Philadelphia, PA – Colin Greening scored the game-winner late in the third period to help the Ottawa Senators snap a five-game skid with a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at Wells Fargo Center.
Zack Smith and Daniel Alfredsson each scored once, while Robin Lehner posted 24 saves for the Senators, who have 46 points on the season.
"It's something we almost felt was coming because I think that we've been playing pretty good the last few games and we stuck with it tonight," Alfredsson said. "It's two really important points for us."
With the victory, Ottawa kept pace with the New York Islanders, who defeated Boston on Thursday, and are in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference.
Claude Giroux scored the lone Philadelphia goal and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 31 shots for the Flyers, who have lost three straight to fall seven points back of the New York Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East with eight games remaining.
"All losses are tough," Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette said. "We are in the business of winning hockey games. Not getting that done is frustrating."
With the game locked at 1-1 late in the third, Giroux caught Mike Zibanejad with a high stick and drew blood, resulting in a four-minute double minor against the Philadelphia captain at the 13:53 mark.
"I tried to lift his stick and he moved his stick and it hit him in the face," Giroux recalled. "Stuff like that, it's gonna happen. Obviously it's not good timing but stuff like that's going to happen."
Ottawa quickly capitalized on the ensuing man-advantage, as Patrick Wiercioch's long pass sprang Greening down the right wing before the Ottawa winger skated into the right circle and rifled a wrister that beat Bryzgalov high to the short-side to make it 2-1 at the 14:24 mark.
Philadelphia applied pressure in the closing minutes after Bryzgalov headed to the bench in favor of an extra attacker, but Lehner kept the Flyers from finding the equalizer before Alfredsson potted an empty-netter with seven seconds left to account for the final margin.
The Senators struck first just over three minutes in when a bad line change from the Flyers allowed Smith to spring free on a breakaway and the Ottawa center beat Bryzgalov with a backhand to make it 1-0 at the 3:20 mark.
A roughing penalty against Jay Rosehill at the 10:22 mark gave Ottawa a prime opportunity to double its lead, but it was the Flyers who broke through while shorthanded, as Simon Gagne recovered his own pass in the slot and threw a quick turnaround on net that Giroux re-directed past Lehner to knot the game at the 11:44 mark.
Game Notes
Ottawa improved to 7-11-3 on the road while the Flyers fell to 12-6-2 at home ... The Flyers beat the Senators 2-1 on March 2 in their only other meeting this season ... Ottawa went 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Flyers failed on both of their opportunities with the man advantage.
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