It had the makings of a barn-burner early on as  Mike Lundin was nailed by Harry Zolnierczyk and knocked out of the game midway through the first period.  Ottawa had their chances, with 34 shots, but were missing the deft touch that would otherwise allow them to score more goals.

If you are looking at the game from the Sens’ point of view, you have to be very discouraged with the way the game was officiated from the start.  Scrums where no penalties were called were commonplace, and Daniel Alfredsson‘s major was not worthy of such a call.  In the end, the Sens have to brush this one aside and move on to Long Island tomorrow afternoon.

March 2, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Ottawa Senators defenseman Eric Gryba (62) checks Philadelphia Flyers center Danny Briere (48) during the second period at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

GAME RECAP

Ottawa dominated early on, with a couple of great scoring chances by Kyle Turris and Chris Neil in the opening minute.  Ottawa continued to take most of the play, until a poor pass in the Ottawa end by Patrick Wiercioch gave Max Talbot a clear shot, but he was robbed by the big glove hand of Bishop.  Mike Lundin got caught in the trolley tracks and was leveled by Zolnierczyk, but the contact was to the head and the Flyer got a major for charging and a game miscoduct, as Lundin left the game, most likely with a concussion.  Kaspars Daugavins squared off with Zac Rinaldo on the same stoppage, but Kaspars Daugavins was fighting out of his league on that one, but give him credit for stepping up.  Ottawa’s power play was disrupted by a too many men call, and after the 4 on 4  Alfredsson had a nice deflection but was turned away.  Dave Dziurzynski set up Erik Condra in alone but Ilya Bryzgalov stopped it, although he wasn’t sure he had it and looked behind himself.  The Flyers had a last minute flurry and came close but Bishop was Bryzgalov’s equal.  Through 20 scrambly minutes from both teams, the game remained scoreless.

One of the hottest players in the NHL, Voracek fought off Eric Gryba and drove the net and slipped the puck past Bishop for the game’s first goal, 7:24 into the second.  Wayne Simmonds doubled the lead after being stood up by  Wiercioch at the Flyers blue line, and he beat the Senators blueliner into the Ottawa zone and took a pass from Danny Briere and slipped it through Bishop’s legs.  After killing off a Flyers power play, Marc Methot‘s shot with no traffice somehow got through Bryzgalov and brought the Sens within one on his first goal as a Senator.

The third period saw both teams enjoying power play opportunities.  Check that, because there wasn’t much enjoyable about the Sens power plays as they failed to click yet again.  A scrum saw Alfredsson’s afternoon end early with a cross-checking major and a game misconduct after he came to the aid of Chris Phillips who was hit by Rinaldo.  After Rinaldo’s penalty expired, Erik Condra took a high sticking penalty, giving the  Flyers a full 2 minutes 5 on 3.  They did a good job in killing it off, but once the penalties were over they had less than 3 minutes left to try and get the equalizer.  Ottawa got a late power play and had 45 seconds of 6-on-4 to try and knot the game up. Wiercioch had a few chances on both slap shots and easy wristers and came very close, but to no avail.

OBSERVATIONS

• Zolnierczyk will likely face supplementary discipline after his hit on Lundin.  Don’t expect a similar call for Alfredsson, as that was a very weak major call that really took the game away from the Sens.
• Ottawa needs to tighten up defensively, and that means everyone.  One of the things they need to get much better at is getting it past the blue line when they get it within a few feet.  I have lost count the number of turnovers they have committed within 5 feet of getting it out.  This leads to more defensive zone time, more shots against and the greater opportunity for penalties against. This was the third straight game that Ottawa allowed 40+ shots, a difficult thing to overcome when you are so offensively challenged.

SENSHOT’S PLAYER OF THE GAME

Bishop continued the trend of Ottawa goalies giving their team a chance to win every game.  When Jason Spezza and then Erik Karlsson went down, you knew there was going to be lots of games like this, and that the Senators would end up on the short end of them.  Bishop was stellar, making 39 saves and was instrumental in killing the full 5-on-3 and keeping his team in the game.

UP NEXT

Ottawa gets right back at it as the 5 game road trip reaches its midway point with another afternoon game on Sunday, at 3:00 pm against the Islanders.  It could be just what the doctor ordered for the Sens, who have traditionally dominated New York over the years.

February 23, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the New Jersey Devils in the second period at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

1. Alex Ovechkin had three goals and an assist as he put up almost half of his season’s output in one game as the Capitals beat the Devils 5-1.  Washington scored 4 in the third to break open a 1-1 tie after Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk had exchanged 2nd period goals.   Eric Fehr and Troy Brouwer scored the other Washington goals.  Johan Hedberg made the start for the Devils and allowed the 5 goals on 26 shots as Martin Brodeur was given the day off.
2. The Flyers overcame a 3-1 Winnipeg lead and scored 4 unanswered to down the Jets 5-3.  Brayden Schenn led the charge with two goals and an assist, while his linemate Jakub Voracek solidified his stake for the NHL’s first star of the week with 3 assists.  Voracek has three-3 point games this week, and has 11 points in 4 games this week. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Zac Rinaldo provided the other Flyers goals, while Evander Kane, Olli Jokinen and Alexander Burmistrov had given the Jets the two goal lead just past the midway point of the game, but could not hang on. Simmonds added an assist and also fought Chris Thorburn for the first of two Gordie Howe hat tricks of the day.
3. Mike Smith and Nikolai Khabibulin put on a goaltending clinic as they stopped 75 of 79 combined shots, but Jordan Eberle and Sam Gagner scored in the shootout as Edmonton beat the Coyotes 3-2.  Eberle and Teemu Hartikainen scored to force extra time after Kyle Chipchura and Matthew Lombardi had put Phoenix up 2-0.  Smith made 41 saves but Khabibulin made 34, and also stopped both shooters he faced to get the win.
4. Gabriel Landeskog returned to the Avalanche lineup and recorded an assist, but it wasn’t enough as the Kings scored a 4-1 win.  Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, Trevor Lewis and Anze Kopitar bulged the twine for LA, while Milan Hejduk scored the Colorado goal.  LA has quietly clawed their way back into the playoff race, and sit in 10th, but only one point out of 6th with at least 1 game in hand on all the teams in front of them.
5. On the day that Rick DiPietro was sent to the minors, Evgeni Nabokov made 35 saves for the shutout as the Islanders beat the Sabres 4-0.  Mark Streit, Michael Grabner, John Tavares and Colin McDonald provided the scoring for the Islanders, who knocked the Sabres into the Eastern Conference basement as Buffalo moved to 0-2 since the firing of Lindy Ruff.
6. Carey Price made just 17 saves for the shutout as the Canadiens beat the struggling Rangers 3-0.  Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller and Eric Cole each had a goal and an assist for the Habs, who come to Ottawa Monday night.  Henrik Lundqvist got the night off for the Rangers, who are winless since Rick Nash went down with an undisclosed injury.
7. Richard Panik scored his first NHL goal as part of Tampa’s 5-2 downing of the Hurricanes.  Mathieu Garon won the battle of the backups, making 32 saves while Dan Ellis was the victim of 5 goals on 39 shots taking the loss.  Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, who also got goals from Marc-Andre Bergeron, Taylor Pyatt and Benoit Pouliot.  Chad Larose had a goal and an assist and Drayson Bowman had the other for the Canes, who dropped from the 3rd seed to the 10th seed in the East as Tampa took over the Southeast division lead.
8. Jimmy Howard made 33 saves for the shutout and Niklas Kronwall had a goal and 2 assists to pace the Red Wings to a 4-0 win over the Predators. Drew Miller, Tomas Tatar and Dan Cleary had the other Detroit goals, as the Wings victimized Pekka Rinne for 4 goals on 27 shots, just the second time he has allowed 4 in a game this season.
9. Chris Stewart and David Perron scored for the Blues and Jaroslav Halak made 19 saves in their 2-1 win over Columbus.  Matt Calvert‘s shorthanded goal was the only blemish on Halak, who has allowed only 2 goals in 2+ games since returning from injury and righting the St. Louis goaltending ship.
10. Joe Thornton fought for the second time in 4 games as the sinking Sharks lost again, this time 3-1 to the Stars.  Jamie Benn was the combatant for Thornton, as part of his Gordie Howe Hat Trick, adding a goal and an assist.  Jaromir Jagr and Michael Ryeder had the other Dallas goals while Patrick Marleau replied for San Jose.  The Sharks have won just once in their last 10 games after winning their first 7.
11. Two Matt Stajan goals in the third period was the difference as the Flames upended the Wild 3-1.  Alex Tanguay and Charlie Coyle had exchanged first period goals and the game stood tied until Stajan broke it 7:19 into the third and then added the empty netter to seal the deal.   Joey MacDonald made 30 saves in the Flames net, while Dany Heatley was -3 with 1 shot on goal for the losing Wild.

There are 8 games on Sunday, meaning 10 teams will be in the second half of back-to-backs as the schedule picks up.  Chicago will attempt to extend their points streak to 18 games in the battle of First vs Worst in the west as they face the last place Blue Jackets.  Check back tomorrow for a complete recap.