Game Report: Flyers Run the Sens Out of Town 5 – 1
Your Ottawa Senators forgot they had a game tonight and watched the Philadelphia Flyers light up Brian Elliott for five goals on their way to their eighth loss of the season. After their big win against the Boston Bruins, Ottawa came out with no intensity and did not play the team game that makes them successful.
There were a few positives from tonight’s game:
Brian Elliott was pretty much the only Senator who decided he wanted to win this game. With the Sens being outshot 46 – 29, Elliott was left to fend for himself most of the game. Not having a chance on any of the goals, Elliott faced 14 or more shots each period with heavy traffic in front of him. Look for Elliott to bounce back against Carolina on Wednesday night.
Jason Spezza scored his fifth of the season against Philly, which was the only one to sneak by Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Playing over 18 minutes, winning over 57% of his face-offs, and having four shots on net, Spezza was the only Sen providing a shred of offence.
The most glaring problems the Sens had tonight were with the 2nd line, discipline and Erik Karlsson.
The 2nd line of Milan Michalek, Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson were a combined minus-5 with a grand total of two shots on net. This line hasn’t been producing for awhile and Clouston finally split them up as Fisher was bumped from the line. Look for Clouston to experiment with his line combos to find a winning combination.
Discipline was a major factor in tonight’s loss as the Sens took 5 penalties against the 7th ranked powerplay in the league. Even though Philly only scored on one of those powerplays, the penalties took away any momentum Ottawa was trying to generate.
Erik Karlsson played a horrible game tonight. A minus-2 tonight, Karlsson took three consecutive penalties in the second period in a span of 9:43. Even though he had a rough game, Karlsson still played almost 22 minutes and had two shots on net.
The Sens seemed to check out of this game after the third goal was scored. In the third period, the Senators just went through the motions to get this game over as quickly as possible and get out of dodge. Hopefully this game was a one-off and the Senators get back on their game on Wednesday night against Carolina.
***Three Stars***
First Star: Mike Richards – dominated the game with two goals ( one shorthanded) and an assist.
Second Star: Claude Giroux – earns it with a goal and two assists.
Third Star: Brian Elliott – earns it with a 41 save performance and for actually showing up to compete.
Ottawa has a winnable game against Carolina on Wednesday night. They need to come out a blow them away as Carolina has only won four times in their last ten games. Carolina does allow a ton of goals, but they can score too. So Ottawa will need to be on their game.
‘Til next time, GO SENS GO!!!!!
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