The Ottawa Senators got a grand total of two shots in the third period on Tuesday night and scored on both of them to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 at Wells Fargo Center.
Dylan Cozens’ unassisted third period goal provided the insurance dagger. He now has three points in three games since being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres.
With Linus Ullmark getting a complete night off, Anton Forsberg made 20 saves to secure the victory.
The Senators wasted no time getting on the board, scoring just seconds into the game. With defenders losing track of Brady Tkachuk, who’s generally a pretty noticeable presence out there, all eyes were focused on Claude Giroux. Left open at the side of the net, Tkachuk one-timed a Giroux pass and beat Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov for the first goal of the game.
The scoring continued early in the first period, as a pair of young defencmen, Jamie Drysdale and Tyler Kleven, exchanged goals within the first two minutes.
Philadelphia tied things up again at 8:45 of the second period when Rodrigo Abols found the back of the net, beating Anton Forsberg. However, the Senators regained the lead late in the period when Michael Amadio fired a bad-angle wrist shot along the ice, sneaking it through Fedotov’s legs to make it 3-2 Ottawa heading into the third.
With the Flyers pressing for the equalizer in the third, Matthew Highmore made one of the saves of the season. Sean Couturier was wide open at the side of the net with an easy goal in sight, but Highmore lunged with his stick, managing to get his blade on the puck and knock it away. It was Highmore’s turnover that had started the Flyers’ odd man rush in the first place.
Cozens then put the game away, taking advantage of a turnover and wristing one past Fedotov with just under nine minutes to play. Shane Pinto had an empty netter to close out a 5-2 win. The Sens had 11 different point-getters in the contest.
For now, Ottawa holds a five-point lead over the New York Rangers, who are the best of the non-playoff teams. The Sens also open up a three point lead on the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild-card spot after the Jackets fell 5-3 to the New Jersey Devils. As of this writing, the Rangers were trailing the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 late in the second period.
The Senators are back in action on Thursday night when they host the Boston Bruins.
By Steve Warne
Site Editor
The Hockey News Ottawa
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