Senators 5, Flyers 4: Quick observations from Philly's close loss

Some quick observations from the Flyers' 5-4 loss in Ottawa on Thursday:

Late rally. Give the Flyers credit. Trailing 5-2, they got late goals from Ivan Provorov and Sean Couturier to get within a goal, and Val Filppula nearly tied it with 1:17 to go. But the damage — and controversial decisions that erased a Flyers goal midway through the third period and negated another one with 56.2 seconds left  — had already been done. It was a frustrating loss, but the Flyers showed some resiliency and hope to take that into Saturday in Toronto.

Turnovers R Us. Poor puck management doomed the Flyers in Tuesday's 6-2 loss to Anaheim, and the problem continued as they fell into a 3-0 first-period hole against flu-ridden Ottawa.

They couldn't clear the puck, and defenseman Dion Phaneuf made them pay on an early Ottawa power play, flipping a point drive that got past screened goalie Michal Neuvirth for a 1-0 Senators lead.

Later in the first period, rookie defensemen Robert Hagg and Travis Sanheim had problems in their own zone and it led to a goal credited to defenseman Mark Borowiecki. (Sanheim, trying to clear the puck, deflected it into his own net.)

And a neutral-zone turnover led to Jean-Gabriel Pageau's shorthanded goal, making it 3-0 with 6:32 left in the first. It's a save Neuvirth usually makes.

Neuvirth's woes.  The new defensive pairings struggled, especially in the opening period, but Neuvirth didn't help them in those 20 minutes. He did not resemble the goalie who was outstanding in his first three games, and he was thoroughly outplayed by his 36-year-old counterpart, Craig Anderson, who made perhaps his best save when he denied Sean Couturier on a power-play rebound with 51 seconds left in the first.

Neuvirth allowed even-strength, power-play, and shorthanded goals in the first period. During those 20 minutes, the Flyers outshot Ottawa, 14-12, and trailed, 3-0.

In the second period, Neuvirth rebounded and the Flyers got to within 3-2. But a pretty spin-o-rama goal by Mark Stone with 2:23 remaining left in the stanza gave the Sens a two-goal cushion.

A year ago, Flyers goalies were frequently outplayed. That was also the case in the last two games, giving the Flyers their first two-game losing streak of the season.

Missing MacDonald. Andrew MacDonald will be sidelined at least a month, and coach Dave Hakstol has juggled all three defensive pairings in the two games he has missed. Maybe in time, the pairings will find their mojo. Maybe. But it would make more sense to put Hagg back with Shayne Gostisbehere. That pairing had been excellent, combining for a plus-9 rating and showing great chemistry. (Hagg started the game with Sanheim and later spent time alongside Gudas and then Brandon Manning as Hakstol experimented with his combinations.)

By the way, the Flyers have been outscored, 11-6, in the two games MacDonald has missed. He had been on the top pairing with Provorov, who has sometimes looked out of sync without the veteran as his partner. Provorov was paired with Gostisbehere on Thursday.

Key calls. Much to Hakstol's disbelief, Brandon Manning's goal midway through the third period, which would have cut the deficit to 4-3, was disallowed after an Ottawa challenge for goalie interference on Jordan Weal. You could argue that Anderson initiated the contact with Weal. From here, I was surprised it was overturned because the ruling on the ice was that the goal counted.

Fifty-five seconds later, Tom Pyatt made it 5-2 by scoring on the Sens' first shot of the period.

With 56.2 seconds left, Couturier jammed the puck into the net to apparently tie the score at 5-all. The NHL's Situation Room initiated a video review, however, to see if the puck crossed the goal line. It did. But the referee told the Situation Room he was in the process of blowing his whistle when he lost sight of the puck under Anderson's skate.

Hence, under NHL rules, the play was not renewable.

If the ref knew it couldn't be reviewed, why, then, did he go to the monitor to review it?

Hakstol, who usually doesn't criticize the officials, was furious after the game.

"That's 100 percent a goal," he fumed. "….It's clear as day."

Voracek, finally. In the second minute of the middle period, Jake Voracek had three good scoring chances but couldn't connect, including a tip-in that Anderson denied. He has swarmed the net all season but was still looking for his first goal until he caught a break. From behind the net his pass deflected off Phaneuf and past Anderson with 5:30 left in the second.

Voracek deserved a break. He leads the Flyers in shots — he had six more in the first 40 minutes Thursday — and has been their best playmaker.

Power-play inconsistent. The Flyers' power play has been either lights-out or unproductive in the first 10 games.  They were 0 for 2 Thursday and are 0 for 8 in their last two games. It's no coincidence that both were losses.

Leier returns. Left winger Taylor Leier returned to the lineup and gave the fourth-line more energy. The line, which included Scott Laughton and Michal Raffl, spent lots of time in the Senators' defensive zone.

Meanwhile, right winger Wayne Simmonds, who has been battling multiple injuries, remained in the lineup but appeared to be laboring.