John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (6-8-2) are in Canada's capital city on Thursday to take on Travis Green's Ottawa Senators (8-7-0). Game time at Canadian Tire Centre is 7:00 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the Flyers and Senators. The teams will rematch on March 11 in Philadelphia and April 13 in Ottawa.
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's game.
1. Ersson on a roll
Flyers No. 1 goalie Samuel Ersson did not skip a beat in his last two starts despite missing a week of action with a lower body injury. He's been on top of his angles, controlled rebounds efficiently and made some key saves at critical junctures.
Over his last six starts, Ersson has posted a 4-0-1 record, .915 save percentage and recorded a road shutout (vs. Boston on Oct. 29). He was an NHL Three Stars of the Week candidate prior to the injury but has bounced right back to form since his return.
For the season as a whole, Ersson is 5-2-2 with a 2.70 GAA and.902 save percentage.
With the Flyers having played shootouts in each of the last three games and four times overall so far this season, it's notable that Ersson has backstopped the Flyers to two shootout wins (at Vancouver and vs. San Jose) while stopping three out of every four shots he's faced. The Flyers' other shootout win came in Tampa with Ivan Fedotov in net.
2. Offensive contributions from the blueline
The Flyers are still trying to get more consistent offensive production, especially at 5-on-5, from their collective forward corps. In the meantime, it is notable that the Flyers have gotten a combined nine goals from defensemen over the season's first 16 games.
Travis Sanheim has been playing some of the best all-around hockey of his career. He's also been logging monstrous ice time: 28:11 against the Lightning, 30:19 against the Panthers and 30:23 on Monday against San Jose. Sanheim took a maintenance day from practice on Wednesday. The team jumbled the defense pairings with Sanheim not skating. However, Sanheim is expected to play in Ottawa.
Cam York is close to being cleared for a return to game action from the Injured Reserve list. In his absence, Emil Andrae has been opening eyes with his puck moving ability, assertive play up ice and fearless willingness to get involved physically. With Jamie Drysdale now on IR, York's return will be a greatly welcomed sight.
Last season, Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula had a two-goal, three point game against the Senators in a 5-3 home loss on January 21, 2024. Zamula is currently looking to regain the all-around form he showed in segments of last season.
3. Key game for Foerster
Speaking of players who had success against the Senators last season and are currently looking to fully get their games back on track, second-year winger Tyson Foerster faces a very important match in Ottawa.
Last season, Foerster enjoyed a two-goal performance -- including a penalty shot tally -- in a 4-2 home win against the Senators on March 2, 2024. Overall, he had three points (2g, 1a) in three contests versus Ottawa.
For the current season, Foerster has three points (2g, 1a) in 15 games played. He was a healthy scratch in one game and has recently been skating on the fourth line at 5-on-5. He skated 12:32 across 18 shifts in Monday's game against San Jose. However, Foerster did some of his best forechecking work of the still-young season in that game.
Tortorella said after Wednesday's practice that the Sharks game was one off which Foerster can -- and must -- build in Ottawa and subsequent games. The head coach wants to at least see Foerster display the effectiveness in 50-50 puck battles he showed as a rookie in 2023-24. From there, he can work on getting back onto the scoresheet with more regularity.
4. Discipline and special teams
A core area of strength last season, the Flyers' penalty kill has remained excellent through their first 16 games of the 2024-25 campaign: 47-for-52 (90.4 percent success) to rank 2nd in the NHL so far this season. Since the start of November (five games), the Flyers are a perfect 11-for-11 on PK situations.
Nevertheless, the Senators are one of a handful of NHL clubs whom it's wise to avoid putting their power play to work. The Senators' power play has gone a bit cold lately (2-for-20 over the last five games) but still ranks fourth leaguewide with a robust 29.2 percent success rate (14-for-48) for the season as a whole.
The Flyers power play went 1-for-3 against the Sharks on Monday including a perfectly executed tic-tac-toe hookup from Andrae to Matvei Michkov to goal scorer Travis Konecny. Philly needed that boost after going a bit cold from the ninth to the 15th games of the season.
Overall, the Flyers power play ranks right in the middle of the NHL pack (ranked in a tie for 16th) for the season: 10-for-52 for a 19.2 percent success rate. The Ottawa PK ranks 19th (79.1 percent) overall but is 15-for-18 (83.3 percent) for the month to date.
5. Behind enemy lines: Ottawa Senators
The Senators have plenty of talent on the roster but have thus far remained an inconsistent club over the first five weeks of the 2024-25 season. That said, the Sens are coming off back-to-back victories: a 3-2 OT win in Boston this past Saturday and a 3-0 road shutout of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
On Tuesday in Toronto, goalie Linus Ulmark turned aside all 27 shots he faced. After longtime Flyers captain Claude Giroux set up Josh Norris (6th goal of the season) to open the scoring in the first minute of the game, the Senators built a three-goal edge with closely-spaced tallies by Tim Stützle (7th) and Michael Amadio (2nd) early in the second period. Nine saves by Ullmark in the third period cemented the win.
For the season overall, Stützle paces the Senators with 20 points. He's followed by Brady Tkachuk (8g, 10a, 27 PIM), Drake Batherson (6g, 9a), Giroux (12 points) and Josh Norris (6g, 4a). Shane Pinto returned to the lineup for the Toronto game, and has one goal and three points in seven games played.
