Philadelphia Flyers vs Ottawa Senators Post Game
Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier (14) reacts after scoring a goal against the Ottawa Senators during the second period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
The Flyers started their three game home stand on a good note Tuesday night with a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. The Flyers played a good game and have now gone 4-0-1 over their last five games.
The special teams were the difference in the first period. The Flyers had to kill three penalties. In the opening minutes Brayden Schenn took a high sticking penalty. The Flyers killed it off, but later in the period both Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux accidentally took delay of game penalties by flipping the puck over the glass. The penalties overlapped in 12 seconds of 5v3 time. The Flyers escaped that sequence without a goal against. With 2:27 remaining in the period, the Flyers went on a power play. It took the Flyers’ top power play unit 21 seconds to score. Claude Giroux scored from the top of the left circle off of assists by Jake Voracek and Kimmo Timonen. The period ended with the Flyers up 1-0 and leading in shots 12-11.
Overall the second period was a good one for the Flyers. After missing a wide open net in the first period, Sean Couturier scored his first goal of the season on a shot from just below the goal line to put the Flyers up 2-0. Brayden Schenn took his second penalty of the evening, a tripping minor, about seven minutes into the period. About a minute into the Senators PP Clarke MacArthur shot a rocket that got by Steve Mason. Mason may have been screened by Luke Schenn on the goal, but either way the Flyers’ lead was cut in half. Towards the end of the period, both Coburn and Luke Schenn got into it with Senators’ forwards in front of the Flyers’ net, Schenn even dropped the gloves with Colin Greening. The Flyers went into the second intermission up 2-1 and leading 26-25 in shots.
The Flyers looked very slow to start the third period. They let in a tying goal only 10 seconds into a penalty kill about three minutes into the period. A few minutes later the Flyers got caught in their own zone and had to rely on a skate save by Nicklas Grossmann. The play was under review for about five minutes and was eventually ruled no goal due to a lack of conclusive evidence. After the long break for the review, the Flyers came back with a vengeance. Shortly after the stoppage, Kimmo Timonen notched his first goal of the season on a nifty backhand low in the offensive zone. Then, only 23 seconds later, Wayne Simmonds tallied a goal off of hard work by himself and his linemates. The Senators then took multiple penalties which hampered their ability to come back. Late in the game, with the Senators net empty, Adam Hall tallied his first goal as a Flyer to make it 5-2.
Game notes
-Once again Zac Rinaldo played on the PK. Tonight he took Giroux’s spot alongside Adam Hall on one of the PK units (Read-Couturier was the other) and logged 2:54 of short-handed ice time. Rinaldo generally had good positioning and made a few sacrificial plays to get the puck out of the zone. Although the Senators scored on their last two power plays, neither goal was Rinaldo’s fault.
-Tonight was a game of firsts. Sean Couturier, Kimmo Timonen, and Adam Hall all got their first goals of the season. Timonen had three points and was the first star of the game. Couturier played well against the Jason Spezza line and kept the Senators star quiet.
-As always, Steve Mason came up big when called upon. He made a lot of momentum saves and even stopped a penalty shot at a crucial point in the third period. Mason stopped 32-34 shots.