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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) – Mike Richards notched a pair of goals and totaled three points as Philadelphia remained hot with a 5-1 decision over Ottawa.
Claude Giroux added a goal and two helpers for the Flyers, who have taken seven straight games at home and nine of their last 10 overall.
Danny Briere and Darroll Powe also tallied to back a 28-save performance from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Jason Spezza had the lone goal for the Senators, who have dropped two of three since winning four in a row. Brian Elliott, who twice shut out Philadelphia and won all of his three starts against the Flyers last season, was torched for five goals on 46 shots in the loss.
The Flyers’ captain was instrumental in turning a one-goal lead into the deciding four-goal margin.
Despite fanning on his centering feed, Richards’ pass from the right circle into the slot was quickly whipped into the net by Giroux for a power-play goal and 3-1 Philly lead with 1:29 left in the second.
On a Senators power play, Richards took the puck away from Sergei Gonchar at the point and raced the length of the ice before beating Elliott with a backhander under the crossbar for a 4-1 Flyers edge at 6:13 of the third period.
He then followed up a broken play 90 seconds later and beat a prone Elliott from a sharp angle along the goal line to the right of the Ottawa net to give the home team a four-goal edge.
The Flyers opened the scoring at the 8:43 mark of the opening period, when Briere was alone in front to tip home an Andrej Meszaros point blast.
Ottawa responded at 10:40, when Spezza managed to get a rolling puck past Bobrovsky from the right circle, but the home team moved ahead a little over a minute later when Kimmo Timonen’s left-point shot was tipped in by Powe.
Philadelphia improved to 11-0 this season when leading after two periods…Richards’ assist on Giroux’s goal was his 300th NHL point. Coupled with his two-goal game on Saturday, it marked the second time in his career he registered back-to-back multi-goal contests. The first occurrence was November 29-December 2, 2008…Flyers forward Dan Carcillo suffered a lower-body injury in the second period and did not return…Alex Kovalev’s assist on Spezza’s goal gave him 999 points.
(Sports Network) - Having earned at least a point in nine straight games, the Philadelphia Flyers try to stretch their home winning streak to seven consecutive contests tonight, but will do so at the Wells Fargo Center against an Ottawa Senators club that has picked up four victories in a row on the road.
The Flyers are 8-0-1 since their last regulation loss on Oct. 25 and lead the Atlantic Division with 24 points. The defending Eastern Conference champions had a six-game win streak end with an overtime loss in Washington on Nov. 7, but bounced back with an 8-1 win at Carolina on Thursday before Saturday's 5-2 home triumph over Florida.
On the day that forward Jeff Carter signed a multi-year contract extension worth a reported $58 million over 11 seasons, captain Mike Richards and Claude Giroux both stayed hot with two goals each, while rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves and earned his first NHL point with an assist.
Giroux has six goals and seven assists over Philadelphia's nine-game point run, while Richards has five goals in his last five games. He has six goals and 12 points in 17 career games versus the Senators.
"I see Richards' confidence building. He was really flying out there [Saturday]," noted Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "He was a noticeable player. He had a lot of speed in his game, a lot of attack too. I thought his line was very good, they had a nice flow."
Philadelphia is 7-3-0 at home this season and hasn't lost at the WFC since Oct. 21.
Forward Andreas Nodl left Saturday's game with a foot injury after blocking a shot. X-rays were negative, but he did not practice on Sunday and his status for this game is unknown.
Bobrovsky has started each game during Philadelphia's point streak and has a 1.79 goals-against average in that span. Owner of 10 wins already this year, he figures to face Ottawa for the first time in his brief NHL career tonight.
If anyone can cool off the Flyers, its Senators goaltender Brian Elliott, who is 4-0-0 with a 0.84 GAA against them. He has stopped 93-of-96 shots in his career when facing Philadelphia and has shut out the club twice.
Elliott picked up his seventh career shutout and first since blanking the Flyers on March 23 as he stopped all 31 shots faced in Saturday's 2-0 win over the Bruins.
Daniel Alfredsson picked up his team-leading seventh goal of the season and first in seven games, while Erik Karlsson also scored for the Sens, who bounced back from Thursday's 6-2 home loss to the Canucks to win for the fifth time in six games.
Defenseman Filip Kuba made his season debut after suffering a broken leg in September.
"I think just from all angles I think we did a good job," said Elliott. "They really didn't have any great opportunities and the ones that they did we were all over them in the slot and we just protected the house really well."
Ottawa won the opener of a four-game road trip and hasn't lost as the visiting club since Oct. 18.
The Senators also played with heavy hearts on Saturday after learning that assistant coach Luke Richardson's 14-year-old daughter Daron passed away from injuries sustained from a suicide attempt. Richardson was not with the team on Saturday.
Richardson spent five of his 21 NHL seasons as a player with the Flyers and his final two with the Senators.
Ottawa took three of four from Philadelphia a season ago and has won five of six and seven of the last 10 meetings between the clubs. The Sens have lost four of their last six in the City of Brotherly Love, though.
Alfredsson has a goal and six assists in his last seven games against the Flyers.
Highlights Of Flyers 5-1 Win Over Ottawa Senators
Nov 15 10:36p by Jason Brewer - 0 comments