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 Blanked on four previous shootout tries this year, Spezza scored
the only goal in the tiebreaker against the Philadelphia Flyers,
giving Ottawa a 5-4 victory that snapped its home losing streak at
five games.
"You take pride in that stuff and I was glad the coach stuck with
me," said Spezza. "I got the chance and I put it in."
Goalie Craig Anderson took care of the rest, stopping all three
shots in the shootout. The Senators (11-14-5) are now 1-4 in
shootouts while the Flyers (13-14-2) fell to 1-2 in shootouts.
Winger Clarke MacArthur scored two goals for the Senators, and
center Kyle Turris and defenseman Patrick Wiercioch added goals.
"We had to get a win here and that was great," said MacArthur, whose
team left after the game for a meeting with Buffalo Tuesday — the
first of a home-and-home set against the lowly Sabres. "This is a
great week for us to get some wins and build on something here.
"It's like we were really going to have to earn one to get one,"
added MacArthur. "We fought through some tough luck and maybe some
of the bounces will start going our way now."
Wingers Michael Raffl and Jakub Voracek and defensemen Luke Schenn
and Kimmo Timonen scored for the Flyers.
Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason made 30 saves in regulation and
overtime. Anderson stopped 25 shots, including a bit of larceny off
of Flyers center Claude Giroux late in regulation. Anderson appeared
to be down and out but Giroux couldn't take advantage.
"I fanned on it," said Giroux. "Just couldn't get it past him."
The Flyers won the two previous games between the teams this season
by a combined score of 10-2.
Third-period goals six minutes apart by MacArthur and Turris erased
a 3-2 deficit, but Timonen tied the game with 9:02 left in
regulation, taking a wrist shot from the point that Anderson did not
see. It was the second goal of the season for Timonen, who scored
the game-winner the last time the clubs met.
MacArthur's second of the night just 2:21 into the third period tied
the game. A shot by winger Bobby Ryan was stopped by Mason, but the
rebound went in off MacArthur's leg.
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Turris scored his seventh of the season when he fired a wrist
shot from the side boards that went in off a Flyer who was
focused on Senators defenseman Jared Cowen, who was charging to
the net.
"It's nice to get a point, but any time you go into the third
with the lead it's tough to settle for one point," said Giroux.
Wiercioch scored his second of the season, and second in three
games, to break a 1-1 tie with the Senators on a power play at
9:30 of the middle period. However, the Flyers recovered
quickly.
First, it was Voracek, who ended a 12-game slump with his fourth
of the year while Philadelphia enjoyed a man advantage at 11:43.
Schenn notched his second of the season just 1:50 later, firing
a shot from the side boards that slipped past a screened
Anderson.
The Senators gave up the first goal for the 22nd time in 31
games when Raffl took advantage of a rebound off a skate to
slide a shot past Anderson at 8:18 of the opening period.
MacArthur knotted the score 2:19 later on a breakaway. It was
the 10th goal for MacArthur, who didn't score in his first 11
games of the season.
Senators defenseman played 29:14 and, while he only had one
assist, presented a going concern for the Flyers.
"He's such an elite skater," said Schenn. "It's like they have a
fourth forward out there all the time."
NOTES: The goal scored by Flyers LW Michael Raffl in the opening
period was his first in the NHL. The 25-year-old Austrian
entered the contest with two assists in 17 career games. ...
Senators LW Mike Hoffman, who was called up last week from the
Binghamton Senators when he was the second-leading scorer in the
AHL, was in the press box as a healthy scratch. ... The Flyers
recalled LW Tie McGinn from AHL Adirondack earlier in the day,
but he did not suit up for the game. McGinn, who should stick
with the team while C Vincent Lecvallier recovers from a
displaced fracture in his back, has three goals in six games for
the Flyers this season.
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