It took longer than everyone expected.
Much longer.
But the Flyers grabbed their first win of the season with a 3-1 decision Saturday night over the Senators at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“It’s something we can build on,” Sean Couturier said. “Hopefully we can get a few wins in a row and get back in it.”
Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone led the charge for the Flyers with multi-point efforts.
Trevor Zegras iced the game with an empty-netter.
The Flyers (1-6-3) finally halted a losing streak that ended up becoming the longest to open a season in franchise history. They had dropped nine straight and had been outscored 32-11.
“A little bit of a relief,” Travis Sanheim said. “When you’re in that hole, it feels like you’re never going to get out of it. Everyone keeps piling on and it just gets deeper and deeper. Proud of the guys to stick with it, it was a full team effort tonight. In saying that, we’re going to enjoy it tonight and then it’s back to work tomorrow and focus on the next opponent.”
Considering the circumstances, this was a character type of win for Rick Tocchet’s club. The pressure had been building and the Flyers were also missing four key players (more on that below).
“It was a gutsy effort,” Tocchet said. “A lot of guys hurt, some guys stepped up. That’s a good hockey team over there. It was nice to see some resiliency. It was good, saw a lot of compete tonight, better execution. There’s some stuff that we really liked tonight and hopefully we can carry it on.”
The Flyers are 1-1-0 against the Senators (6-3-0) and have one more matchup with them Nov. 19 at Canadian Tire Centre.
• Dan Vladar put together a second straight strong performance with 25 saves on 26 shots.
He had a couple of huge stops that covered up mistakes by the Flyers. He was timely all night.
“He was unbelievable,” Oliver Bonk said. “That’s what you need sometimes to get a win in this league. He played awesome, so a big thumbs-up to him.”
Ottawa netminder Linus Ullmark suffered his first loss, dropping to 6-1-0. He stopped 25 of the Flyers’ 27 shots.
Ullmark was off to a dominant start, entering the game with a 1.20 goals-against average and .949 save percentage.
• Michkov exhibited terrific vision to set up Martone’s game-tying 1-1 goal in the second period.
It was a good response from the Flyers, who surrendered the game-opening goal 3:08 minutes before that.
The Flyers then took the lead with 1:27 minutes left in the middle stanza when Michkov buried a rebound on the power play. Martone picked up the primary assist with a good shot on net.
Michkov called to the crowd as he celebrated. The Flyers’ top youngsters were as advertised.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to our young bucks up front,” Vladar said. “They really took the charge today, they were creating, I thought they were buzzing out there. Hats off for them.”
Michkov talked about the pressure of the Calder Trophy hype that he experienced as a rookie. He wants to be there for Martone as the 19-year-old goes through it.
“He needs support,” Michkov said. “I’ll support him every time — for [on the] ice and for life, too.”
• The Flyers were without Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York.
Tippett missed his first game of the season because of an upper-body injury. He was not at morning skate after a day off Friday and playing 15:36 minutes in the Flyers’ loss Thursday night.
“It has been bugging him a little bit,” Tocchet said Saturday morning, “a little bit more in Detroit.”
Ristolainen and York could be getting closer to a return. Both skated Saturday morning under the watch of assistant coach Todd Reirden. Ristolainen also practiced Wednesday. Afterward, Tocchet called him day to day.
The top-pair defenseman has missed the last seven games with an injury to his left hand.
Konecny has missed the last five games because of a lower-body injury. York has also missed the last five games. He’s dealing with an upper-body injury and has been considered day to day.
The Flyers appeared to avoid another injury when Tyson Foerster took a shot to his right hand with 4:02 minutes left in the first period. The winger exited but was able to return at the start of the second period.
• The Flyers are back in action Monday when they host the high-powered Avalanche (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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