The Ottawa Senators came out of Philadelphia with more than a loss. They also may have lost their captain.
Ottawa dropped a 3-1 decision to the Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday, with captain Thomas Chabot not finishing the game after leaving the bench briefly in the second period. He returned and finished that frame, but did not play in the third. Afterward, coach Travis Green told reporters Chabot had suffered an upper-body injury.
That made the night sting even more for a Senators team that had already been trying to manage its blue line. Ottawa is expected to get Jake Sanderson back from an unspecified lower-body injury on Wednesday against Brady Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers at home, but the club has already used 10 defencemen this season. Losing Chabot for any stretch would be a major hit.
The only Senators goal came from Drake Batherson, while Linus Ullmark’s six-game winning streak ended in front of 27 saves on 30 shots.
Green wasn’t pleased with the overall effort.
“We weren’t very good to start the game and Philly came after us pretty hard,” Green said. “We took a couple of penalties, they got some momentum on their power play and I thought the first 12 minutes we weren’t quick enough.
“We got a little better as the game went on, but we pushed hard in the third and couldn’t find the tying goal. Normally, when we win, we have a group, like, the whole team play well. We win when the whole team plays well and I thought we had four or five guys who weren’t very good tonight.”
Ottawa did play with more urgency in the third and spent stretches pressing the Flyers, but the Senators couldn’t cash in when it mattered. A late power-play chance with about five minutes left came and went, and that miss loomed large.
The Flyers, meanwhile, came into the night at 0-6-3, the worst start in franchise history. Ottawa had beaten Philadelphia six straight times dating back to March 11, 2025, including a 2-1 win in its home opener on Oct.
- This time, the Flyers got the better of the Senators.
Ottawa’s only goal came in the second period when Batherson snapped in a perfect saucer pass from former Flyers captain Claude Giroux at 5:55. It was Batherson’s fourth of the season and the 153rd goal of his career, moving him past Radek Bonk and into ninth place on the Senators’ all-time list. Bonk, who scored 152 for Ottawa, was in the stands wearing Flyers gear to watch his son, Oliver, on the Philadelphia defence.
The game had already tilted by then. Ottawa went nearly nine minutes without a shot before Batherson finally converted, and the Senators were still chasing from there.
Philadelphia retook control later in the period when Matvei Michkov buried a rebound on the Flyers’ third power-play chance of the night with 1:27 left before intermission. Earlier, Porter Martone had tied it 1-1 at 9:03 of the second, tipping a puck on the doorstep after Ottawa struggled to clear its zone.
By then, the first period had already set the tone. The Senators were outshot 14-8 in the opening 20 minutes, killed off two Philadelphia power plays, and leaned heavily on Ullmark just to stay level. The teams were scoreless after one, but the Flyers had clearly carried more of the play.
Green had no interest in changing his goalie plans before the game, even with backup Samuel Ersson facing his former club.
“No,” Green said with a smile. “We don’t play our goalies based on whether they played in the city or not.”
Ullmark entered with a 1.20 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage, and with a 9-2-2 career mark against the Flyers. He also had a chance to set a franchise record with a seventh straight win to open the season. Instead, Trevor Zegras sealed it with an empty-net goal.
“It’s hard to win in this league when you don’t have all (20) guys going and tonight we didn’t have everyone going,” said winger Warren Foegele. “They were more desperate than us and it showed.
“The game is pretty simple: Win your battles and get pucks to the net, and beat your guy. They just won more puck battles than us.”
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Senators Blue Line Could Finally Get A Huge Boost
Ottawas blue line has been waiting for a lift since Jake Sanderson left the season opener early with a lower-body injury, and it sounds like help is finally close. The Senators' top defensive piece has missed several contests, but head coach Travis Green said Sanderson has now been cleared for contact, putting him on track to rejoin the lineup after the early setback.
The timing matters for a team that wants its best pair back together and more stability in front of its goaltenders. Ottawa has had to manage without one of its most important defenders, but the next test against the Florida Panthers could bring a much-needed boost if Sanderson is able to slot right back in. [Read more 🡒]
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The timing matters because Ottawas margin for error is already thin, and the teams around it are dealing with their own lineup issues. Philadelphia is down winger Owen Tippett with an upper-body injury, while the Islanders saw Calum Ritchie and Matias Maccelli exit their game against Toronto with lower-body injuries. For the Senators, getting Sanderson back into the mix would be a welcome boost, but the exact spot where he re-enters the lineup is still part of the picture worth watching. [Read more 🡒]