farabee also had a three-point day (one goal, two assists). With 39 points, he has already matched his career high only 47 games into the season.
Former longtime Flyers captain Claude Giroux drew Ottawa even at 3-3 in the third period.
The Flyers are 0-2-0 against the Senators (17-24-1) this season. The clubs meet again March 2 in Philadelphia.
• Despite Owen Tippett being unavailable Sunday, the news on his status was positive.
The 24-year-old winger is considered day to day after suffering a lower-body injury in the Flyers’ 7-4 loss Saturday to the Avalanche.
Tippett skated briefly Sunday morning at a dimmed Wells Fargo Center under the watch of head athletic trainer Tommy Alva. The fact that Tippett could test things out on the ice a day after sustaining the injury was a promising sign.
Missing Tippett for any significant period of time would have been a considerable loss for the Flyers. He’s second on the team with 18 goals and was on a heater before getting hurt. Fortunately for the Flyers, his absence doesn’t appear to be long term.
“Very important, very important,” Zamula said of Tippett. “It kind of sucks when a player like that is hurt, especially in January, February, when you’re pushing for a good spot.”
• Zamula recorded the first two-goal game of his NHL career. The 23-year-old defenseman entered with three goals in 63 career games.
His game-opening tally was a strange one. With the Flyers on a power play, just about everyone thought Ottawa goalie Mads Sogaard had the puck covered to the left of his crease after a Farabee shot. But it ricocheted high in the air and to the side boards.
Zamula, unlike the rest, saw the puck and quickly shot it into the unattended net.
“That was one of the weirder goals I think I’ve ever seen in my career,” Farabee said. “When I shot it, I actually had no idea where it was. And then I saw Z skating to the far side. Just a weird, weird goal.”
Under five minutes later, Zamula found a shooting lane to hand the Flyers a 2-0 lead at first intermission.
In the second period, Zamula fumbled a puck at the offensive blue line, which led to a breakaway goal for former Flyer Zack MacEwen.
“I had a mistake today on the blue line,” Zamula said. “The mistake was pretty bad for me, for my team, too, because Ottawa started playing better after my mistake.”
But later in the period, Zamula helped the Flyers regain their two-goal lead at 3-1 when he assisted Farabee’s man advantage marker.
• After coming on in relief duty Saturday, Samuel Ersson started Sunday’s game and converted 29 saves.
The Senators’ second goal came on a delayed penalty and with chaos in front of the net. Stutzle was credited with the marker as a loose puck amid bodies snuck past the goal line to draw Ottawa within 3-2 in the second period.
Giroux flushed another loose puck to tie the game in the third period.
“It’s kind of those scrum situations, maybe tough bounces,” Ersson said. “For me, I’ve got to find a way to make a save on at least one of those.”
On Giroux’s goal, Ersson and Couturier couldn’t clear the puck from the crease.
“I thought I had it, it was in my skate and the next thing you know, it just popped to him,” Couturier said. “It’s stuff that happens. I just got caught on the wrong side of the puck.”
Sogaard stopped 22 of the Flyers’ 25 shots for the Senators.
• The Flyers’ power play produced two goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 30.
It has gone 8 for 28 in the last nine games after going 2 for 41 over the previous 14 games.
• Cam Atkinson had an assist, extending his point streak to five games (four goals, four assists).
• With Tippett’s injury, Nicolas Deslauriers drew into the lineup. Tortorella went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Bobby Brink and Marc Staal were extras.
Tortorella opted for Deslauriers’ size and experience over the playmaking ability of Brink. The 22-year-old rookie has been a healthy scratch for four of the last six games.
• The Flyers wrap up their homestand Tuesday when they host the Lightning (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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