WRAPUP: FLYERS ROLL FORWARD IN 3-2 HOME WIN OVER OTTAWA
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In control of their own destiny in the quest to make the playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers inched two points closer with a 3-2 regulation win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.
Philadelphia took advantage of the Senators' woeful penalty killing, which came into the game ranked 29th in the NHL at 75.9 percent. The Flyers tallied three power play goals on four tries and took just one penalty of their own, which Ottawa turned into a goal.
Twice in the game, Ottawa trimmed two-goal deficits to one. Both times the Flyers had strong responses. After a sloppy second period, the Flyers controlled most of the third stanza and closed the game out with authority even after Ottawa got back within 3-2.
"You obviously would like to extend it to a three goal lead rather than go the other direction, but I thought the last 5 minutes, our group showed they were doing the right things taking care of some of the details that have to be taken care of. The right word isn't comfortable, but our group is confident in those situations to just go out and make the next play," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.
Wayne Simmonds had a three-point afternoon as he notched a pair of power play goals for his 27th and 28th goals of the season and added an assist; the third straight season he's scored at least 28 times. Sean Couturier also bagged a power play marker for his 11th goal of the season. Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn each collected a pair of assists.
Steve Mason was once again stellar in goal, stopping 33 of 35 shots and turning aside everything he had a realistic chance to stop. Mason started for the 13th time in the Flyers' last 14 games.
"A lot of what I’m doing has to do with the guys in front. I think overall we’re playing real solid hockey and in turns makes my job a lot easier. We’re scoring goals at probably our best clip of the year too, so that also helps," Mason said.
"We’re still in tight games, but we’re having the confidence for guys that they’re going to find the back of the net and that’s a nice thing for a goaltender to have, knowing that the guys are going to come through for you and more than anything like I said earlier it’s fun coming to the rink and expecting to play.”
Mason came up with several crucial momentum saves during the game, not the least of which was a breakaway save on Mike Hoffman shortly after the Flyers broke a scoreless tie in the second period.
“That’s a game changing save right there. Key saves at key times. Doesn't matter how many there are, if it’s one at a key time, that’s a big play for a goaltender to provide to his team and his teammates. That was one of them for sure,” Hakstol said.
Mika Zibanejad (19th goal of the season) got Ottawa on the board on a goal where he had time and space to measure a heavy shot from prime shooting range. Hoffman (28th of the season) scored a power play goal in the third period that re-directed off the stick of Flyers' defenseman Mark Streit. Homan, Cody Ceci, Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan earned an assist apiece in a losing cause.
Backup Senators goalie Andrew Hammond got the start in goal. Although he had issues with boxing rebounds into the slot and overplaying some pucks, he, too, made the saves he had a fair shot to make. The Flyers' goals came off a Simmonds' deflection, a scramble around the net where Couturier got to the puck and flipped it home and a rebound put-in by Simmonds.
Although sloppy at times in the early minutes of the game and for a significant segment of the second period, the Flyers proved to be the hungrier and more aggressive team than Ottawa, who looked like a depleted team and were not very good defensively.
Giroux finished the afternoon 13-for-18 (72 percent) on faceoffs. Andrew MacDonald had five of the Flyers’ 14 blocked shots.
"We just don’t change our game. We’re consistent in how we play and how our identity of the team we want to be so we don’t have to change our game even if we’re up by three or if the game is tied. We play the same game and we just need to be playing the same way at the end there. With a minute left we were aggressive and keep the puck down there so they’re not going to score from there," Giroux said.
"It’s a process. We work on every situation of the game, 6-on-5, we weren’t successful at the start of the year so we just worked on it and right now it’s working out, but we can be even better."
Coupled with the New York Islanders' 5-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers moved to within two points of New York in the push for the higher wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference. They also protected their spot as the lower wild card seed, regardless of the outcome of the Detroit Red Wings' game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Philly at least temporarily moved two points ahead of the Wings with a pending two games in hand after the Detroit vs. Toronto game. The Flyers forged one point ahead of the idle Boston Bruins, and hold one game in hand. All three among the Islanders, Red Wings and Bruins hold a tiebreaker advantage over the Flyers.
The Flyers had two quick icings and own-zone turnovers by Radko Gudas and Nick Cousins in the the first three minutes of the period but no harm resulted. The Sens missed connections on a 3-on-2 rush. Then Gudas turned a puck over again behind the net.
Shots were 4-0 Sens at 5:31 as the Flyers went on the game's first power play when the Sens were nabbed for too many men on the ice. Jakub Voracek badly missed the net on a one-timer and then the Flyers went offside on a Shayne Gostisbehere carry-in with 1:07 left in the advantage. The Flyers switched units. Matt Read got the Flyers first shot on an unscreened point shot As the power play expired Mason picked a shot out of the air for a TV timeout at 7:35.
Philadelphia came out with strong pressure after the TV timeout as the Couturier line forced a turnover and had a dominant shift. Raffl barely missed a goal from inside the right hash marks.
On a long shift in the defensive zone for the Bellemare line and Nick Schultz defense pairing -- featuring a painful blocked shot by Ryan White -- Mason had to make a point blank save on Mika Zibanejad. At the other end of the ice, Hammond came way out of his net to stop but not hang on to a Voracek wrister. At 13:06, Hammond snared a Couturier shot and held on for a stoppage. Shots were 7-7.
At the end of a shift that started with a nice keep by Gudas and later an explosive point shot by the burly Czech defenseman. As play moved out, Chris Wideman and Cousins mixed it up near the Ottawa bench -- Cousins clearly got under the Sen's skin -- at 17:04. Both got roughing minors.
During the 4-on-4 Mason bailed the Flyers out of trouble with a save and no rebound as they got a little scrambled in their own zone. There were no further scoring chances. Shots in the first period were 10-9 Flyers.
At the 51-second mark of the second period, Alex Chiasson went to the box for high-sticking Couturier behind the Flyers' net. The Flyers took advantage of a giveaway by Jean-Gabriel Pagueau as Voracek held the puck in the zone and put it toward the net. Simmonds moved in front of the net and tipped it home at 1:30 to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
Sam Gagner had Pierre-Edouard Bellemare set up at point blank range but Hammond made the save.
At 3:07 of the middle frame, Mason made a huge momentum save as he moved right and stoned Mike Hoffman on a clean breakaway off a MacDonald turnover.
"He made a couple moves in tight there and again, you just try and wait them out there, and seal up the arms to the body, and try and make sure that nothing can squeak through," Mason said.
“I think there’s always something to build off of. It was a timely save, we had just scored our goal not too long before that so moments like that you want to come away with a big save.”
On the next shift, Ottawa had a 3-on-1 rush. Chiasson hit the post.
Shots were 6-3 Flyers: 16-12 Flyers for the game with 14:17 left in the period. Chris Neil stirred up some emotions near the Flyers net after the whistle as Mason came up with a point shot through traffic and held on for a stoppage and TV timeout.
The Flyers took an icing with 13:22 left in the period. Ottawa won the draw cleanly but Mason stopped a snap shot by Wideman as he saw the shot all the way. Giroux lost the next draw, but the Flyers broke up the play with a deflection over the glass. Ottawa won the draw yet again and Mason had to stop a Michael Kosta shot through a maze of traffic. Philly finally won the next draw and got out of the defensive zone.
At 10:05, Philly got its third power play of the game on a slashing-the-stick penalty on Wideman. The Flyers bagged their 2nd power play goal of the period to take a 2-0 lead.
On a partial shift change, Simmonds set up Couturier in front of the net. Hammond made the stop but Schenn kept the puck alive and Couturier followed up near the right post to score at 11:14. Schenn and Simmonds got the helpers on Couturier's 11th goal of the season.
"Simmer made a nice play there behind the net cutting the pass away, and I was kind of frustrated that I missed the first one, but lucky enough, I got the rebound and it was a good play overall by Simmonds," Couturier said.
Mason stopped a wicked deflection by Bobby Ryan with about seven minutes left in the period. He made his 20th save at 15:08 as he snapped up a 10-foot Zibanejad shot and hung on for a TV timeout.
After the TV timeout, Mason made his first mistake of the game, leaving out a bad rebound routine shot by Wideman after Ottawa won the net draw but Zibanejad was pressured by the defense into steering the puck wide.
Giroux was hauled down on a rush and Ottawa countered the other way. Mason stopped Nick Paul.
At 17:35, Chris Neil got a 10-minute misconduct.
Ottawa cut the gap to 2-1 at 17:48. On a line rush, Zibanejad went past Bellemare and had time and space after taking a pass from Hoffman to partially wind up and rip a shot from the right slot past Mason. The assists went to Hoffman and Cody Ceci on Zibanejad's 19th goal of the season.
Shots in the second period were 17-13 Ottawa: 26-23 Senators through two periods.
With Ottawa sending two men in to forecheck, Mason made a nice puckhandling play up the walls under pressure to get the puck to Wayne Simmonds, who got the puck to safety.
Read deflected a Brandon Manning left point shot just wide of the post at 1:58 of the third period. One shift later, Hammond fought off a point shot with Bellemare in front.
With 13:48 left, Bellemare forced an Ottawa turnover. Hammond stopped a long shot by White and held for a TV timeout. Raffl took a hit at the defensive blueline to get the puck to safety. The Sens went offside with 13:21 left.
Ceci pinched in deep and tripped Giroux. The Flyers went to their fourth power play at 6:57. Simmonds promptly gave Philly their third power play goal --his second -- as he potted a Schenn rebound at 7:15. Voracek got the secondary assist as Philly took a 3-1 lead.
Simmonds went for the hat trick on a wraparound. Hammond denied it and Schenn couldn't poke the puck through. A TV timeout ensued at 10:26. Shots were 10-1 Flyers.
Hammond kept the deficit at two goals as Gagner set up Read parked the doorstep.
Ottawa finally get their first power play at 11:34. Gudas got the gate for dumping Neil in front and then cross-checked him. Neil got up and went at Gudas. Gudas got two minors (interference, slashing) and Neil got roughing.
At 12:28, a Hoffman blast deflected off Streit, and went into the net to cut the Ottawa gap to 3-2. Karlsson and Ryan got the assists on the power play goal.
The Bellemare line killed off over a minute of clock time occupying the puck on the walls in the Ottawa end. The Couturier line did the same in the Philly end and ultimately won the battle and cleared the puck.
"Mentality and the ability to stay aggressive and stay on your toes. That’s exactly what that shift says," Hakstol said.
"We kept it in the offensive zone, we kept the clock winding without a whole lot of whistles as we went down the stretch. Because of that we were able to stay on our toes and stay aggressive and that’s exactly what Belley’s line did on that shift.”
Hammond was pulled in the final minute. Raffl missed the empty net but Couturier killed most of the remaining clock in the corner.
Shots in the third period were 13-9 Flyers; 36-35 Flyers for the game.
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