Flyers

Rick Tocchet Says Flyers Competed in Ottawa, Even Though it “Still Sucks to Lose”

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 9th, 2026 · 10:05 AM EDT

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The Flyers remain winless after a 2-1 loss in Ottawa.

They’re 0-3-2 and last place in the Metro.

“The compete was there,” said head coach Rick Tocchet after the game. “Guys really worked hard. Obviously had penalty trouble, one that cost us there at the end. But we have the 5 on 3 and we have to put one in there… You’re building on stuff. It still sucks to lose. We gotta make some plays though, under pressure. I thought the 5 on 3 kind of, we had a couple of looks there and never found them. Anyways, we’ll go back to the drawing board.”

He’s not wrong; the Flyers did compete.

And while there are no moral victories at this point in the rebuild (or whatever we’re calling it now), they played much better than they did in Tampa. They came out with some assertiveness in the first period and out-shot Ottawa before giving up a goal that was probably against the run of the play. They finished with 29 shots to 26 shots, scored on a power play, and only gave the puck away 9 times compared to 15 for the Senators. Joseph Woll played very well and you feel good about the goaltending tandem on this team.

Also –

The penalty on Michael Bunting was iffy. Didn’t look like there was much pulling or tugging or restraining on that play behind the net. You see stuff like that go uncalled all the time, and it was a tough way to go on the PK with just about six minutes left in the game. The Flyers had it almost killed off entirely before Carter Yakemchuk scored. Of course Glaude Giroux was involved.

They did hit Ottawa with a flurry at the end of the third and maybe should have scored there, but the energy and effort and “compete” was much better this time around.

It seems like the overarching issue is the same as it’s always been. They’re not going to turn a hard corner on this rebuild without high-end offensive talent. They tried for Leo Carlsson – fair play there. I’m watching these games thinking that they need someone to do something special and make a play, and yet that guy isn’t on the roster. They seem to struggle with connecting passes and handling the puck and getting on the same page.

But last night was better. That was probably the best game they’ve played this year.