Carter Yakemchuk picked a good moment for his first regular-season goal.
The Ottawa Senators rookie scored on the power play with seven minutes left in regulation Thursday night, breaking a tie and lifting Ottawa to a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Yakemchuk had already made his NHL debut in the playoffs last spring, but this one counted in the regular-season ledger and decided the game.
Ottawa’s win moved the Senators to 3-1-0, while Philadelphia stayed winless at 0-3-2.
The Senators got on the board first when Nick Cousins tipped a Tyler Kleven shot past Joseph Woll midway through the opening period. Philadelphia answered in the second on the man advantage, with Matvei Michkov finishing off the sequence after Linus Ullmark initially stopped a Trevor Zegras shot that slipped through his pads. Michkov slid the puck across the goal line to tie it.
Ullmark finished with 29 saves for Ottawa, and Woll stopped 24 shots for Philadelphia.
The Flyers also had to deal with another loss in the first period when William Eklund was hit into the boards by Simon Benoit. Eklund needed help getting off the ice while favoring his left leg and did not return.
Philadelphia did take a positive from the night defensively, holding Ottawa to 26 shots after allowing at least 36 in each of its previous four games.
The Senators, meanwhile, didn’t make much of their early chances. They had four power-play opportunities in the first period and managed only five shots on goal with the extra skater. Even so, they still cashed in when it mattered most, with Yakemchuk delivering the go-ahead goal late.
Ottawa finished 1-for-5 on the power play and is now 2-for-18 on the season.
Kleven helped preserve the result in the final minute by blocking two shots.
Michael Bunting made his Flyers debut after signing with the team Tuesday, and Ottawa defenseman Hoyt Stanley made his NHL debut.
The Flyers now head into a busy stretch with three games in four nights. They’ll go to Boston to face the Bruins on Saturday, while the Senators host the Nashville Predators that same night.
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Michael Buntings arrival has added another layer to the conversation, especially after Philadelphia moved Alex Bump to the Phantoms to make room on the roster. The bigger question now is how Bunting fits into a group that is still sorting out its lineup choices from training camp, and whether the Flyers can find the right balance before the losses start to weigh even more heavily. [Read more 🡒]
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Only one line has really held together long enough to matter, and even that speaks to how scattered the rest of the rotation has been. Compared with the rest of the NHL, Philadelphia has been near the bottom in line consistency this early in the season, which only adds another layer to a start that already feels harder than it should. The hope was that camp would clarify things, but instead the Flyers are still sorting through what their forward groups ought to look like. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Let Another Winnable Game Slip Away For One Frustrating Reason
The Flyers had another one within reach in Ottawa before it slipped away at the Canadian Tire Centre, a familiar kind of loss for a team that has spent too much time looking for cleaner finishes. Philadelphia did get on the board through Matvei Michkov, but the rest of the night felt like a grind through special teams chances and missed opportunities, with the Senators finding answers from Nick Cousins and Carter Yakemchuk.
Philadelphias frustration comes from how close this one stayed, especially with both teams trading power-play looks along the way. The Flyers were still in position late, but a costly penalty opened the door for Ottawa to take control at the end, leaving another game that felt winnable but never quite got away from the Senators for good. [Read more 🡒]