Tkachuk's 30th goal helps Senators defeat Flyers to close out season

PHILADELPHIA -- Brady Tkachuk scored the go-ahead goal with 3:22 remaining in the third period for the Ottawa Senators in a 4-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Friday.

It was the last game of the season for each team; each had been eliminated from contention for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Josh Norris and Travis Hamonic also scored for Ottawa (33-42-7), and Thomas Chabot had three assists. Anton Forsberg made 32 saves.
"Just nice to finish with a win, especially the way we did it on the power play," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "Power play wasn't very good tonight, 5-on-3 [goal for Flyers] there late, they crawl back into it. It was fun to win one more time on the way out."

James van Riemsdyk and Owen Tippett each scored a power-play goal for Philadelphia (25-46-11). Martin Jones made 32 saves.
"How many times have we had games similar to that?" Flyers coach Mike Yeo said. "You battle and you scratch and claw, power play gets on the board, scores a big goal for us, and then find a way to let it slip away at the end."
Tkachuk put the Senators ahead 3-2 with a power-play goal from the right face-off circle. The goal was Tkachuk's 30th of the season, the first time he's reached that mark in his four NHL seasons.
"That was a goal of mine going into this year," Tkachuk said. "I wanted to prove to myself and everybody else that I could do that. I wouldn't have been able to do that with my linemates, teammates and everyone pushing in the right direction. Just nice to see the hard work pay off."

Norris' goal was his 35th. It's the first time the Senators have had two 30-goal scorers in the same season since 2011-12 (Milan Michalek, 35; Jason Spezza, 34).
"Obviously it's team first, but young guys getting 30 for the first time, 35 for the first time, point totals, all those things are big for them," Smith said. "But they're going to realize the biggest thing is winning and being able to compete next week [in the playoffs], which we're not able to do right now."
Van Riemsdyk put the Flyers ahead 1-0 at 18:31 of the first period with a power-play goal. The forward got the puck at the goal post to the left of Forsberg and shot it between his legs, over Forsberg's blocker.
Norris tied the game 1-1 at 4:11 of the second period. Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov turned the puck over behind his net and Tkachuk centered it to Norris, who one-timed it from the hash marks.
Hamonic made it 2-1 at 1:56 of the third period with a one-timer from the right point.
Tippett tied it 2-2 at 12:33 with a 5-on-3 power-play goal on a one-timer from the left face-off circle.
It was the first time the Flyers scored multiple power-play goals in a game since Dec. 10. Philadelphia entered the game last in the NHL at 11.9 percent with the man-advantage.
"It's never a good thing to finish last in a category like that, especially an important one like that," van Riemsdyk said. "That's a big difference if your power play is in the top 10 versus dead last and who knows how that can affect our season."

After Tkachuk's power-play goal, Austin Watson scored an empty-net goal at 18:15 for the 4-2 final.
NOTES:Tkachuk finished the season with 67 points (30 goals, 37 assists), the most by a Senators forward since Spezza scored 84 (34 goals, 50 assists) in 2011-12. He also led the Senators with nine shots on goal Friday, the fourth time this season he's had at least that many. ... Norris' 35 goals were the most by a Senators player since Michalek in 2011-12. ... Hamonic's goal was his first in 24 games, dating to March 9. ... Senators forward Viktor Lodin had three shot on goal in 10:25 of ice time in his NHL debut. He had been recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League earlier Friday. ... Tippett's goal was the first the Flyers scored at 5-on-3 this season. ... Provorov had two assists.