NHL Recap: Ottawa Senators knock off Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2
Jason Spezza netted a goal and earned three assists to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 5-2 victory over the slouching Philadelphia Flyers, at Scotiabank Place on Tuesday night.
Bobby Butler and Nick Foligno each notched a goal for Ottawa, which has won two of three games and four of its previous five at Scotiabank Place to improve to 15-20-5 at home. Ryan Shannon and Milan Michalek each also added a goal, while Craig Anderson blocked
27 shots in the victory.
"We played great 5-on-5, we got some trouble early that gave them momentum but we started off pretty good," said Spezza. "Those special-teams goals are always nice and give you some confidence. It was just a good all-around game."
Mike Richards found the back of the net twice for Philadelphia, who failed to clinch the Atlantic Division title. The Flyers lost its fourth straight and fifth in the last six. They also fell out of top-spot in the Eastern Conference. Sergei Bobrovsky was
beaten for four goals on 35 shots in the losing effort.
Philadelphia got the scoring started on a power-play within three minutes of the opening stanza. The centre-man, Richards, grabbed his own loose rebound off a stopped-shot and jammed the puck home for 1-0 lead.
The Flyers had another chance to score on a power-play few minutes later, when Ben Holmstrom seemed to catch the Senators' Zack Smith with a high hit. However, no penalty was called on the play. Ottawa’s right-winger, Chris Neil, took Holmstrom to task for
the check and got a penalty but unfortunately Philadelphia was not able to capitalise.
Foligno pulled the game even at 1-1 with nearly four and a half minutes left in the first period, as he deflected a pass from Spezza into the net on the Senators' power-play.
The next two goals also came in the same power-play. Richards struck again to put the Flyers on top, 2-1, with nearly four minutes remaining in the middle frame. The goal came when Richards took a pass from Nikolay Zherdev and fired a one-timer home from
the bottom of the left circle.
The Senators knotted it at 2-2 nearly two and a half minutes later, when Shannon ripped a shot from the point through traffic. Butler gave Ottawa a one-goal edge, 3-2, on a break-away with 14 seconds left to play in the second session.
Spezza then skated the Senators to a two-goal advantage, 4-2, with his 20th goal of the season just eight minutes into the final stanza and Ottawa put a strangle-hold on the game.
"They're probably the best team in the East, and it's a big challenge for us," Spezza said. "I think the game probably means more to us than it does to them, and these are important games for us to gain confidence. I think we accomplished that tonight, and
it feels good to get the win."
The goal-tender, Bobrovsky, was benched for an extra attacker with almost one and half minute left in the third period. The Senators' Michalek, while capitalising on the advantage, accounted for the final scoring, 5-2, with an empty netter with 78 seconds
left in the game.
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