Flyers rally to gain point in OT loss to Ottawa

PHILADELPHIA – It’s never easy coming back from early multi-goal deficits.
The Flyers have done well in such situations, however, and Saturday afternoon’s game against the Ottawa Senators was another good example.
After falling behind by a 2-0 score early in the game, the Flyers came back to gain a point in a 3-2 overtime loss at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Down 2-1 after two periods, the Flyers picked up a tying goal from Jamie Drysdale at 9:55 and eventually lost on a winning goal by Tim Stutzle at 3:19 of overtime.
On the tying goal, a Trevor Zegras point shot deflected off a stick and straight to Drysdale for a shot past goaltender Linus Ullman.
Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson shook off a sluggish start and got the Flyers into overtime.
The Flyers have been proficient at coming back on a number of occasions similar to this one and that’s a good sign, according to captain Sean Couturier.
The Flyers have saved at least a point when trailing after two periods on five different occasions so far.
They held the Senators to a single shot in the third period.
“We responded in the second and third,” Couturier pointed out. “Tough start for us. Two games now where the other team has come out stronger than us, outbattles us, makes it hard on us to come back.
“As much as it could have been a frustrating day, we didn’t give them a whole lot after the first. It’s still a big point.”
Drysdale, who played a whopping 24 minutes, 35 seconds, said the Flyers don’t believe they’re really out of any game, no matter how difficult the task.
“We can definitely be a little better out of the gate,” he said. “You don’t want to have to come from behind like this. So I think we can just look for some better starts and just go from there.”
After a slow start, the Flyers started getting it in gear in the second period.
The Flyers started putting more pressure on Ullmark and finally broke through at 11:23 on a Matvei Michkov goal.
Michkov circled out of the corner, weaved his way to the left dot and connected for a goal in his second straight game after failing to hit the scoreboard in nine straight games.
That cut the Ottawa margin to 2-1.
Someone must have forgotten to tell the Flyers this game started at 1 p.m. because they slept right through the first period.
Ottawa picked up a pair of goals and the Flyers could manage only four shots on net.
Stutzle got things going for the Senators. He took a nice feed from linemate David Perron and netted a shot from just below the right dot at 5:14.
Just 65 seconds later the Senators were back on the board again. This time ex-Flyer Claude Giroux set up Michael Amadio, who was cutting across in front with speed. Ersson couldn’t get over in time to cover.
After that, the Flyers tightened things up.
“We did a good job not allowing them to get mnny good chances,” Ersson said. “They’re going to come your way eventually. You have to stay mentally ready for when they come.”
Another good stick-with-it effort, according to coach Rick Tocchet.
“I got to do a better job getting the team ready,” he said. “We were chasing after that (first period). After that, just a few shots the last two periods. That’s hard to do against anybody.”

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Tocchet says he used to break down schedules into 10-game segments but now, because he’s new to the Flyers, he’s playing it more “day-to-day.”
“I’ve done that (10 games) before, especially near the end of the year,” Tocchet said. “If you’re in the race, you look at the next five games, like it’s a playoff series. To me, with this team, it’s learning something every day. Like something we’re not good at, we’ll work on.
“Hopefully results come from it. But I don’t look too far ahead. I just look to the next game. And then when do we get a day off. So it’s a short-term kind of thing for me.”

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The Flyers are off until Wednesday when they return to home ice to take on the Edmonton Oilers.
Philadelphia opened the game leading the NHL with three shootout wins. With Carl Grundstrom making his Flyers’ debut, Nick Deslauriers was a scratch. Grundstrom, wearing jersey No. 91, played on a line with Noah Cates and Travis Konecny.