Flyers Penalize Senators, 7-4

The Ottawa Senators fell to the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 Wednesday at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. With the loss, the Senators record drops to 1-2-1.

Brady Tkachuk

Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk made his home debut memorable. Tkachuk scored two goals, one assist, four penalty minutes, six shots on goal, and four hits. He did all that damage in 13:45 of ice time. Tkachuk’s first goal of the night was also the first of his NHL career. His second goal was one for the highlight reel. Early in the second period, he burst into the Flyers zone and rocketed a wrist shot past goaltender Calvin Pickard from the top of the circle.

“He had two goals and an assist,” said Senators head coach Guy Boucher. “[He] could have had another one. You know, that was the kid who was drafted because he has those qualities and you saw them tonight”.

Highlights of Tkachuk’s two goals courtesy of NHL.com: https://www.nhl.com/news/philadelphia-flyers-ottawa-senators-game-recap/c-300824812

Packed With Penalties 

A plethora of penalties marked the game. The referees called six penalties in the first period, 11 in the second, and six more in the third. Altogether, there were a total of 23 penalties handed out in 60 minutes of play.

Of note, seven of the 11 penalties in the second period resulted from a all-players brawl in front of the Flyers’ net. The scrum began with Alex Formenton and Andrew MacDonald roughing each other and exchanging heavy cross-checks in front of Pickard.

In total, five of the 11 goals scored in this game came on the power play. The Senators power play went three for seven (42.9 per cent), while the Flyers were two for seven (28.6 per cent).

Frustration

Ottawa fans strongly disliked the goaltender interference call against Ryan Dzingel at 15:04 into the second period. Pickard was well out of his crease when Dzingel ran into him, and Pickard’s helmet dislodged. The call robbed the Senators of a power play, and the Flyers scored shortly thereafter during the four-on-four.

Scott Laughton’s momentum-swinging goal gave the Flyers a 4-3 lead at the end of the second period. Ottawa fans denounced the referee’s judgement with a deafening chorus of boos and chants of, “Ref you suck!”

And on it went. The Senators suffered again when a referee accidentally got into Mark Borowiecki’s way as he raced from the bench to stymie a Jakub Voracek rush. The inadvertent interference gave Voracek time to gain an edge on Borowiecki. Vorecek finished his attack with a hard shot through Craig Anderson’s five hole.

In addition to these two instances against the Senators, there were inconsistencies throughout the game on calls and missed calls for and against both teams.

Snap Shots

• The Flyers successfully bounced back in this game after an 8-2 thrashing in the jaws of the San Jose Sharks Tuesday.
• Pickard secured his first victory as a Flyer in his debut for Philadelphia after being claimed off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 2.
• Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot and Chris Tierney are riding four-game point streaks. Chabot (2G, 4A) and Tierney (1G, 5A) each have six points in their first four games of the season.
• Ottawa needed much more offense from their top-line players in this game. Matt Duchene and Mark Stone were both held off the score sheet.
• The Game’s Official 3 Stars were:
  • 1) Jakub Voracek (2G, 3A), Philadelphia
  • 2) Brady Tkachuk (2G, 1A), Ottawa
  • 3) Claude Giroux (1 G, 1A), Philadelphia
• Honorable mentions of this game from Ottawa include Chris Tierney (3A) and Max Lajoie (2G, 1A), and Radko Gudas (3A) from Philadelphia.
• Up Next: The Senators continue their home-stand as they welcome the Los Angeles Kings to the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

Scoring Summary

Cover Photo Credit: The Canadian Press

Billy Morrison covers the Ottawa Senators and the Atlantic Division for Full Press Coverage. Follow Billy on Twitter @BillyMorrison01.

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