Richards leads the way as Flyers rip Senators

by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor


Mike Richards notched a pair of goals and totaled three points as Philadelphia remained hot with a 5-1 decision over Ottawa.

Claude Giroux added a goal and two helpers for the Flyers, who have taken seven straight games at home and nine of their last 10 overall.

Danny Briere and Darroll Powe also tallied to back a 28-save performance from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Jason Spezza had the lone goal for the Senators, who have dropped two of three since winning four in a row.

Brian Elliott, who twice shut out Philadelphia and won all of his three starts against the Flyers last season, was torched for five goals on 46 shots in the loss.

The Flyers' captain was instrumental in turning a one-goal lead into the deciding four-goal margin.

Despite fanning on his centering feed, Richards' pass from the right circle into the slot was quickly whipped into the net by Giroux for a power-play goal and 3-1 Philly lead with 1:29 left in the second.

On a Senators power play, Richards took the puck away from Sergei Gonchar at the point and raced the length of the ice before beating Elliott with a backhander under the crossbar for a 4-1 Flyers edge at 6:13 of the third period.

He then followed up a broken play 90 seconds later and beat a prone Elliott from a sharp angle along the goal line to the right of the Ottawa net to give the home team a four-goal edge.

The Flyers opened the scoring at the 8:43 mark of the opening period, when Briere was alone in front to tip home an Andrej Meszaros point blast.

Ottawa responded at 10:40, when Spezza managed to get a rolling puck past Bobrovsky from the right circle, but the home team moved ahead a little over a minute later when Kimmo Timonen's left-point shot was tipped in by Powe.


Notes: Philadelphia improved to 11-0 this season when leading after two periods...Richards' assist on Giroux's goal was his 300th NHL point. Coupled with his two-goal game on Saturday, it marked the second time in his career he registered back-to-back multi-goal contests. The first occurrence was November 29-December 2, 2008...Flyers forward Dan Carcillo suffered a lower-body injury in the second period and did not return...Alex Kovalev's assist on Spezza's goal gave him career 999 points.