It’s been an emotional stretch over the last week for the Ottawa Senators. Each of their last three games has been as close as can be: back-to-back overtime wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers, followed by a game that looked like it was going past regulation only for the Detroit Red Wings’ apparent game-tying goal to cross the line a hair late.
You would think a team playing two games that went beyond 60 minutes and another that saw them surrender 49 shots might be exhausted, especially after an international flight for a second game in 24 hours at the Wells Fargo Center against the Philadelphia Flyers. But the Senators received an early jolt when Brady Tkachuk buried a wide-open one-timer off a slick feed from longtime Flyer Claude Giroux to start the scoring just 24 seconds into the game.
Philadelphia did offer some resistance, tying the game on two occasions. But the Senators extended their win streak to four with a 5-2 win on the road, creating a sliver of separation in the Eastern Conference wild card race.
Game Recap
Tkachuk’s opening goal also ticked off a couple of milestones for the Senators captain. The 25-year-old reached the 400-point mark with the goal, which puts him 11 away from 200 and one above Marian Hossa to claim fourth place on the Senators’ all-time goal leaderboard. Tkachuk also passed Radek Bonk for most points in Ottawa history, moving into sixth place, and needs just 10 more to tie Wade Redden for fifth.
However, after the early fireworks, things quieted considerably. The teams combined for just 10 shots after the opening-minute goal and there was not a single high-danger chance at 5-on-5 for either team, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Flyers did have a couple during a power play but could not light the lamp either time.
The Flyers found their legs early in the second period, though. After Tyson Foerster was denied on a deflection try off an excellent cycle, a similar passing play resulted in the equalizing goal when Jamie Drysdale cut through the middle and slipped a backhander through Anton Forsberg.
But Ottawa wasted virtually no time to respond. Tyler Kleven barely managed to hold a bank pass in at the left point but settled the puck down and zipped a seeing-eye wrist shot that Ivan Fedotov could not find until it hit the back of the net. It was Kleven’s first goal in exactly two months and just his third of the season, but it came at a very timely 71 seconds after Drysdale’s equalizer.
Yet, that wasn’t enough for the Senators to take control of the contest. The Flyers’ fourth line delivered a strong offensive zone shift and were rewarded when Cam York jumped off the bench and found Rodrigo Abols for a one-time goal from the left circle. Ottawa nearly had another lightning-fast counter when Tkachuk corralled a bouncing puck for a breakaway a minute later, but Fedotov sprawled out to stop his forehand move.
But that good work went away just after the Flyers finished a strong penalty kill late in the period. Michael Amadio drove wide at the blue line and somehow snuck a low shot through Fedotov to give Ottawa its third goal of the game. It was about as untimely of a goal as one could allow, and it held as the difference-making goal at the end of two periods.
That loomed even larger when Sean Couturier couldn’t finish a 3-on-1 passing play that developed after a failed 4-on-2 rush for Ottawa the other way early in the third period. Forsberg made 20 saves on the night, but the biggest one came from Matthew Highmore, who raced back into the play and robbed Couturier of what would’ve been his 11th goal of the season.
The Senators got another good bounce at the other end of the ice just over halfway through the period when a Flyer breakout pass hit the leg of Ryan Poehling and caromed back to an open Dylan Cozens. Ottawa’s biggest deadline prize scored his second goal in three games with the club with a top-shelf wrister to give Ottawa a convincing 4-2 lead. Shane Pinto missed a wide-open empty-net look that prolonged putting the game away for a few extra minutes but didn’t miss on a second chance to pot his 15th goal of the season to end any lingering suspense.
Ottawa will still be busy the rest of the week, although they return home on Thursday to face the Boston Bruins before a potential playoff preview Battle of Ontario on Saturday night. The Flyers limp toward the end of their nightmare seven-game homestand with two very tough games as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
