OTTAWA, Ontario — The Flyers traveled to Canada’s capital for a showdown with the Ottawa Senators.

Facing a hungry team with just one win in their past six games, the visitors got off to a good start, but in the end they fell to the Senators, 2-1. It snapped Philly’s two-game winning streak and moved its record to 3-3-1.

Entering the game, Dan Vladař had the fourth-best goals-against average (1.75) and the seventh-best save percentage (.929) among NHL goalies who had at least two starts.

It’s a big reason why he was getting his third straight start. But you also cannot ignore how well the 6-foot-5 goalie reads plays.

In the first period, as the Flyers struggled to get the puck out, the Czech netminder saved a point shot by Ottawa defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo before stopping Tim Stützle at the right post. Less than 45 seconds later, Vladař made a big save on Thomas Chabot’s shot through traffic.

The Flyers took two penalties in the opening frame, and Vladař stood tall. He squared up to save a shot by Stützle, robbed Shane Pinto from the slot, and stopped Stützle again, taking the shot off the shoulder.

Across the first two periods, Vladař allowed a pair of goals on the 23 shots he faced. Ottawa’s Michael Amadio tied the game at 1-1 in the first.

Travis Sanheim stepped toward Pinto in the neutral zone, but the Long Island native was able to chip the puck to teammate Claude Giroux. The former Flyers captain drew Cam York and Owen Tippett in, giving Amadio time and space to accept the saucer pass and score.

Another former Flyers forward gave the Senators a 2-1 lead. The point shot by Senators’ Nick Jensen hit Rodrigo Ābols — who subbed in for Jett Luchanko — in the slot, slowing down the puck. It allowed Lars Eller to make a nifty no-look between-the-legs pass to Olle Lycksell at the right post for the slam dunk.

In the end, Vladař faced 33 shots, one fewer than the Flyers’ opening night loss to the Florida Panthers when he stopped 32 of 34.

The Flyers’ early 1-0 lead was courtesy of Tyson Foerster scoring 29 seconds into the game.

Coming off the bench for Tippett, Foerster received a pass on his tape from Travis Konecny and fired the wrister past Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark. Konecny pulled up on the boards after getting the puck from Sean Couturier, who tracked down the dump-in.

The goal is Foerster’s third of the season.

Despite the score, the Flyers certainly had their chances and put 23 shots on goal. According to Natural Stat Trick, while they were outchanced 23-13 in the first period, the Flyers had 17 to the Senators’ 14 in the second.

Matvei Michkov had some of the best looks and led the way with four shots on goal in the first 40 minutes.

Late in the first period, while coming out of the penalty box, Michkov got the puck for a breakaway. Noah Cates sent the stretch pass after Jake Sanderson flubbed a shot at the point, and while Michkov skated in and pump faked, he missed on the backhand.

Less than three minutes into the second period, Michkov got the puck in the slot but had the shot blocked by Dylan Cozens.

Not long after Michkov’s breakaway chance, the Flyers broke out of their end, and Tippett flew around Chabot for a shot on goal with the backhand. Trevor Zegras crashed the net and jammed at the puck, but was unable to get it across the goal line.

In the third period, the Flyers tried to get going. Sanheim had a shot from atop the circles, snared by Ullmark, and York was stopped after getting a pass at the left point.

As the seconds counted down in the game, Couturier had a chance at the side of the net to even things up.

Breakaways

For every save Vladař and Sam Ersson make in the month of October, they are donating to the October Saves Goalie Challenge, supporting cancer research and patient care. Flyers Charities will match their donations.

Up next

The Flyers return home for a matchup with 2025 No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer and the New York Islanders on Saturday.

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