The puck flew up and down the ice Tuesday night, but the Flyers still got the short end of the stick.
Jamie Drysdale jumped on the offensive and cut straight through the Senators for his fifth goal of the season, and Rodrigo Ābols put buried a slick setup from Cam York down low for his second, but the Flyers just couldn't put away those couple of extra high-danger chances to at least tie it up and then potentially pull ahead. They absolutely had them though, just with that continued lack of finish.
They lost to former captain Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 – their fifth straight of seven-game homestand that has proven merciless for the team after all of their trade deadline departures.
Sens captain Brady Tkachuk scored on a fluid zone entry and sequence generated by linemates Giroux and Tim Stützle just seconds in, and while Ivan Fedotov seemed to be holding steady in goal with 21 saves midway through the third, he got beat on a Tyler Kleven shot he never even saw, another rushed one from Michael Amadio trying to crash in that got through his five-hole, and then a Dylan Cozens tally that just took the wind out of their sails once again.
Oh, and this happened, too:
WHAT A DEFENSIVE PLAY BY MATTHEW HIGHMORE 😱 pic.twitter.com/P2V1xLQG9V
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 12, 2025
The Flyers played a much sharper and more engaged game this time, but right now it feels like anything that can go wrong will.
They got 16 games left, and fans' eyes are only shifting more and more toward draft positioning now.
It's part of the pain of rebuilding, but that doesn't mean it's any easier to take.
A couple of other thoughts from Tuesday, mostly on the defense…
About making room…
Emil Andrae drew back into the lineup Tuesday night in place of Egor Zamula, and beforehand at the morning skate in Voorhees, Tortorella said something of note regarding the two defensemen and overall roster evaluation the rest of the way.
"Right now, with our lineup, it's not about rewarding," Tortorella said. "Quite honestly, it's about evaluating some guys who are getting an opportunity to play that probably wouldn't be here if the deadline didn't come around. Let's be honest, a number of people left here. There are a lot of open spots in the lineup, and so we need to evaluate.
"Andrae's another one. I think we have a really good evaluation of Z. We need to evaluate Andrae."
Andrae was called back up from the Phantoms following Friday's trade deadline and played in Saturday's 4-1 loss to Seattle. The 23-year-old skated 17:18 and lost an edge trying to cover Matty Beniers on the sequence that led to Seattle's second goal at 4-on-4 late into the second period.
Tortorella said he felt Andrae struggled badly and scratched him for the next day against the Devils, where Zamula didn't have a particularly great game himself in the 3-1 defeat. Granted, the Flyers on the whole weren't exactly having the best of weekends.
Still, Andrae got a breather and hopped back in against Ottawa, with Tortorella keying in on how the young blueliner would respond.
Earlier in the season, Andrae was skating and handling the puck well, and appeared to take a major step toward becoming a full-time NHLer. He couldn't quite sustain it, though, in Tortorella's view, and got sent back down to the AHL for more minutes and reps.
These last 16 games are his next audition, and on Tuesday night, he looked steadier, staying even in plus-minus on a pair with Rasmus Ristolainen and putting two shots on goal.
As for Zamula, who has struggled to make inroads this season and was the subject of some late trade buzz on deadline day, that Tortorella said the Flyers believe they already have their evaluation of the 24-year-old, coupled with general manager Danny Brière saying after the deadline that they'll find a way to make room for a developing defensive prospect when it's time…well, here's Andrae knocking on the NHL door again.
More from York
Also of note tying back to the blue line was that Andrae took Cam York's spot in the lineup on Saturday not long after Tortorella touched on the top-pairing defenseman's inconsistencies since coming back from an early-season shoulder injury that cost him about a month.
York was back on his usual pairing with Travis Sanheim for Sunday's loss to the Devils and skated over 20 minutes while going minus-1 (with 2 blocked shots, 3 hits, and 2 giveaways credited to his stat line). The same went for Tuesday night against Ottawa.
Tortorella went more into what he's looking for out of York during his morning skate press conference on Tuesday, and it doesn't necessarily seem to be a matter of the 24-year-old underwhelming, but more of a matter of trying to tap into greater.
"He has just been average for me, through all of his game," Tortorella said. "The shoulder, I think that affected him. But if you're healthy, and you're able to play, I just need to see it get better. I need to see improvement."
York was minus-4 on the season entering Tuesday night and skating an average of 21:13 per game. He hasn't been holding back the Flyers' defense by any means, and Tortorella even went on to say that he does have good things going for him when he's out there.
"I just want to see it more consistently," Tortorella said. "I want to see him use his legs more consistently. He was one of or better players at just advancing the puck out of our end zone, and whether it be him just being a little bit too slow or the other team just having good sticks, too many of them are just being turned over.
"He's one of the best at getting us out."
Tortorella seems to just want him to push his game further.
Now, the potential problem…
AllPHLY's Charlie O'Connor caught up with York in the locker room earlier Tuesday to talk about his reaction to Saturday's scratching, and York said he didn't think it was deserved. He also said he hasn't talked much with Tortorella about where he's at with his game (but has with defensive coach Brad Shaw).
York is headed for restricted free agency again this summer and is expected to get an extension that will net a pricier cap hit because of the cap's increase for next season.
Let's see how this last stretch of the season plays out.
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