The Flyers scored late to tie the game 1-1 and earn one point thanks to Jamie Drysdale. However, it was the only point they got as Ottawa defeated Philadelphia in overtime 2-1, leaving the Flyers with 61 points at the Olympic break.
The Basics
First period: No scoring
Second period: 9:55- Nick Cousins (Shane Pinto, Michael Amadio)
Third period: 18:46- Jamie Drysdale (Bobby Brink, Trevor Zegras)
Overtime: 0:47- Tim Stutzle (Brady Tkachuk)
SOG: 16 (PHI) – 27 (OTT)
Some Takeaways
Almost whistle free
The opening period went quite quickly. Both teams had the neutral zone clogged up well. And both sides played as if all players had planes to catch to begin their break immediately afterwards. Low event and not much angst or vitriol from either side. The only big hit came courtesy of Garnet Hathaway who nailed defenseman Artem Zub in his own end. As well, the lone penalty was against Ottawa’s Drake Batherson for hooking with under a minute to go in the first.
Although the power play went away rather timidly, Philadelphia had an extended shift in Ottawa’s zone which had the Sens on the heels. Unfortunately the Flyers couldn’t capitalize. The tone of the game wasn’t all that different from start to finish. It sort of felt like an exhibition game, with the atmosphere more on simply getting through the game in one piece than anything else. Late in the second, the Flyers had the Senators in a world of hurt as Dylan Cozens lost a skate blade and the Flyers were briefly dominating Ottawa.
Michkov does some good, nyet on the backhand passes
Matvei Michkov’s opening shift saw him dumped in the corner by former Flyer Claude Giroux. With the controversy a little bit behind him and the coach after Philadelphia general manager Danny Briere attempted to clear the air somewhat. However, he made a bad cross ice pass on the subsequent shift which nearly cost Philadelphia a too many men on the ice penalty. In the second Michkov had a decent opportunity to break the scoreless game with a backhand chance, but James Reimer turned it aside.
If Michkov can get the backhand pass in his own end out of his game, it will be a huge plus. In the second he made a similar mistake, this time with Dan Vladar bailing him out. Aside from a shift late in the middle period where Michkov made two laps around Ottawa’s defensive zone, the forward was like most of the Flyers: not making much of a difference.
Tippett one of a few who showed up
Owen Tippett continued playing well, anticipating a faceoff win and getting the puck right off the hop. The play resulted in a near chance by Denver Barkey seconds later but he couldn’t cash in against Ottawa goalie James Reimer. Philadelphia wasn’t exactly sluggish to start, but were still waiting for their first shot on goal over nine minutes into the contest. While that’s not a credit to the Flyers, Ottawa’s defense has been one of the better ones in the league. They don’t give up a lot. But you’re not helping your cause much when you can’t get a shot against them.
Tippett nearly had the first shot on a behind the back shot but it was blocked by Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven. He finally set up Barkey for the first one with under five minutes left in the first, resulting in a Bronx cheer from the hometown fans. And while he wasn’t lighting things up regarding the various underlying metrics, he appeared to be putting in an honest effort.
Total team being rather terrible through two
Through two periods of play, Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Sanheim, and Trevor Zegras were the only Flyers above 45 per cent in terms of expected goals for. There were eight skaters who were under 20 per cent in the same metric. With such a rather poor effort across the board outside of a few players (and one goaltender), Philadelphia needed the riot act read to them in the second intermission.
Vladar very good, slightly pissed off
Dan Vladar was tested a few times early thanks to some missed assignments and a bad turnover by Travis Konecny. His best save early was against Shane Pinto as Philadelphia had their wires crossed in their own zone. It was an eventful period for Vladar who lost his stick while making the save. He was later in a collision with Giroux but neither one was hurt. In the middle frame, Vladar made a fantastic save on a delayed penalty to the Flyers as Nick Cousins was foiled when the Flyers keeper got his right pad on the puck. On the ensuing penalty kill, Vladar stoned Thomas Chabot on a clear one-timer, keeping the Flyers in it despite being outshot 12-4 nearly 28 minutes into regulation.
The goalie couldn’t do much on Ottawa’s opening goal. A Shane Pinto shot through traffic was picked up by former Flyer (and punchable face owner) Nick Cousins who powered his way through the dirty area before Barkey was able to get the puck.
Nick Cousins was drafted 68th overall by the Flyers in 2011. Since leaving the organization in 2017, he’s played 19 games against them. Now, he finally has his first career goal against Philadelphia. pic.twitter.com/pSAQWjGOMt
— Andrew Wilimek (@AndrewWilimek) February 6, 2026
Vladar looked somewhat upset in the television timeout afterwards, heading to the bench and clearly voicing his opinion about something he didn’t like. Given the fact the shots were 18-5 at the time, maybe it was to light a fire under the backside of his teammates. Had the team had the same work ethic or attention to detail as Vladar had on this night it might have been a different story through 40 minutes.
Third period more of the same
Although the Flyers were still just one shot away from tying things up with 13 minutes to go in the third, they could not get much momentum going. Everywhere a Flyer turned they were met with a stick, body or some combination of the two from Ottawa. Head coach Rick Tocchet juggled the lines a bit to find some combination to tie it. Sean Couturier had an excellent chance coming in from the wing, looking as if he finally ended his goal streak but Reimer got his left pad on it.
With the goalie pulled, and Tippett, Cam York and another Flyer in front, Jamie Drysdale managed to beat Reimer to tie things up at 1-1. It was the fourteenth shot on goal for Philadelphia, but the one that counted the most.
JAMIE DRYSDALE! THE FLYERS TIE IT WITH THE GOALIE PULLED WITH 74 SECONDS LEFT!
pic.twitter.com/sg2PjbR37S
— SleeperNHL (@SleeperNHL) February 6, 2026
Unfortunately, the Flyers lost the game in overtime. Konecny was part of a two-on-one but shot the puck wide. The puck went up the other end and Senators forward Tim Stutzle ended it with a great move against Vladar.
TIM STÜTZLE ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????
WHAT. A. GOAL.#SENS WIN IT IN OVERTIME THANKS TO THE GERMAN.
SIMPLY SENSATIONAL.
OTTAWA BENT BUT DID NOT BREAK. MASSIVE TWO POINTS. LFG!!!
— SENS TALK (@senstalk_) February 6, 2026
All stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com