Ivan Fedotov solid again but Flyers’ power-play woes continue as they lose for seventh time in eight games

The Flyers lost another game on Monday night, this time 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It was their second straight loss, second straight shutout — they lost, 5-0, to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday — and seventh defeat in eight games.

Here are four observations following the Orange and Black’s latest loss:

On March 11, coach John Tortorella said: “You have a perfect right to ask questions about the power play, because it stinks.” Well, yeah. On Monday night, it went 0-for-5. When was the last time the Flyers scored with the man advantage? Feb. 27. It’s now 0-for-23 across nine games, which includes another 0-for-5 against the Seattle Kraken.

» READ MORE: John Tortorella changes tune on goalie Sam Ersson: ‘As we move forward, we’re hoping it’s going to be a tandem’

The first power play looked better on Monday, with five shots on goal, including a Matvei Michkov chance from 17 feet out following a pass from Bobby Brink and a Tyson Foerster opportunity from above the high slot. The second power play lasted just eight seconds, but the next one was for 1 minute, 46 seconds, and the Flyers had four shots blocked; Andrei Vasilevskiy didn’t have to stop a single shot.

Then Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg took a four-minute high-sticking penalty after he nailed Olle Lycksell in the nose. Across the double minor, the Flyers had just three shot attempts — all missed — with Owen Tippett coming the closest when his backhand hit the crossbar; the Lightning had two shots on goal.

After a shaky start to the season, the 6-foot-7 goalie once again looked steady and more controlled in net.

“I felt really good,” he told reporters at Tampa Bay.

It showed.

The goalie made several key saves throughout the night to keep the score close and allowed just one goal on the 22 shots he faced. He made a glove save on Brandon Hagel 1:51 into the game, was smart with his searching for the puck during a Tampa Bay power play in the second period before it looked like he stuck out his pad for a few stops at the left post — the official record says Yanni Gourde missed the net with two shots, but we’ll disagree on that — and made a save with some flair on Hagel in the third period.

He may have just one win in five games in March, but he has an impressive 2.07 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. In comparison, from the start of the season through the end of February, his GAA was 3.26, and he had a .877 save percentage in 17 games.

The only mistake resulted in a goal by Nikita Kucherov during four-on-four action. Travis Konecny bobbled a pass from Ryan Poehling in his skates, and Kucherov knocked the puck away and broke out. He perfectly put the puck past his countryman Fedotov for a 1-0 lead.

“We played well, other than that mishap I had four-on-four,” Konecny said. “They get a break there; we were in that game the whole time.”

According to NHL Edge stats, the Flyers were below league average in shots on goal and goals scored entering the game. They got shut out for the seventh time this season, and it’s the second time it has come in back-to-back games in 2024-25; they were shut out in three straight games from Jan. 29-Feb. 2.

They did have their chances Monday with 49 shot attempts, only 21 on goal, but they couldn’t bury one against the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner. Tippett had a shot in the first period during a two-on-one with Travis Sanheim, Tippett was stopped on a breakaway in the second period, and in the third period, when it was still a 1-0 game, Konecny had a two-on-one with Tippett but shot the puck wide.

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Jake Guentzel scored a power-play empty-netter after Sean Couturier was called for a double minor with 1:47 left in the game. ... Michkov apparently has taken over Joel Farabee’s old job of serving bench minors. For the second straight game, he went to the penalty box, this time for a too-many-men penalty. ... The Flyers had 41 hits with the Nicks leading the way. Deslauriers had seven, and Seeler had six.

The Flyers will stay on the road and practice on Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., before traveling to Washington to face the Capitals on Thursday. Alex Ovechkin is eight away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career goal record.