Carter Yakemchuk's winner lifts Senators over Flyers, but Eklund injury casts shadow

The Ottawa Senators’ home opener wasn’t a masterpiece, but Carter Yakemchuk ended the night in style.

The Senators’ rookie defenceman sent the sellout crowd of 17,501 at the Canadian Tire Centre faithful into a frenzy by firing home the third-period winner in a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

The 21-year-old Yakemchuk helped the club’s struggling power play at just the right time by beating Flyers goaltender Joseph Woll with a blast from the point with 6:59 left in the third period to secure the club’s third win in four games to start the season.

This was a tough night in a lot of ways for the Senators. They weren’t at their best, and the lineup took another huge hit.

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The Senators finished the game with only 11 forwards. Winger William Eklund, the club’s biggest off-season acquisition, left in the first period with a leg or ankle injury and didn’t return.

For the second straight game, the Senators didn’t have any consistency in their game. Woll wasn’t tested nearly enough, but the Senators found a way to win, and that’s all that matters.

The Senators went eight minutes without a shot in the second period and generated little pressure on the Flyers. Ottawa was fortunate that goaltender Linus Ullmark was at the top of his game.

Ottawa paid the price for letting the Flyers hang around. While Ullmark had been solid, Matvei Michkov tied the game 1-1 at 7:46 of the second period when a puck slipped through Ullmark.

Referee Chris Rooney initially blew the play dead with a quick whistle, but after a review, the goal stood. The Senators had nobody to blame but themselves because they allowed the Flyers to stay in the game.

The Senators had four consecutive power plays in the first period, but led only 1-0 after 20 minutes and were outshot 11-8.

Ottawa struggled to generate much with the man advantage, including getting shots through traffic. The club is 2-for-17 on the power play this season, and that needs to improve.

Nick Cousins’ first goal of the season came just as Ottawa’s first power play expired. He redirected a point shot by Tyler Kleven at 10:14 to open the scoring.

The Senators took another hit with the loss of Eklund in the first period.