4 takeaways from Ottawa's 2-1 win over the Flyers

The Ottawa Senators didn’t have a great showing last night in their win against the winless Philadelphia Flyers, but they were still able to get the job done on the back of Linus Ullmark. The Senators are now 3-1-0 to start the season and are sitting first in the Atlantic Division. They’ve done this all without their top pairing of Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub, as well as winger Andre Burakovsky, who was slotted into Ottawa’s top six.

Ottawa loses William Eklund to injury

William Eklund was speeding down the left side when he was checked, but the check wasn’t what caused the injury. It seems from the video below that Eklund’s skate caught a rut and he injured his ankle.

Eklund wasn’t able to put any weight on his ankle while being helped off the ice, and overall, it was not something you want to see happen to a player. Eklund has been playing some great hockey for the Senators, and his advanced stats suggest he’s already taking that next step toward becoming a consistent top-six contributor. This also creates a big hole in Ottawa’s top six that they’ll need to address if this is a long-term injury. You have to hope that Burakovsky will be back soon and can find a groove, but they need someone else, whether that’s internal or external.

Linus Ullmark stays red hot

Ullmark has been rock solid for the Senators to start the season. After last night, he’s 3-0 with a .956 SV%. Last night’s victory was largely due to Ullmark, especially in the final two minutes, when the Flyers threw everything they could at him and he didn’t falter.

So far, he looks more like his former Vezina-winning self than the goalie we saw last season. He's just playing with such confidence and poise that he's giving Ottawa every opportunity to win. For Ottawa’s sake, Ullmark will need to continue this exceptional play to keep the team’s winning ways going. Of course, it's nice to see Samuel Ersson and Ullmark developing some chemistry as well, hitting the dab after a huge victory.

Offence is a concern

With the Eklund injury, the Senators now have two top-six forwards who are injured. It’s been great that Tim Stützle has been playing as well as he has, but other forwards like Drake Batherson, Dylan Cozens, and Shane Pinto need to start finding themselves on the scoresheet. Pinto was able to assist on the game-winning goal last night, with his play picking up dramatically after a clutch diving play on the 5-on-3 penalty kill at the end of the second period.

Cozens, on the other hand, hasn’t looked like he’s able to generate very much offence at all. He’s in a tough situation, though, as he’s typically being cycled between second- and fourth-line centre duties. Having some consistency may help him get into a groove.

The Senators’ power play has also been unable to generate many scoring opportunities, going 1-for-5 last night thanks to a booming slapshot from rookie Carter Yakemchuk. The power play features a lot of great passing, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone with the instinct to shoot. With Yakemchuk’s point shot, Stützle’s deceptive wrist shot, and Pinto’s and Batherson’s one-timers, they have options, but few of them are actually using those options. Something needs to change with the direction of the power play because an 11.1% success rate just isn’t good enough.

Rookie D had a good night

Both Yakemchuk and Hoyt Stanley had an impact on the game last night. Yakemchuk scored the game-winning goal on the team’s fifth power play of the night. To put it plainly, Stanley looked like an NHL defenceman last night, using poise and patience to succeed in the defensive zone. He’s a solid skater who suddenly gives the Senators even more depth on the back end.

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