Postgame 5: Flyers Beat Senators, 4-2

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday evening. Coming off a loss in Washington the previous night, the Flyers put forth a determined effort against the Senators.
 
Even strength and penalty shot goals by Tyson Foerster late in the second period put the Flyers in the driver's seat. Philly also got a deflection goal from Joel Farabee and an empty net tally from Cam York. Vladimir Tarasenko and Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa in a losing cause.

The Flyers (32-23-7) finished 1-2-0 in their season series with Ottawa. The Senators (25-21-3) made things tough on the Flyers as Saturday's game progressed.
 
Playing his first NHL game since the regular season finale last year, Felix Sandström stepped up to deliver 24 saves on 26 shots, including several timely and difficult stops. He got a bit of help, too, from his goal posts and from 28 blocked shots in front of him.
 
The Flyers peppered Ottawa goalie Mads Sogaard with 39 shots. He made 36 saves. Sogaard's best work came in the first period, keeping his team in the game.
 
The Flyers dominated the first period, outshooting and outchancing the Senators by a huge margin. Philly took a quick lead and had three power play chances -- with a lot of pressure and two high-end scoring chances on the second power play -- but couldn't add to their lead. The Flyers forechecked well and had sticks in the lanes when Ottawa attempted to attack.
 
Breaking a 14-game goal drought, Farabee (18th goal of the season) deflected a Nick Seeler point shot into the net for a 1-0 lead at 1:08 of the first period. Seeler received the lone assist.

Ottawa tied the game at 1-1 on a backhander to the short side by Tarasenko (17th of season) from the right wing at 4:04 of the second period. The assists went to Shane Pinto and Mathieu Joseph.
 
A two-goal surge in the final minute of the middle stanza catapulted the Flyers ahead 4-2 by the second intermission. Prior to that, most of the period was fairly evenly played with a slight edge to Ottawa.

At 19:13, Scott Laughton won an offensive circle faceoff back to Tyson Foerster (15th goal of the season), who fired a shot from the top of the circle off a Senator and past Mads Sogaard for a 2-1 lead.

Foerster, at 19:58.5, was hooked on a breakaway by Pinto and awarded a penalty shot. The sequence started with a fine defensive play by Foerster. On the ensuing penalty shot attempt, Foerster moved in patiently and beat Sogaard low to the glove side for his second goal of the game (16th) overall to expand the lead to 3-1. Foerster's penalty shot goal was the fifth by the Flyers this season: a new NHL record.

In the third period, the Flyers had to kill four penalties. They did it masterfully. With Sogaard pulled for an extra attacker, Chabot (6th) scored from the bottom of the right circle to cut the gap to 3-2.  The assists went to Domik Kubalik and Claude Giroux.
 
Cam York scored an empty net goal from the neutral zone to nail down the win in the final second of the game.
 
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Senators were 0-for-4.
 
Cam Atkinson returned to the Flyers' lineup after being scratched the previous two games. Olle Lycksell exited the lineup as a healthy scratch.
 
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
 
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 71 Tyson Foerster
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
44 Nicolas Deslauriers- 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Bobby Brink

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula - 18 Marc Staal
 
32 Felix Sandström
[33 Samuel Ersson]

TURNING POINT
 
Saturday's turning point is a no-brainer: Foerster's faceoff-circle goal and penalty shot tally in the final minute of the second period changed the entire complexion of the game heading into the final stanza.

POSTGAME 5

1) Hathaway had a scoring chance from the left circle on the game's first shift.  Farabee scored on the second shift.
 
The Flyers went on the game's first power play at 3:49 on an marginal interference penalty against Jakob Chychrun, The Flyers generated no significant pressure. Shots on goal were 6-4 Flyers through 6:31.
 
Ottawa's Ridly Greig was called for goalie interference at 8:05. Later, Tippett found Frost going to the net. Sogaard made a great save. Later, Tippett snapped a right circle shot on net. Shots were now 10-6 Flyers.
 
Couturier kept his feet moving to draw a tripping penalty on Artem Zub at 11:07. The Flyers were unable to score. With play back at five-on-five, the Flyers very narrowly missed a goal on a pinballing puck.
 
The Flyers iced the puck at 17:58. Shots on goal were 19-4 Flyers. Philly's Poehling won the draw and the Flyers broke out of the zone.

2) First period shots on goal were 19-4 Flyers. Twelve different Flyers put at least one shot on net. Shot attempts were 31-11 Flyers. Scoring chances were 17-5 Flyers. High-danger scoring chances were 7-2, Flyers. Faceoffs were 15-9 Senators, led by Claude Giroux at 9-for-12.

3) Seeler blocked a shot out of play 52 seconds into the second period. Sandström made a clean glove save on from the right circle at 3:51. Tarasenko scored on the next shift at 4:04.

Through 7:47, shots on goal were 5-5. Tippett had a scoring chance near the doorstep on his next shift and then appeared to be tripped (no call) as Frost fed him in the slot. Shots on goal were 8-6 Flyers through 10:42.
 
The Senators went to their first power play at 11:29 as Foerster was called for a defensive zone hook on Thomas Chabot. On the advantage, Chychrun was denied on a right-circle one-timer. Shortly thereafter, Jake Sanderson hit the right post.
 
At 16:07, a Foerster snap shot from the right circle nearly found the net. Sogaard made the save.
 
Sanheim took a two-hander to the leg from Joseph but both players received coincidental slashing minors at 16:53. The two teams skated 4-on-4. No scoring ensued. Back at 5-on-5, Foerster restored a lead for the Flyers at 19:13 and then tallied his penalty shot goal with 1.5 seconds on the clock.

4) Second period shots on goal were 16-14 Flyers (36-18 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 30-22 Senators (55-41 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 15-9 Ottawa (27-20 Flyers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 5-4 Flyers (12-6 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 11-9 Senators (26-18 Senators overall).

5) Thirty-two seconds into the third period, Foerster's bid for a natural hat trick was denied from the right circle.
 
York was called for a careless high-sticking double minor at 4:10. The Flyers killed it off, including via four blocked shots by Seeler. After play went back to 5-on-5, Sandström made a great save on Tarasenko.
 
Laighton was called for a high-sticking minor at 10:26.Sandström made another clutch save. Philly again killed off the penalty.
 
At 14:37, Maxence Guenette committed a blatant interference penalty on Hathaway in the neutral zone. The Flyers went to their fourth power play. The power play ended with 36 seconds remaining as Farabee was called for a very iffy slashing penalty.
 
The Senators pulled Sogaard for an extra attacker. Chabot and Kubalik each hit the post. At 18:02, Chabot scored.
 
The Senators pulled Sogaard again, coming within a whisker of tying the game on another shot that drew iron. Finally, with 0.6 second on the clock, York iced the victory.

Third period shots on goal were 8-4 Ottawa (40-26 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 30-8 Ottawa (72-64 Senators overall). Scoring chances were 12-2 Ottawa (34-30 Senators overall). High-danger scoring chances were 5-1 Ottawa (14-12 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 5-4 Flyers (30-23 Senators overall).