Nilsson makes 26 saves as Senators beat Flyers 2-1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - The Ottawa Senators made up for a bad start with a solid ending.

Filip Chlapik scored in the second period, Anders Nilsson made 26 saves and the Senators killed off a late four-minute power play to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 Friday night.

Ottawa’s Colin White took a double minor for high-sticking Claude Giroux with just over four minutes remaining in the game. The Flyers pulled Carter Hart for a two-man advantage, but were unable to get the equalizer.

“That was maybe our worst start of the year on the first three shifts,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “We just weren’t ready or maybe they were ready, one of the two, but after that first five minutes I thought we were really competitive and played hard.”

Tyler Ennis also scored for the Senators (8-10-1), who won back-to-back games for just the second time this season.

Tyler Pitlick scored for the Flyers (10-6-3), who lost in regulation for the first time since Oct. 29. Hart stopped 19 shots.

“We should still find a way to win a game,” Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek said. “I think we have a better team. Nothing against Ottawa, they played a good game, but we have to find a way to win those games.”

The Senators got both of their goals in the second.

Ennis tied it at 1 with a power-play goal 13:12 into the period. Ennis has three of the Senators’ five power-play goals this season.

“Special teams and good goaltending got us the win,” Ennis said. “The power play has been struggling lately, but it was a factor in us winning and especially the penalty kill as well.”

Chlapik made it 2-1 with 2:51 left. It was his second of the season.

The fourth line of Chlapik, Chris Tierney and Bobby Ryan was solid for the Senators, creating a number of chances and drawing the penalty that led to Ennis’ goal.

Pitlick gave Philadelphia the lead just two minutes into the game, beating Nilsson with a wrist shot.

The Flyers had a number of great chances in the first period, but Nilsson was solid. James Van Riemsdyk had two scoring chances on the same shift to open the game.

The 29-year-old Nilsson was coming off an ugly 8-2 loss at Carolina on Monday night.

“I think everyone knows right now what we, as a team, need to do to win hockey games,” he said. “We can’t out-skill the opponent. We have to beat every opponent every night on work ethic and we have to work extremely hard and we have to work harder than our opponents.”

Philadelphia went 0 for 5 on the power play.

“Our execution was a little bit off,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. “At the end the power play has the opportunity to tie us the game, had a lot of possession time in that four minutes, but no real good look that I would say.”

NOTES: Ottawa F Logan Brown returned to the lineup after missing the last six games with an upper-body injury.

UP NEXT

Flyers: Host New York Islanders on Saturday night.

Senators: At Buffalo on Saturday night.

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