Flyers need skills to get past Senators

In Ottawa, the Philadelphia Flyers needed two goals from James van Riemsdyk and single marker in a six round shootout to defeat the Senators, 5-4 on Saturday.

“It was definitely not our best game,” van Riemsdyk said. “We just didn’t execute at a good enough level early on. I think we weren’t as dialed in as we probably should’ve been. We were able to find a way to get the two points, which is all that counts, but certainly not one of our better games.”

James van Riemsdyk scored twice for the Flyers in Saturday’s win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

Sean Couturier had the only score in the skills portion of the evening’s events.

“It’s a huge win. To get that extra point is huge,” Couturier said. “I don’t think we played that well. We grinded it out. We found a way to come out with the two points, so that’s huge.”

Brian Elliott made 30 saves for the win.

“There was a certain point where we were kind of giving them everything that they got,” Elliott said. “A couple breakdowns, a couple miscommunications. Thankfully, we sorted that out a little bit and we went from there. It was a back-and-forth game, and luckily we came out on top.”

Tyler Ennis struck twice for the Senators.

“I thought we played real hard,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “For the guys we had on the back end, some of the young guys that haven’t had a lot of experience in the League, against some elite players, I thought some guys played really hard. I thought, being down 2-0, we just kept playing. And then being down in the third, we found a way.”

Mark Borowiecki and Anthony Duclair scored single markers for Ottawa.

Kevin Hayes and Jakub Voracek also scored for the Flyers.

“One thing we’ve talked about, and that we’ve stressed, is throwing more pucks at the net,” Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said. “I think [van Riemsdyk’s] goal was exactly that. Threw it in the blue paint, and it found a way into the back of the net.”