It's getting loud in Philadelphia. Fans chanted "Fire Tocchet!" late in the 4-1 home loss to Carolina, which came after a season where the Flyers won their first playoff series since 2020 and the rebuild looked like it was working. One NHL insider says Rick Tocchet's job isn't in danger and not to expect a quick coaching change. Still, a home game against a team that already beat them is the kind of night that either calms things down or makes them worse.
Ottawa is winning without much margin, and without 2 regular defensemen. The Senators beat the Islanders 2-1 in a shootout that Shane Pinto decided. Linus Ullmark stopped Simon Holmstrom to end it, and Ottawa had 2 first-period goals taken off the board on video review before Greig tied it in the 2nd. Without Jake Sanderson and Nikolas Matinpalo, the Senators gave up 1 goal in 65 minutes. That answered a lot of questions after St. Louis put 7 on them in the game before.
Those 7 goals against St. Louis are the warning sign in Ottawa's record. When this defense breaks down, it breaks down badly, and Matinpalo still has no timeline to return. Philadelphia hasn't shown it can take advantage of anything like that. The Flyers have scored more than 1 goal just once in their last 5. They also lost in the 3rd period to Seattle and gave up 4 or more 3 times in that stretch.
So Saturday comes down to whether the Flyers can finally score enough to win a 1-goal game. Ottawa has won 4 of its last 5 by making games tight, low-scoring and frustrating, and that's exactly how the Flyers' losses have looked. The Senators will be on the road for 1 night after a homestand. The Flyers will be at home with a crowd that is running out of patience.