Senators 2 at Flyers 0
The Ottawa Senators didn’t exactly break out of their offensive slump Thursday night, but they did just enough to beat the equally anemic Philadelphia Flyers.
Brian Elliott made 22 saves in his second NHL shutout and Nick Foligno and Jesse Winchester scored third-period goals to give Ottawa a 2-0 victory over the slumping Flyers.
Foligno took a wrist shot from just above the circle and then put his rebound past diving goalie Brian Boucher with 8:29 left. Boucher had smothered another drive by Foligno a few minutes earlier.
“I just kept going to the net and making opportunities,” Foligno said. “I was happy to put that one home.”
Winchester sealed the victory with a short-handed, empty-net goal in the final minute. The Senators scored 12 goals in their previous five games, earning their lone win in a shootout against Anaheim.
It was the first shutout this season for the Senators (15-11), who have two wins in their past six games.
“It feels pretty good,” Elliot said. “We didn’t have a lot of Grade-A scoring chances. We had a lot of shots from outside. To bang one of those in and finally get a bounce and be able to hold them off through power plays and blocking shots. You can’t tell how many times guys are blocking shots. Those are the types of things that win you games.”
The Flyers (14-14) were blanked for the third time in six games. They are 1-3 under new coach Peter Laviolette, who replaced the fired John Stevens a week ago after Philadelphia’s two consecutive shutout losses.
“There was a shot, I poked the rebound away and the guy came and I poked it as he was coming in,” Boucher said of the winning goal. “It rode up my stick and up, over, bounced and over my glove. It’s frustrating for the team right now. We need wins and we’re not getting it.”
Philadelphia, which lost six of seven before the coaching change, has scored only 11 goals in seven games. Six of those came in a 6-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
“We’re playing hard,” forward Scott Hartnell said. “We’re skating well. Compared to last game, we weren’t getting the shots through. We had a couple whacks where their D-men would block us.
“That’s just not bearing down enough and getting in front of the net and getting to the hard areas. We have to do a better job, and need to get those greasy goals. It’s not going to be tic-tac-toe, and in practice we need to get our nails dirty, get in there.”
Thrashers 2 at Canucks 4
Daniel Sedin scored the Canucks’ first three goals in a win over Atlanta.
Maple Leafs 2 at Bruins 5
Mark Recchi scored twice in the final three minutes, and Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots for the Bruins, who opened a three-goal lead and held on to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Penguins 3 at Canadiens 2
Pascal Dupuis scored on a slap shot 13:21 into the third period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves as Pittsburgh stopped the Canadiens’ three-game winning streak.
Blue Jackets 3 at Predators 4 (SO)
Steve Sullivan scored the winning goal in the fifth round of the shootout to lift Nashville over Columbus.
Coyotes 2 at Kings 3 (SO)
Oscar Moller and Jack Johnson scored first-period goals, Justin Williams scored in the eighth round of a shootout, and the Kings capitalized on the absence of suspended Phoenix defenceman Ed Jovanovski.