OTTAWA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Flyers have had a hard time
holding third-period leads this season, and after their most recent
fiasco, they were determined not to let it happen again.
Mike Knuble scored two goals after the Flyers had squandered an
early lead for a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.
Philadelphia won for just the fourth time in seven games it has
led after two periods this season. The Flyers gave up five
third-period goals Friday in Carolina to blow a 5-3 lead.
"We kind of left that arena disgusted with ourselves a bit and
found it a long flight home," Knuble said. "We've found ourselves
in that position a lot of times so far, with a good lead going into
the third. Tonight we added another goal and hung on there, so it
was something that we had talked about and wanted to make sure we
did right."
After Zdeno Chara tied it at 2 with two straight goals,
Philadelphia went back ahead on a power-play 14:52 into the second
when Knuble was credited with his fifth goal of the season. The
Flyers went up 3-2 as Eric Desjardins' point shot apparently struck
Knuble after it deflected off Senators forward Chris Kelly on its
way past goalie Dominik Hasek and into the net.
"I don't think I even touched it," Knuble said. "Unless they
saw something I didn't feel, I can't say I touched it."
Simon Gagne had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Carter and Jon
Sim also scored for Philadelphia. Peter Forsberg and defensemen
Eric Desjardins and Joni Pitkanen each had two assists.
"It was a great effort by our team," Gagne said. "We had the
lead in Carolina and we found a way to lose that game a couple of
nights ago. We were in the same situation tonight and I think we
played a pretty strong game for 60 minutes. It was a huge win for
us here in Ottawa."
Chara also assisted on Wade Redden's goal for Northeast
Division-leading Ottawa, which won 8-0 in Toronto one night
earlier.
"Last night everything we touched went in the net, and tonight
it was tougher to put them in, but you can't make any excuses, we
took too many penalties, we weren't skating as much and they took
the play to us early on," said Senators center Jason Spezza, who
assisted on Chara's second goal.
Sim scored Philadelphia's third power-play goal of the game at
19:40 of the second period to make it 4-2. Knuble made it a
three-goal lead 1:14 into the third.
"That was the difference really in the game, the second
period," Senators coach Bryan Murray said. "We had battled back,
we didn't look very sharp in the early going, then we kind of
played ourselves back into the game and then the power play for
them did us in."
Hasek, who recorded his second shutout of the season against the
Maple Leafs, lost for just the second time in eight starts as the
Senators suffered their first loss in five home games.
Carter opened the scoring at 9:20 of the first period and Gagne
made it 2-0 at 14:52, just eight seconds after Ottawa captain
Daniel Alfredsson was sent off for hooking.
Chara drew the Senators within 2-1 with a power-play goal at
17:37.
The 6-foot-9 defenseman tied it with a similar effort 7:16 into
the second. He got his third point of the game as Ottawa drew to
within two midway through the third, combining with Alfredsson to
set up Redden's fifth of the season on a power play at 9:58.
Game notes
Flyers D Kim Johnsson did not return after leaving the game
because of a left groin strain in the first. ... Forsberg has 17
assists and 19 points, both team highs. ... C R.J. Umberger made
his NHL debut for Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh native was recalled
from the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL earlier in the day. ...
Senators RW Dany Heatley, who tied a team record with four goals
Saturday, assisted on Chara's first goal to extend his points
streak to 10 games. ... Flyers captain Keith Primeau did not play.
Primeau was injured in Tuesday's loss in Montreal, but did play in
Philadelphia's 8-6 defeat to Carolina on Friday.