Danny Briere scored all three goals in the Flyers' 3-2 overtime win against the Senators on January 7, 2012. Saturday's game between the two teams is their first meeting of the 2013 season.
With the way
the Flyers beat the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, the current five-game
homestand could be ending the same way the season-long six-game road trip
before it ended.
The Flyers
had blown out the New York Islanders, 7-0, in their most sound win of the
season. They followed that with a dramatic 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh
Penguins.
The Flyers
are coming off a dominant 4-1 win over the Captials. So that sets up the
Flyers' Saturday afternoon close to the homestand against the Ottawa Senators.
Much like the
Islanders and Penguins game, the two teams are vastly separated in the
standings. The Capitals aren't in the playoff picture at all while the Senators
are sitting pretty in fifth.
But Ottawa is
without a couple of key players. Most notable on that list is Erik Karlsson,
the All-Star defenseman, who is out for the remainder of the season with an
Achillies injury. Jason Spezza is also out for significant time, as is
goaltender Craig Anderson.
That leaves
players like Daniel Alfredsson, Kyle Turris and Chris Neil up front and Sergei
Gonchar and Chris Phillips on the blue line leading the way. Ben Bishop has
served as the team's starting goalie and filled in admirably in the absence of
Anderson.
Even with all
of the injury, Ottawa is 5-1-1 since losing Karlsson.
One of the
possible advantages the Flyers hold is being at home. Ottawa is 9-1-2 on home
ice and just 3-5-1 on the road. That includes a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bruins
on Thursday.
For the
Flyers, things may be starting to come together. They still have rotated two
incredibly strong lines of late with Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Jake
Voracek powering the top line and Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds and Danny
Briere forming a strong second line.
But with the
return of Simon Gagne, the Flyers' third line featuring Sean Couturier and Max
Talbot looked much stronger.
Lately, the
power play has also come together. With Voracek's recent hot streak, the Flyers
have a powerful top unit featuring Giroux, Gagne, Brayden Schenn and Kimmo
Timonen.
Ilya
Bryzgalov will likely go in goal again for the Flyers as well after nearly
recording his second shutout of the season against Washington in his last
start.
But once
again, the Flyers also find themselves in familiar position. They are 0-6 this
season in attempts to return to .500. This will be their seventh, as their
record sits at 10-11-1.
The Flyers
will be off for another stretch of time after this game. They return to the ice
on Tuesday for a series of games against tough opponents. After facing the New
York Rangers on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, the Flyers return home for
games against the Penguins on Thursday, travel to Boston to face the Bruins on
Saturday and return home again on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres.
Kevin
Durso is a contributor for Flyerdelphia. You can follow him
on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
