John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (1-0-0) are in Canada's capital city for a Saturday matinee against D.J. Smith's Ottawa Senators (0-1-0) at the Canadian Tire Centre. Game time is 1:00 p.m. EDT.
The game will be televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia with Jim Jackson and Brian Boucher on the call. The radio broadcast, with Tim Saunders and Todd Fedoruk on the call, is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-2 opening-night road win on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Travis Konecny notched even-strength and empty net goals for Philly, while Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson (empty net) chipped in one goal apiece. Carter Hart made 31 saves to earn the win.
Here are five storylines to track in Saturday's game.
1. Transition plays
One area of encouragement for the Flyers during the latter portion of the preseason was the club's transitional play. The club had trouble for much of last season at turning defense into counterattacking offense and in pouncing on neutral zone turnovers and cashing in on the attack. There were some good signs in those areas in the last three exhibition games, and it continued into opening night.
Farabee's slam-dunk goal in Columbus on a give-and-go sequence with Sean Couturier, which gave Philly a 1-0 lead, started out in the defensive zone. Egor Zamula helped to trigger the sequence.
Konecy's even-strength goal, giving Philly a 2-1 lead they maintained until adding to it late in the third period, started with a Columbus turnover in the attack zone. Konecny claimed a loose puck in the D-zone, and then joined Scott Laughton up the ice. After settling a rolling puck, Konecny snapped a shot into the net.
The Atkinson empty-net goal also started in the defensive zone. Hart stopped a dump-in behind the net and sent the puck off the boards, where it eluded a Columbus player (ex-Flyer Ivan Provorov) and was claimed in the neutral zone by Atkinson. Playing in his first game since April 2022, Atkinson delivered the finishing blow to his former club.
There were other sequences in the Columbus game where the Flyers had chances to score on counterattacks but did not result in goals. Most notably, Laughton had a shorthanded breakaway over the middle after getting behind the defense and taking an outlet pass.
Heading into Ottawa and beyond, the Flyers' ability to create transitional opportunities will be a key element in the team's quest to improve last year's modest scoring rate.
2. The York-Sanheim pairing
The first official game with Cam York and Travis Sanheim (on right defense) manning the Flyers top defensive pair together worked quite well overall. By the eye test, they moved the puck effectively and appeared to communicate well.
Through an analytics lens, the Flyers had superior puck possession to Columbus when the York/Sanheim pair was on the ice. The Flyers, for example, had a 59.1 percent Corsi (total shot attempt share at even strength) with York on the ice. Sanheim was on the ice for 1.99 expected goals for Philly and 0.99 for the opponent.
It was an encouraging start for the team and for the pairing.
One thing that can be inferred in the big picture: With Provorov now in Columbus, Sanheim will absorb the biggest increase in his ice-time share among all of the returnees on the Philly blueline. In the opener, he skated 26:17 across 34 shifts. This included 21:26 at even strength, 3:24 on the penalty kill and 1:27 on the power play.
3. Frost, Tippett, Couturier and Brink
No one on the Flyers had an outright poor game in the opener. However, the linemate duo of Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett had a so-so opener. Owing in part to a couple of turnovers in the defensive zone, most notably one on a failed short-range pass attempt from Frost to Tippett, the Flyers gave up more scoring chances than they generated with that duo on the ice.
It wasn't all bad, though. In the second period, Tippett grabbed the puck off a defensive zone faceoff, and turned on the jet to carry the mail up ice and take it to the net. Frost generated six shot attempts (one on net, three blocked, one miss) and had four individual scoring chances for the game.
On the flip side, Couturier had a very encouraging opening game, especially in light of all the time he missed. The Flyers' No. 1 center handled 20:39 of ice time across all game situations, won 11 of 20 faceoffs, and nicely fed Farabee on the game's first goal.
Meanwhile, rookie Bobby Brink did not record a point in the opener but his creativity with the puck stood out at 5-on-5 on Couturier's line and he looked good in 2:06 of power play time. Also, when Brink had a turnover, he erased it a couple seconds later with a nice backchecking play.
Again, no conclusions can or should be drawn on the first game of an 82-game schedule. But it was heartening to see Couturier make a strong return and for Brink to be in the middle of some of Philly's best scoring chances in the opener.
4. Projected Flyers lineup
After Thursday's opening game in Columbus, the Flyers remained in town for a Friday practice session before departing for Ottawa. There were no roster moves made on Friday to open a spot to activate veteran defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen from IR. The Flyers may wait a few more days before doing so (possibly for the home opener on Tuesday).
In general, teams are less likely to change around line combinations or move different personnel into or out of the lineup the next game after a solid win. However, Tortorella operates more on feel than "by the book" so it's not set in stone that Saturday's starting lineup will be identical even if Ristolainen remains sidelined.
5. Behind enemy lines: Ottawa Senators
The Senators enter this game coming off a 5-3 road loss to the powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens led at the first intermission, 1-0, and later rallied in the third period from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game at 3-3. However, the Hurricanes recovered quickly to retake the lead and then deliver a crushing blow on a shorthanded goal.
Mathieu Joseph (1g, 1a), Parker Kelly and Tim Stützle scored for the Senators in a losing cause. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 37 of 42 shots, taking the loss in goal.
Longtime Flyers captain Claude Giroux was held off the scoresheet in the opener, as was Brady Tkachuk. Drake Batherson drew iron three times. Defenseman Jakob Chychrun took a minus-three.
Talented young center Shane Pinto, the NHL's Rookie of the Month last October and a 20-goal scorer overall, remains unsigned as a restricted free agent. The Senators, who have salary cap issues, are expected to eventually work out a way to get the player under contract.
Rugged former Flyers winger Zack MacEwen is dealing with a day-to-day injury. So is forward Josh Norris. MacEwen could be ready to go on Saturday to play against his former club. Saturday's game is the Senators' home opener.
Projected lineup (subject to change)
7 Brady Tkachuk – 18 Tim Stützle – 28 Claude Giroux
21 Mathieu Joseph – 71 Ridly Greig – 91 Vladimir Tarasenko
81 Dominik Kubalik – 49 Rourke Chartier – 19 Drake Batherson
27 Parker Kelly – 12 Mark Kastelic – 17 Zack MacEwen
6 Jakob Chychrun – 72 Thomas Chabot
85 Jake Sanderson –2 Artem Zub
26 Erik Brannström – 23 Travis Hamonic
31 Anton Forsberg
70 Joonas Korpisalo
PP1: Giroux, Batherson, Tkachuk, Stützle,Chabot
PP2: Kubalik, Greig, Tarasenko, Sanderson, Chychrun
Projected scratches: 9 Josh Norris (day-to-day)
