Senators defeat Flyers, 3-1, to extend Philadelphia’s road losing streak to 12 games

On the second night of a back-to-back with captain Claude Giroux left behind in Philadelphia awaiting a trade, the Flyers had to win the third period and break a tie to claim victory in their game against the Ottawa Senators.

But after center Morgan Frost took a hooking penalty halfway through the third period, the Senators pulled ahead on a Josh Norris power-play goal and sealed a 3-1 victory on an empty-net goal.

The Flyers struggled to compete with the fresh legs of the Senators in the third period on Friday night at the Canadian Tire Centre, getting outshot 12-10 in the third period. In the final frame alone, the Flyers put themselves on the kill twice, which kept them off of the offensive attack.

“When your team’s a little bit tired, that’s when you start to reach a little bit more,” interim coach Mike Yeo said. “You stop moving your feet. That’s where more holding, hooking, tripping penalties come into play. But that’s where the discipline comes in. The more tired you are, the smarter you have to play.”

The Flyers went on the power play with roughly three minutes left in the third period and pulled their goalie for a six-on-four, but the Senators instead capitalized with an empty-net, shorthanded goal.

The loss to the Senators marked the Flyers’ first without Giroux and brought their road losing streak to 12 games. They haven’t won on the road since Dec. 29, 2021 against the Seattle Kraken.

With Monday’s trade deadline looming, backup goalie Martin Jones could be on the move. Jones becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, making him a potential rental for a Stanley Cup contender. In his most recent starts, including Friday night’s game against the Senators, the Flyers looked to showcase Jones’ talents to interested clubs.

Twenty-year-old center Tim Stützle didn’t make the night easy on Jones. Halfway through the first period, Stützle cut to the left faceoff circle and wired a wrist shot just beneath the crossbar, eluding Jones’ blocker. Thanks to his quick release, Stützle elicited a delayed reaction from Jones. Later in the period while the Senators were on the power play, Jones got his revenge on Stützle from the same location. That time, Stützle shot the puck lower and Jones was in position to make a stop.

Jones shined in the second period, especially when he denied winger Austin Watson off a three-man rush. In total, Jones made 32 saves on 34 shots on goal.

“He played great for us,” winger Cam Atkinson said. “Their first couple goals are absolute snipes, the power-play goal. He kept us in the game all night and gave us a chance to win. So that’s what you need out of our goalies and they’ve been certainly doing that for us as of late.”

With Giroux out of the lineup leaving the captain role vacant, Yeo named Atkinson an additional assistant captain for Thursday night’s game. Atkinson sought to bring life to the team through his energetic style of play and made his presence felt when the Flyers were down a goal.

Six minutes into the second period, Atkinson camped out in the slot and clipped a piece of a point shot from defenseman Justin Braun. The fluttering puck soared past goalie Anton Forsberg to tie the game at 1. The goal marked Atkinson’s 27th point in his last 29 games. Atkinson leads the Flyers in scoring with 23 goals and 24 assists for 47 points. Now, Atkinson is on pace for roughly 31 goals this season, which would mark the third time in his career that he’s scored 30-plus goals (35 in 2016-17, 41 in 2018-19).

“I think it was a pretty simple play where we dumped the puck in, won our battles, went east-west, pretty simple,” Atkinson said. “Reemer [James van Riemsdyk] gave it to Brauner [Justin Braun] and I was just kind of in the slot as an F3 and put myself in a position to tip the puck and found its way into the back of the net.”

Before Thursday night’s game, Yeo stated that players including 22-year-old Frost would see increased responsibility in Giroux’s absence. In addition to sliding Frost from wing to center, Yeo awarded Frost a spot on the Flyers’ top power-play unit.

On the Flyers’ first power play opportunity of the night, Frost stood out for the wrong reason. While attempting to enter the Senators’ zone, Frost turned the puck over into the hands of his opponents at the blue line. He struggled on faceoffs, winning just 30% of his chances. Over the last two games while playing the wing, Frost looked more confident than he did on Friday night, when he finished the game without a shot on goal.

“It’s certainly a hard game on wing when you have to battle along the walls, and it’s a hard game at center,” Yeo said. “It’s just a bit of an adjustment for him. The penalty, those are mistakes that again, we have to make sure that we’re not making those mistakes at critical moments of the game.”

The Flyers return home on Sunday for their game against the New York Islanders at 2 p.m.