Senators stun Flyers with three goals in third for victory

PHILADELPHIA >> The Philadelphia Flyers trudged off the ice to the familiar refrain of boos from the few thousand fans that stuck around to witness a collapse that capped one of the more arduous 48 hours in franchise history.

• Ron Hextall: Fired as general manager after 4½ middling seasons.

• Dave Hakstol: On a white-hot seat and his uncertain coaching fate in the hands of the new GM.

• And then a breakdown that has become too familiar for the Flyers: Blowing a two-goal lead in the third period to Ottawa in front of a fed-up crowd.

“Everything we touch, it just doesn’t work,” Flyers forward Jake Voracek said.

Brady Tkachuk had the magic tough for the Senators.

Tkachuk scored twice in the third period and Matt Duchene scored the eventual winner with

2:59 left, lifting the Senators to a

4-3 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday night in the Flyers’ first game since Hextall was fired.

The Flyers showed why Hextall is out of work and Hakstol’s job is in jeopardy. They coughed up a 3-1 lead over the final 6½ minutes of the third period and lost for the sixth time in seven games.

“As soon as they got that second goal we kind of got scared. You can’t do that,” Voracek said.

Tkachuk made it 3-2 late in the third and he tied it on a tip-in with

6:31 remaining. The Flyers turned it over in their end and Duchene batted the puck past Anthony Stolarz for a 4-3 lead.

“It felt like it was the only time I touched the puck all night,” Duchene said.

Voracek, Radko Gudas and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers in front of scores of empty seats inside an arena once among the most imposing in the NHL. Flyers fans have turned away in droves and tickets were selling on the secondary market for $6 in the mezzanine level, a minorleague price for a franchise that traditionally averaged 19,000 fans a game.

Hakstol knows he’s in a precarious position with Hextall, who hired the coach with no NHL experience out of North Dakota in 2015, gone. Flyers President Paul Holmgren said the next general manager would decide Hakstol’s fate.

“Given the scenario we are in, that’s a pretty reasonable process,” Hakstol said. “Whoever that is, he will come in and evaluate me as head coach and whether or not he likes what he sees and I’m the right guy to work with him.”