Flyers Shutdown Slumping Senators

After a big comeback win against the Buffalo Sabres, the Flyers continued to get back into the form they showed earlier this season. This time they faced-off against an Ottawa Senators that have been in a bigger tailspin than the Flyers.

The Senators started out the season winning 15 of their first 17 games. But of late, they have lost 15 out of the last 22 and Jason Spezza’s goal last night has been Ottawa’s only goal in 3 games. This has caused coach John Paddock to be fired and GM Brian Murray to step back behind the banch. Things didn’t change for the new coach last night.

The Flyers dominated just about this entire game. Their only let up, on a penatly kill, led to Spezza’s goal. However, Marty Biron didn’t like Spezza’s extended celebration in the crease and he let him know. A little fracas ensued and included Spezza jabbing the but end of his stick into Braydon Coburn. That earned him an ejection to go along with his goal.

The Flyers quickly regained control of the game and began to dominate the Senators. In fact, the Flyers played with the edginess we saw earlier in the season and before the All-Star Break. The Flyers, outhit, outshot and out-chanced the Senators. it seems that the Flyers are regaining their form and could continue to get better as Hatcher, Lupul, and Richards continue to heal.

Vaclav Prospal played in a Flyers uniform for the first time in almost 10 years. He looked playing with Briere and Umberger. Give them another game or two to get used to each other, and I think they will catch fire. The Prospal pickup is bigger than a lot of people think, in my opinion.