Two prospects come in for two prospects as Flyers lose to Giroux’s Senators originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
After a successful season opener, the Flyers came back to earth Saturday afternoon.
They lost to the Senators, 5-2, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.
The Flyers trailed for all but 2:36 minutes of the game.
Travis Konecny and Cam York scored the team’s goals. Konecny has a pair of two-point performances already (three goals, one assist).
John Tortorella’s club will come home 1-1-0. It beat the Blue Jackets, 4-2, Thursday night in Columbus, Ohio.
Last season, the Flyers started 3-0-0 for the first time since 2011-12.
Jakob Chychrun and Brady Tkachuk scored two goals apiece for the Senators (1-1-0), who face the Flyers two more times this season. Both matchups will be in Philadelphia.
• The Flyers lived in their own zone for much of the game.
They were outshot 24-9 through two periods and 31-21 on the day.
They didn’t block many shots and the opponent did.
And they committed eight penalties, while their own power play went 1 for 6.
The Flyers should want to be much better in front of their fans Tuesday.
• Emil Andrae, a defenseman multiple folks have likened to Kimmo Timonen, made his NHL debut and held his own.
The 21-year-old went through a tough sequence on Ottawa’s game-opening goal but he also had some positive subtle plays in his 16:27 minutes. He’s a tough customer, too, for being undersized.
Tyson Foerster, arguably the top prospect in the club’s immediate future, made his season debut. The 21-year-old winger opened eyes in his eight-game audition last season.
On Saturday, he finished with a primary assist and a penalty in 16:13 minutes.
Foerster created Konecny’s 5-on-3 power play goal by getting his shot on net, which got the Flyers within 2-1 at first intermission.
In the second period, Foerster slashed Claude Giroux to break up an odd-man rush. The Senators quickly capitalized with their second of three power play goals on the day, extending the lead to 3-1.
Andrae and Foerster played in place of prospects Egor Zamula and Bobby Brink.
The Flyers are sort of kicking the can down the road with the decisions on their prospects. Keeping them in a rotation is not ideal for their development. That’s not sustainable. But, to have them split a two-game road trip to open the year was fine. They got rewarded and got experience.
Decisions will eventually have to be made, though.
• For the first time in their NHL careers, Giroux and Sean Couturier played against each other.
Giroux was facing his old club for the fourth time. He has seven points (two goals, five assists) in those meetings after recording two more helpers Saturday.
He assisted both of Tkachuk’s goals. He was vintage Giroux in the second period, competing to the final buzzer. With under 10 seconds left in the frame, Giroux stripped Travis Sanheim of the puck along the side boards and fed Tkachuk for a shot.
It was a killer goal for the Flyers to give up as they went into second intermission down 4-2.
Prior to the game, the Senators held a ceremony to commemorate Giroux for scoring 1,000 career NHL points. He reached the milestone toward the end of last season.
The 35-year-old Giroux has 1,004 career points, with 900 of them coming over 1,000 games in a Flyers jersey.
A really impressive run of durability and consistency. And he’s still going.
Couturier went scoreless and 11 for 22 on faceoffs over 20 minutes.
• Carter Hart allowed five goals on 31 shots.
He wasn’t the Flyers’ problem. Penalties and an Ottawa team that was just flat-out better were the Flyers’ problems.
Senators netminder Anton Forsberg stopped 19 of the Flyers’ 21 shots. He was tested mostly in the third period.
• Nick Seeler stood up for Foerster in the second period, dropping the gloves with Mark Kastelic. The Ottawa forward delivered a heavy hit on Foerster along the back boards, prompting Seeler to defend his rookie teammate.
• One would think the Flyers are aiming to have Rasmus Ristolainen ready for the home opener. The defenseman, dealing with an undisclosed issue, remained on injured reserve for the two-game trip. However, he had been practicing leading up to it and Tortorella called the injury “nothing serious” three days ago.
• The Flyers return to Philadelphia for their home opener Tuesday against the Canucks. The originally scheduled 7 p.m. ET game was moved up to 6 p.m. ET.
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