Flyers Shut Out Again, 4-0 To Ottawa
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — After dropping five of their first six home games, the Senators seem to have figured out the Canadian Tire Centre.
Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist and Craig Anderson made 36 saves for his second consecutive shutout as Ottawa beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 on Saturday night.
Anderson and the Senators also blanked Columbus 3-0 Thursday and now have consecutive wins while earning at least one point in four straight.
"It was nice to get the win at home and get some momentum at home," said Mika Zibanejad, who had one of the Senators' goals. "I had a good feeling coming to play and it's been a fun atmosphere (the last two games). That's what we want to create here and I think we're getting there."
Steve Mason made 27 saves for the Flyers, who were shut out for the second straight game.
"Being in the right spot at the right time when the puck is coming in and just being patient and not trying to do too much. That's the key," Anderson said.
"We had 25 blocks tonight and we have a lot of guys paying the price and when they don't allow pucks to get to the net that helps me out a lot."
The Senators had a 3-0 lead after two periods on goals by Zibanejad, Hoffman and Milan Michalek before Kyle Turris scored on a rebound at 1:36 of the third period — one second after Ottawa's power play had expired.
The Senators had just one shot and no goals on three power plays while the Flyers had 10 shots on four power plays.
The Flyers were also blanked 1-0 at home by San Jose on Thursday despite outshooting the Sharks 34-21.
Wayne Simmonds had five shots Saturday and says that as a group the Flyers need to get more bodies in front of the net because it's harder to stop what you can't see.
"We have to make it a consistent thing and have traffic 100 percent of the time and not 85 percent of the time. There has to be second and third opportunities. The first shot, if the goalie sees it he's going to stop it. If we don't take his eyes away it's not going to go into the back of the net," Simmonds said.
Zibanejad scored his first goal in 13 games when he tipped Cody Ceci's point shot past Mason with 44 seconds left in the first period to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.
Hoffman doubled that lead at 1:22 of the second period when he converted a 2-on-1 passing play with Bobby Ryan, who created a turnover in his own end to create the rush. Ryan finished the game with two assists.
Michalek put the Senators up 3-0 with 2:35 left in the second when he chipped a puck past Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn at the blue line and then squeezed the puck between Mason's body and right arm.
NOTES: F Shane Prince, D Michael Kostka and D Patrick Wiercioch were scratches for the Senators. ... For the Flyers, F Vincent Lacavalier and D Evgeny Medvedev were scratches. ... The Senators began the day having allowed the most shots against per game at 34.2. The Flyers were second at 33.1. ... Nick Schultz played his 100th game as a Flyer while Luke Schenn played his 200th with Philadelphia. ... The Flyers are 1-7-4 this season in games they allow the first goal.
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