Flyers defeat Senators for fifth consecutive victory

OTTAWA-- The Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to five games with a 5-3 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Senators highlights]
Brandon Manning scored and had two assists, Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist, and Petr Mrazek made 25 saves for the Flyers (33-19-10), who are tied the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Washington Capitals.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't think it was going to happen," Giroux said of reaching the top of the division. "We're playing some good hockey right now. Not too sure what to say, but everybody bought in to what we're trying to do here and it's a lot of fun."
Ivan Provorov, Robert Hagg and Nolan Patrick scored for Philadelphia, which is 9-0-2 in its past 11 games. Mrazek won for the second time in as many games since being acquired Monday in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings.

Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist, Mark Stone had two assists, and Anderson made 34 saves for the Senators (21-30-10), who are 0-3-1 in their past four games and played their first game since trading center Derick Brassard to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.
"This is not an easy time for us, I'm not going to shy away from that," Stone said. "You're kind of on pins and needles right now just because you don't want to lose teammates, and the talk around is that we are going to lose teammates (before the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday)."
Giroux took a pass from Manning behind the Ottawa defense and deked Craig Anderson to make it 3-1 at 4:15 of the third period.
"I saw that I had a lot of time," Giroux said. "So I thought I'd have time to kind of make an extra move there. He's a good goalie, so I tried to fake him out."
Patrick tipped a pass from Manning at 7:05 to make it 4-1, and Manning's dump-in bounced off the glass into the net at 8:56 to give the Flyers a 5-1 lead.
Provorov gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead 28 seconds into the first period with a wrist shot. Philadelphia made it 2-0 at 7:14 on Hagg's wrist shot from the right face-off dot.
Hoffman one-timed a pass from Thomas Chabot on the power play to make it 2-1 at 12:14.

Zack Smith shot the rebound of Hoffman's shot past Mrazek at 12:05 of the second period, but the Flyers challenged and video review determined that Smith was offside, negating the goal that would have made it 2-2.
"[It] could've been a big turning point in the game," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "The fact that that was turned around was a real important part of the game for us."
Ryan Dzingel one-timed a pass from Smith from the top of the left circle to make it 5-2 at 16:47 of the third period, and Matt Duchene scored on a rebound at 19:03 to make it 5-3.
"We'd been playing some good hockey up until the last few days when things started to happen (trade rumors)," Duchene said. "It's tough, and we've addressed it a little bit in the room here, but it's human nature: When you don't know where you're waking up tomorrow, trust me, I know, you're not sure what's going to happen, it's really distracting."

Goal of the game

Provorov's goal 28 seconds into the first period.

Save of the game

Mrazek's save on Magnus Paajarvi at 13:54 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Giroux's goal at 4:15 of the third period.

They said it

"From the start of the year, we've tried to use every day to figure out a way to get better, to improve the way we're doing things. I think we're seeing the results of that. It doesn't change now either. Every day it's go out and do the job, work to be a little bit better as a team and then go onto the next challenge." --Flyers coach Dave Hakstol
"It is very disappointing. I had really good chemistry with him. Like I said, I understand the nature of this business is to win and we're not winning, so he went to a team that wanted him really badly. We got a good return for him and I wish him all the best in Pittsburgh." -- Senators forward Mark Stone on Derick Brassard being traded to the Penguins

Need to know

Patrick had nine shots on goal and has a four-game goal streak. … Giroux has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in his past nine games. … Stone has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in a five-game point streak. … Senators defenseman Ian Cole, acquired in the Brassard trade, did not play. … Pittsburgh played the Florida Panthers later Saturday.

What's next

Flyers: At the Montreal Canadiens on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN2, RDS, NBCSP, NHL.TV)
Senators: At the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)