Senators win, keep Flyers reeling
PHILADELPHIA -- Sensing their season slipping away, the Ottawa Senators rebounded with a clutch effort that just about finished off the Philadelphia Flyers.
Colin Greening scored a power-play goal with 5:36 remaining to help the Senators snap a five-game losing streak and beat the Flyers 3-1 at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night.
Ottawa (20-14-6) remained tied with the New York Islanders for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
Zack Smith also scored a goal, Daniel Alfredsson added an empty-netter and Robin Lehner made 24 saves for the Senators.
"We played a really good road game," Alfredsson said. "The five-on-five, we were pretty solid. The special teams, too. It's something we almost felt was coming because I think that we've been playing pretty good the last few games and we stuck with it tonight. And it's two really important points for us."
The Flyers (17-20-3) have lost three in a row and are seven points behind the York Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East. With only eight games remaining, the Flyers may need to win out to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
"We are in the business of winning hockey games. Not getting that done is frustrating," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.
Claude Giroux scored Philadelphia's only goal. But the captain was in the penalty box when Greening scored after being whistled for a double minor for high sticking.
"To get to playoffs, you gotta win games and right now we're not winning games," Giroux said. "So we've gotta find a way to win those games."
Greening slipped behind Philadelphia's defense, took a long pass from Patrick Wiercioch, skated in on Ilya Bryzgalov and fired a shot into the top corner to give the Senators a 2-1 lead.
Despite the loss, Bryzgalov was outstanding for Philadelphia. He made 31 saves.
Afterward, he dismissed a report that he was benched earlier in the week for sleeping during a team meeting.
"You know guys, to be honest, I don't know where you get this information," he said. "That was never happening. You've got to do your job better. I'm only pointing at guys who were involved in this because it's really embarrassing and you have to be better. Step up, guys. Prove your information, find a reliable source."
Smith gave the Senators a 1-0 lead 3:20 into the game when he took a centering pass from Marc Methot, broke in alone on Bryzgalov and beat him with a forehand-backhand move.
Giroux tied it at 1-1 later in the first, scoring a short-handed goal on a backhanded deflection of a shot by Simon Gagne.
For the seventh time this season, the Flyers lost in regulation after being tied going into the third period.
Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau made his NHL debut and found himself on the ice in crunch time at the end. He helped set up Alfredsson's goal.
"Yeah I was surprised a little bit," he said. "I was just trying to play hard at the end and don't disappoint him and make sure I was doing the team right and put the puck out of the zone and finally had a good bounce and (Alfredsson) did great work to put it in."
NOTES: The injury-depleted Flyers could get forward Danny Briere (concussion) back in the lineup this weekend. ... The Flyers and Senators meet again the final day of the regular season April 27. ... Philadelphia faced a Canadian team for the fourth time in five games. ... Giroux's goal was his fourth shorthanded and the second for the Flyers this season. It was the first allowed by Ottawa this season. ... The Senators have two games left on their seven-game road trip.
