Philly @ Ottawa

[Madferret]

Philly @ Ottawa
Mar 17. 07

(Sports Network) - The Ottawa Senators will aim for their third consecutive victory this evening, when they welcome the lowly Philadelphia Flyers to Scotiabank Place.

The Senators are coming off back-to-back wins over the Rangers and Islanders and have come out on top in three of their last four overall contests. Ottawa is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference standings and trails Pittsburgh by just one point for the No. 4 spot.

The most recent triumph for the Senators came Thursday evening against the visiting Islanders. Ray Emery stopped 28 shots and Joe Corvo and Dean McAmmond each posted a goal and an assist to lead Ottawa to the 5-2 decision at Scotiabank Place.

Antoine Vermette and Mike Comrie added two assists apiece for the Senators, while Chris Kelly, Chris Neil and Jason Spezza also notched goals.

Dany Heatley registered an assist in Thursday's win to extend his point streak to 16 games. Heatley, who has 11 goals and 13 assists during the run, has the second-longest current streak in the NHL, behind Colorado rookie Peter Stastny's 19-gamer.

The Senators are 23-11-3 as the home club this season and wrap up a brief two- game stand this evening.

Meanwhile, the Flyers, who still have the lowest point total in the NHL, are coming off Thursday evening's home win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Stefan Ruzicka recorded the first three-point game of his career, posting a goal and two assists to lead Philadelphia to the 3-2 triumph.

Derian Hatcher ended a personal 125-game goal-less drought and Geoff Sanderson added a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who had lost three of their previous four games.

Netminder Martin Biron was huge for Philadelphia, finishing the game with 37 saves.

The Flyers completed a four-game season sweep of the Thrashers and have won six straight overall in the series.

Philadelphia has a dismal 12-21-4 road record this season and has dropped six of its last seven road games.

The Senators are 3-0 against the Flyers this season and have taken four of the last five encounters in the series. Philadelphia has also dropped back-to-back games at Scotiabank Place and is just 1-4-3 (4 losses, 3 ties) in its last eight trips to Ottawa.

[Madferret]

Senators sweep season series with Flyers

OTTAWA (CP) - Peter Schaefer scored the winning goal as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 Saturday night.

Tom Preissing and Mike Comrie also scored for the Senators (42-23-7).

The win allowed the Senators to sweep the season series over the Flyers 4-0 and move ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins into fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Senators and Penguins face each other Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Mike Richards and Derian Hatcher scored for the Flyers (20-41-11).

Martin Gerber faced 30 shots in picking up the win, while Flyers' goalie Martin Biron stopped 30 shots in the loss.

The Senators opened the scoring at 14:10 of the first as Preissing, who was left all alone next to the crease, tapped in a rebound by Comrie.

The Flyers tied the game just over a minute later as Richards came from behind the net and banged in the puck as he caught Gerber falling backwards.

After battling Mike York behind the net, Comrie was able to pull the puck out and beat Biron with a quick shot to give the Senators a 2-1 lead late in the second. The goal was Comrie's first in 13 games.

The game, played before 19,639, lacked excitement and intensity. Ottawa's ineffective power play was a culprit going 0-for-7.

Dany Heatley also saw his 16-game scoring streak (11-13-24) come to an end.

Notes: Ottawa D Lawrence Nycholat, LW Oleg Saprykin and RW Brian McGrattan were healthy scratches. The Flyers were without D Mike Rathje (back, indefinite), LW Simon Gagne (hip, day-to-day) and RW Scottie Upshall (shoulder, indefinite), while G Robert Esche and D Alexandre Picard were healthy scratches.