PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Eric Lindros returned to the ice just in time for the Philadelphia Flyers to have one of the worst season-opening flops in team history.

Patrick Lalime, making his first NHL start in more than two years, shut out the listless Flyers on Saturday night as the Ottawa Senators won the season opener 3-0.

	Vaclav Prospal and the Sens pushed Eric Lindros' Flyers out of their way Saturday.

It was a discouraging return for Lindros, who was out with a collapsed lung when the Flyers lost in the first round to Toronto last season. The same old struggles that plagued Philadelphia last year were back, only worse, prompting Lindros to issue an angry prediction.

"Everybody can sit here and say contender this, contender that," said Lindros, whose lone shot on goal came in the first period. "Unless we execute and pay the price, we're not going anywhere."

The Flyers, playing without injured Rod Brind'Amour, Keith Jones and Eric Desjardins, were shut out in a season opener for the third time in their 32-year history and first time since 1976.

"You're always ready for your home opener," said coach Roger Neilson, although the Flyers weren't.

Radek Bonk scored a breakaway goal, and Sami Salo and Vaclav Prospal also scored for the Senators, who were swept by Buffalo in the first round last year but don't seem to miss superstar holdout Alexei Yashin.

"We prepare, and we know Yashin isn't here," Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. "We know he is a good player and makes us better, but we have to play. We need some extra from everybody."

Lalime, who spent the last two-plus seasons in the IHL after making 39 appearances with Pittsburgh in 1996-97, faced only 17 shots from the punchless Flyers and only one in the last 15 minutes of the game. His best stop was a pad save on a close slap shot by John LeClair in the final 90 seconds of the second period.

It was Lalime's first NHL start since April, 1997 and his first shutout since January of that year against Hartford. With that shutout, he set the NHL record with a 16-game unbeaten streak to start his career (14-0-2).

"I remember that shutout," Lalime said. "It was the record. I stopped 31 shots. ... I was a little nervous. It's been two years."

The Flyers committed an astounding 20 giveaways in the first two periods and 24 in the game. They were 0-for-6 on the power play, including a listless two-man advantage early in the third.

"We've got a pretty good team here," Lindros said. "But even when we have things rolling, it's a battle to win. We've got to get our vibe back."

The tone was set for a sluggish, shaky performance when Flyers defenseman Dan McGillis fanned on the puck at the blue line and fell down, creating a breakaway for Bonk.

"We just seemed to sag after that first goal, and that should never happen," Neilson said.

Salo's goal, 1:40 into the second period, resulted from Lindros' high-sticking penalty as time expired in the first -- a frustration penalty which Lindros said "there was no sense critiquing."

The Flyers haven't scored since Jones' goal in the first period of Game 5 in the Toronto series, which they lost in six games.

"If they want to be physical, they probably want to play a little more physical," Ottawa's Wade Redden said.

Philadelphia was shut out 3-0 by the New York Islanders at the Spectrum in 1976. They lost 4-0 at Minnesota in 1969, the third year of their existence.

Brind'Amour, who had played in 484 straight regular-season games, suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot on Sept. 25 during the first period of the Flyers' 4-2 exhibition loss at New Jersey.

Jones, a linemate of Lindros and LeClair, is out 6-8 weeks following knee surgery. Desjardins, the Flyers' top defenseman, did not play after getting eight teeth knocked out by a slap shot to the face in Philadelphia's final exhibition game at Detroit.

John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 25 of 28 shots. Prospal's goal came on his centering pass from behind the net that bounced off Vanbiesbrouck's back and into the net.