The Philadelphia Flyers were winless when they faced off against the Ottawa Senators last week — and not much has changed in the last nine days.
The Flyers are still searching for goals, confidence and their first victory Saturday when they host Linus Ullmark and the Senators.
Philadelphia is off to the worst start in franchise history, posting an 0-6-3 record through its first nine games. The ugly stretch included a loss in Ottawa on Oct. 8, when the Senators broke a late tie on a power-play goal by Carter Yakemchuk en route to a 2-1 victory.
The Flyers outshot the Senators that night, but that’s been a rare sight for a Philadelphia team that ranks last in the NHL in shots per game and first in the league in shots allowed.
Most recently, the Flyers managed just 18 shots in Thursday’s 2-1 setback against the Detroit Red Wings. Matvei Michkov scored the lone goal for Philadelphia, which is last in the league — by far — with only 1.22 goals per contest.
“It’s kind of been the same story,” defenseman Jamie Drysdale said. “When we play how we should play, we play good hockey. And if you don’t do that for 60 minutes, the outcome’s not going to change.”
Joseph Woll made 24 saves for the Flyers. The decisive tally followed some sloppy play by Philadelphia, including a dump-in that Woll failed to stop behind the net.
“There are moments of the game where you’ve got to come through somehow, whether it’s scoring a goal or making a defensive stop,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said.
The Flyers now must contend with Ullmark, who improved to 6-0-0 on the season with Thursday’s 2-1 shootout victory over the New York Islanders. The Swedish netminder made 20 saves in regulation before stopping all three attempts in the shootout.
“We grinded that one out,” said Shane Pinto, who scored the only goal of the shootout. “I think just another 2-1 game for us, and Linus played great again. So, yeah, finding ways to win. It’s good.”
The Senators are off to a fast start at 6-2-0 with Ullmark allowing two goals or fewer in all six of those victories.
“I thought it was a very complete game,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “… I thought we played fast, played a direct game. I thought we were close offensively to making a few more plays to create a little more, but I thought defensively we were real strong.”
Tim Stutzle leads the Senators in goals (five), assists (six) and points (11). He failed to register a point for just the second time this season in the win over New York.
Meanwhile, nobody on the Flyers has more than three points so far, while Sean Couturier, Noah Cates and Denver Barkey are among the Philadelphia skaters still seeking their first goal. Travis Konecny is also without a goal in five appearances, although he remains sidelined with a lower-body injury.
