Laughton’s Quick Response Lifts Flyers Over Senators

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Just like in their meeting on Nov. 15, the Flyers got an early start to the scoring on the Ottawa Senators. As the game progressed, it started to look a lot like the first game. A 2-1 lead and 3-2 lead both vanished off opportune goals and the Flyers were left with five minutes in the third to try to regroup and get a win.

A chippy and physical game ended in victory for the Flyers, as Scott Laughton scored just 11 seconds after the Senators tied the game at three to lift the Flyers to a 4-3 win over Ottawa on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers wasted no time getting on the board. A shot by Claude Giroux was deflected by Morgan Frost and the tip went right to Travis Konecny at the side of the net. He was able to bury the loose puck to give the Flyers the lead with his 11th goal of the season.

Ottawa tied the game back up at one at 4:27. Jean-Gabriel Pageau cycled the puck behind the net and centered to Brady Tkachuk for the tap-in, his 10th goal of the season.

On a delayed penalty call, the Flyers got the lead back at 6:16. James van Riemsdyk sent the puck from behind the net and up the wall for Tyler Pitlick. It hit off of Pitlick's skate and deflected to Shayne Gostisbehere, who fired a blast that beat Craig Anderson to make it 2-1 Flyers.

Just seconds later, the Flyers appeared to score again as Oskar Lindblom directed a puck from behind the net that spun toward the goal, off of Anderson's glove and in. Ottawa challenged for offside and the call was overturned, keeping the score at 2-1. Anderson, who returned from injury just three days ago, left the game after the play with an injured. Anders Nilsson replaced him in goal.

The game started to turn physical late. Mark Borowiecki caught Konecny with a high hit in the neutral zone, sending Konecny to the ice in a heap. He exited for the locker room and did not return to the game. Following the hit to Konecny, the two teams started to deliver more hits and finally Jake Voracek and Nick Paul dropped the gloves at center ice in a fight.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 9-6 Ottawa.

The second period started with more animosity between the two teams. Laughton put a hit on Pageau that led to a scrum. Away from the scrum. Pageau and Joel Farabee dropped the gloves.

For most of the period, Ottawa controlled play but didn't generate many shots until the final 10 minutes. When the Flyers got a chance to extend the lead with a power play, it was the Senators that took advantage of a miscue. Carter Hart controlled the puck and went to drop a pass back to Gostisbehere to start a rush up ice, but Anthony Duclair swooped in and stole the pass and scored on a wraparound for a shorthanded goal, tying the game at two.

Through two periods, Ottawa had a 20-14 lead in shots.

Early in the third, the Flyers re-gained the lead off a rush. Farabee made a nice lead pass to Ivan Provorov, who walked in and fired a shot past Nilsson. It was Provorov's seventh goal of the season, matching his total from last season.

The Flyers carried the lead through most of the third, including an Ottawa power play. With five minutes left, Ottawa finally capitalized on a chance. Duclair finished his second of the game, going upstairs on Hart to tie the game at three.

Just 11 seconds later, the Flyers were back in front. Kevin Hayes took a shot that Nilsson stopped, but the rebound went right to Laughton for the goal, making it 4-3 Flyers with 4:49 remaining.

The Flyers were able to hold on for the remainder of the game. With 24.5 seconds left, Tkachuk took a pair of penalties for cross-checking and roughing as he went after Laughton. 

Hart finished with 27 saves on 30 shots in the win. Nilsson made 13 saves on 15 shots in the defeat. Anderson had stopped four of six shots before exiting with injury.

Laughton was the only Flyer to finish with a multi-point game, a goal and an assist. 

The Flyers get back on the ice on Wednesday night when they take on the Colorado Avalanche at 9:30 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Travis Konecny (11) (Morgan Frost, Claude Giroux) 1:45
• OTT Brady Tkachuk (10) (Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Connor Brown) 4:27
• PHI Shayne Gostisbehere (4) (Tyler Pitlick, James van Riemsdyk) 6:16

2nd Period

• OTT Anthony Duclair (12) SH (Unassisted) 13:18

3rd Period

• PHI Ivan Provorov (7) (Joel Farabee, Scott Laughton) 3:17
• OTT Duclair (13) (Thomas Chabot, Dylan DeMelo) 15:00
• PHI Laughton (4) (Kevin Hayes, van Riemsdyk) 15:11

Game Statistics