Flyers fall flat in 2-1 loss to Ottawa
The Flyers, who’ve looked so solid during their seven-game point streak, were flat for most of the night and got what they deserved.
KANATA, Ont. -- The final score says the Flyers lost by one goal, but there was more to their disappointing effort Friday night in their 2-1 loss to Ottawa.
Most glaring was the failure to cash in on a four-minute power play in the last five minutes of the game.
“We had a lot of good looks, we just didn’t connect,” Jake Voracek said. “Obviously, if you don’t score, it doesn’t matter how good you move the puck or if you move the puck badly. A 2-1 game with a four-minute power-play, we should be able to find a way.”
The Flyers, who looked so solid during their seven-game points streak, were flat for most of the night and got what they deserved. Ottawa scored its two goals in the second period to take the lead while the Flyers showed as much urgency as a box of turtles.
Alain Vigneault once again juggled the lines, to no avail.
Voracek and Joel Farabee started on Claude Giroux’s line. After the second, they were centered by Michael Raffl.
“Our second period was so Ottawa [heavy],” I had to try to do something," the coach said. “I tried shuffling the lines to get a couple guys going. We got some zone time [in the third period], but we weren’t able to score.”
Carter Hart gave up two goals on 19 shots. He was fortunate, as the Senators hit the post at least four times. Ottawa even scored a power-play goal, which it had done only once all season in 34 attempts. That’s 3%, folks.
The Flyers were 0-for-5 on the power play, which included four minutes late in the third period when Claude Giroux was high-sticked by Colin White.
The Flyers were on a 5-0-2 streak that shot them up to third place in the Metropolitan Division. The efforts needed to grit out a point against conference-leading Washington on Wednesday and winning at Toronto and at Boston on consecutive nights last weekend were missing against Ottawa.
Tyler Pitlick scored with his first goal as a Flyer off an assist from Andy Andreoff (his first point as a Flyer) as the fourth line was the Flyers’ best throughout the night.
“We should still find a way to win the game,” Voracek said. “Nothing against Ottawa, they played a good game. But we have to find a way to win those games. Last week, we won four in a row against tough teams, and it’s too early after this game to make any [sweeping] comments on it. Hopefully, it was just a blip and we will come out hard tomorrow.”
Missive from Morin
Injured defenseman Sam Morin sent out a tweet Thursday evening thanking all who reached out to him after he tore his right ACL for the second in 18 months last week.
“This game has brought me more than I ever could have imagined,” he wrote, in part. “I truly love the game of hockey. I will put all my effort and energy in to being healthy again so I can continue to play the game I love.”
Up next
The Flyers will seek to put up a better showing Saturday, when the Islanders visit the Wells Fargo Center.
New York chased Carter Hart with five goals in 29 minutes in a 5-3 win on Oct. 27 on Long Island. Brian Elliott, who is expected to start in net Saturday, stopped all 19 shots he saw in relief. Elliott has won three consecutive starts against the Islanders dating back to the 2017-18 season.
The Islanders are on a 12-0-1 run. They haven’t lost in regulation in more than a month.