The basics
First period: 1:08 – Joel Farabee (Nick Seeler),
Second period: 4:04 – Vladimir Tarasenko (Shane Pinto, Mathieu Joseph), 19:13 – Tyson Foerster (Scott Laughton), 19:58 – Tyson Foerster (unassisted, penalty shot)
Third period: 18:02 – Thomas Chabot (Dominik Kubalik, Claude Giroux), 19:59 – Cam York (unassisted, empty net)
SOG: 40 (PHI) – 28 (OTT)
Some takeaways
Brady-less bunch
Prior to puck drop, the Senators announced that forward Brady Tkachuk would miss the game with an upper-body injury. The forward, who had a run of 219 consecutive games, was a surprise absence. The Flyers took advantage of the Sens’ sparkplug not playing and scored 68 seconds in as Joel Farabee broke his lengthy goalless streak beating goalie Mads Sogaard with a deflection. However a subsequent power play thanks to a trip on Tyson Foerster was once again a missed opportunity.
Feisty Felix
Backup Felix Sandstrom was rarely tested during the first half of the opening period. In fact the biggest stop he made was when Ridley “Empty Netter” Grieg ran into him for an intereference penalty. The second power play was highlighted by some nice passing by Egor Zamula to Morgan Frost to Owen Tippett who was robbed by Sogaard on the glove side. Sandstrom didn’t face a shot on goal the last 12 minutes of the first as the Sens lost Zack MacEwen to injury late in the first.
Brink bounces back
After being scolded by coach John Tortorella Friday night, Bobby Brink was back in the lineup. Fortunately Brink was being seen for good reasons, whether it was making some nifty passes on the power play to Sean Couturier or just having sound positioning in his own zone. The forward had three shots in first period as the Flyers bombarded Sogaard with 19 shots.
Holy dumpster fire, Batman!
Because it was Marvel Super Hero poster night at Wells Fargo, the abysmal power play in the first could’ve used some super heroes or caped crusaders to get them to 14 percent efficiency. The Flyers blew three power play chances in the first and let the Senators hang around. The Senators stuck around before the Senators evened the game on their sixth shot of the evening as Vladimir Tarasenko beat Sandstrom with a backhander four minutes into the middle frame.
Torts talk
After the Senators tied the game and began to take some of the momentum to the Flyers, a television timeout was the ideal time for Tortorella to settle his group down. It wasn’t a screed, more of a constructive pep talk. And settle they did. Following a rush by Sean Walker and a strong shift from Tippett, Frost and Cam Atkinson, the Flyers slowly started turning the tables. More shifts in the Senators zone created more chances, including Foerster just missing a shot off the rush.
May the Foerster be with you
Fortunately for Foerster he was razor sharp with a laser over Sogaard, providing a huge go-ahead go with under a minute left in the second.
Foerster was not done however as a hook on a breakaway gave him a penalty shot with 1.5 seconds to go. Forester beat Sogaard again through the five-hole to give the Flyers another huge boost to end the second. It also set an NHL record with the Flyers now having scored on five penalty shots this season.
Seeler the deal
The Senators threw everything at the Flyers during a four-minute power play but Sandstrom came up big a few times but Nick Seeler blocked almost as many as Sandstrom did. Another high-sticking penalty by Scott Laughton on Claude Giroux was killed as Ottawa opted to keep Sogaard in, not pulling a John Cooper and pulling the goalie with lots of time left. Tortorella’s sanity was again put to the test when Joel Farabee took a needless slashing penalty with four minutes to go. The Senators hit three goal posts before Thomas Chabot put Ottawa within one. A hair-raising finale (and last-second empty net goal) saw the Flyers escape with two points.
