A dramatic overtime goal by Stutzle secured a greasy 3-2 road victory for the Senators.
Last Saturday, Drake Batherson's bad pass in overtime set up the Canadiens winning goal in Montreal. Seven days later, on a Saturday afternoon, Batherson's gorgeous pass in overtime set up the Senators' winning goal in Philadelphia. It was Ottawa's third straight overtime game, and after losing the last two, Stutzle's easy tap-in, his second goal of the day, gave the Senators a 3-2 victory.
The Senators dominated the first period jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but it almost seemed like they used up all their energy because it was all Flyers after that. The Senators did almost nothing offensively for the second half of the game and limped to to the finish line with only one shot in the the third period. They were outshot 22-13 on the day.
Travis Green opted to shuffle up his forward lines on Saturday morning with Fabian Zetterlund and Ridly Greig moving up, while Jordan Spence drew in for just his 6th start of the season. It didn't get Zetterlund or Greig out of their respective funks.
Greig-Stutzle-Perron
Zetterlund-Cozens-Batherson
Amadio-Pinto-Giroux
Lycksell-Eller-Cousins
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Spence
The Senators began the game with some excellent energy and pace in the offensive zone in the first two minutes. The eventually capitalized just over five minutes in when David Perron carried the puck into the high slot, dished to Tim Stutzle, whose beauty one-timer made it 1-0. That was Stutzle's seventh of the year.
The Sens buzzsaw cut into the Flyers D again a minute later when Michael Amadio made it 2-0, walking right up the middle with a slick backhander for his third goal in as many games. Amadio now has five markers, tied for fourth on the team.
Just before the end of the period, there was a very nice physical play by the Sens D to eliminate his man completely against the boards. It was made by Spence, who we assume isn't playing every day because he doesn't make physical plays
The two teams combined for just 10 shots in the first period. Between that and how the last meeting went (no goals in the final 37 minutes), it hinted at another defensive grind
But in the second period, the Flyers started to get their legs, which was a change of pace for Sens fans. Catching fire after falling behind 2-0 is usually hallmark of their team. As TSN's Mike Johnson put it, as the two teams changed ends, it was like the afternoon wind in Philly was only blowing from left to right.
Matvei Michkov got the Flyers on the board with the only goal of the middle frame. Michkov Jake Sanderson (who got no support) to get to the front of the net and wrists one past Ullmark to cut the Sens lead to 2-1.
The Flyers appeared to be following Ottawa's script. Falling behind 2-0 then making a furious comeback to make a game of it has been a Senator hallmark this season.
In the third, the onslaught continued with the game being played entirely in Ottawa's zone. Jamie Drysdale finally broke through. As Ullmark appeared to get accidentally slew footed by a net front battle, Drysdale tied it at 2.
The Senators basically limped to the overtime finish line to get their point, going over 20 minutes without a shot.
But in overtime, Batherson carried the puck over the blue line, saw Stutzle streaking to the left post and hit him with a perfect pass for the tap-in and game winner.
The Senators improve to 7-5-3 on the young season, and now immediately head back home to face the Utah Mammoth on Sunday night.