Flyers Down Senators on Sanheim’s OT Winner

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers took a loss on Thursday to a Montreal team that had lost seven straight games. Their response was a blazing fast start against the Ottawa Senators, dominating the first period and taking a two-goal lead. In a matter of minutes, they let it slip away. 

An Ottawa goal with 6:17 to play appeared to be the dagger for the Flyers, but a friendly bounce tied the game and forced overtime. Travis Sanheim scored the game-winning goal at 1:35 of OT, giving the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Senators on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers came out buzzing and turned it into the first goal of the game just over four minutes in. The puck came behind the net and Oskar Lindblom made a backhand, blind pass to the slot for Claude Giroux, who fired it home to make it 1-0 with his 11th of the season at 4:19. The goal was also Giroux's 883rd career point, tying him for second all-time in franchise history with Bill Barber.

Just over three minutes later, Lindblom scored a goal. After a prolonged shift for the Flyers first line, Lindblom hopped on the ice with the Flyers still holding possession and took a pass from Travis Konecny for the one-timer. His shot deflected off of Thomas Chabot's stick and past Anton Forsberg for his third goal of the season at 7:32.

The Flyers continued to control the play for the next several minutes. The Senators didn't record a shot until there was 6:20 remaining in the period. Through 20 minutes, shots were 14-7 Flyers.

The Senators came out to start the second and handed the Flyers a similar style to their first-period dominance. It took just 3:22 for the game to be tied with goals separated by 1:13.

First, Tim Stützle took the puck on a rush and cruised in on goal. From a sharp angle, he beat Martin Jones to make it a 2-1 game at 2:09.

Then, after the Flyers went on a power play, a turnover by Keith Yandle allowed Alex Formenton to go in on a shorthanded breakaway and he scored to tie the game.

The Flyers eventually made a push again late in the period, but the damage was done. Despite continuing to lead in shots, 30-21, through two periods, the game was tied entering the third.

Most of the third period featured rushes to both ends, but Ottawa was getting the better opportunities. They finally capitalized with 6:17 remaining to get their first lead of the night. After a Flyers turnover, the Senators got a clean entry and Artem Zub's point shot beat Jones, making it 3-2.

Just 52 seconds later, the Flyers got another favorable bounce, as Joel Farabee's angle shot hit Chabot and bounced into the net, evening the score up at three with 5:25 to go. That forced a second straight overtime game for the Flyers.

The Flyers controlled the overtime with possession throughout. At 1:35, Cam Atkinson set up Sanheim for the game-winning goal.

Jones made 28 saves in the win. Forsberg made 34 saves in the loss.

Lindblom had a goal and an assist and Konecny had a pair of assists for the Flyers. Formenton had a goal and an assist for the Senators.

The Flyers are scheduled to get back on the ice on Tuesday night to face the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Claude Giroux (11) (Oskar Lindblom) 4:19
• PHI Lindblom (3) (Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov) 7:32

2nd Period

• OTT Tim Stützle (5) (Alex Formenton, Connor Brown) 2:09
• OTT Formenton (6) SH (Unassisted) 3:22

3rd Period

• OTT Artem Zub (2) (Dylan Gambrell, Zach Sanford) 13:43
• PHI Joel Farabee (8) (Sean Couturier, Travis Sanheim) 14:35

Overtime

• PHI Sanheim (2) (Cam Atkinson) 1:35

Game Statistics