PHILADELPHIA – The Flyers’ season ended on as sour a note as the rest of the campaign has been, in a 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Brady Tkachuk picked up his 30th of the season in the third period to put the Sens ahead and help them to the win.
“Just nice to finish with a win, especially the way we did it on the power play,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “Power play wasn’t very good tonight, 5-on-3 [goal for Flyers] there late, they crawl back into it. It was fun to win one more time on the way out.”
Ottawa scored three times in the third period.
“That was a goal of mine going into this year,” Tkachuk said. “I wanted to prove to myself and everybody else that I could do that. I wouldn’t have been able to do that with my linemates, teammates and everyone pushing in the right direction. Just nice to see the hard work pay off.”
Anton Forsberg made 32 saves in the Senators win.
The Flyers’ James van Riemsdyk and Owen Tippett scored off the power play for the night’s offense.
“How many times have we had games similar to that?” Flyers coach Mike Yeo said. “You battle and you scratch and claw, power play gets on the board, scores a big goal for us, and then find a way to let it slip away at the end.”
After van Riemsdyk had give the Flyers a 1-0 lead, Josh Norris tied it at 1-1.
“Obviously it’s team first, but young guys getting 30 for the first time, 35 for the first time, point totals, all those things are big for them,” Smith said. “But they’re going to realize the biggest thing is winning and being able to compete next week [in the playoffs], which we’re not able to do right now.”
Travis Hamonic scored for the Sens in the third period outburst.
Philadelphia ended the campaign at 25-46-11, their two power play goals belied the team’s status as last in the NHL.
“It’s never a good thing to finish last in a category like that, especially an important one like that,” van Riemsdyk said. “That’s a big difference if your power play is in the top 10 versus dead last and who knows how that can affect our season.”
Austin Watson added an empty-net goal for the 4-2 final.
Martin Jones made 32 saves in the Flyers loss.
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