Hammond wins yet again, over the Flyers 2-1 in a shootout
The Hamburglar run has reached double-digits. His legend has reached new heights.
Andrew Hammond, now 10-0-1 in his first 11 NHL starts, leading the Senators from oblivion to a playoff hunt, had a burger tossed onto the ice following his shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
“I didn’t eat it, it was kind of cold,” Hammond said.
Turns out there’s plenty more burgers where that came from. The father of Hammond’s college coach from Bowling Green, Chris Bergeron, owns a batch of McDonald’s burger outlets in Ottawa. Now, Hammond has been told he has a special card coming that will allow Hammond to eat free McDonald’s food for life.
“I’m waiting to see it, but that’s what I’ve heard,” Hammond said. “I guess at the end of the day, at least I know I’ll never end up starving.”
It was the Flyers who were starved for shootout goals, thanks to the Hamburglar. Hammond stopped Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds in the shootout, and had Jakub Voracek hit the post to close the door as only he can. Bobby Ryan scored the only shootout goal the Senators would need.
“Surreal is a good word,” Ryan said of Hammond. “You’re at a loss for words to describe what he’s doing.”
Hammond was pleased to make up for a shootout loss in Minnesota earlier in his brief NHL career.
“I just felt like I needed to make one more save,” Hammond said. “In Minnesota, I was having a bit of trouble with my skate, that took away from my focus a little bit. (Sunday) there was no reason not to feel anything but confident going into (the shootout).”
With the win, the Senators jumped to 77 points and breezed past the Florida Panthers in the standings. Washington shut out Boston 2-0 on Sunday night, leaving Ottawa five points behind the Bruins with a game in hand and seven points back of the Capitals with two games in hand.
Fans were treated to a wildly entertaining overtime and third period — including a running advertisement for four-on-four play, after a pair of offsetting penalties. Both teams missed open nets, Cody Ceci unable to corral a bouncing puck at one end and missing the net on a power-play shot at the other.
In the dying seconds of regulation, veteran Ottawa winger Milan Michalek sent a groan through the Canadian Tire Centre when he fired a wrist shot off the post, ensuring overtime.
The Senators finally got to Flyers goaltender — and a familiar Senators figure — Ray Emery, in the second period. Emery was making his first start since Feb. 19 against the Buffalo Sabres and the rust showed in his rebound control.
It was on a rebound of a Mark Borowiecki shot that centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau opened the scoring, tapping a puck out of the air past Emery at 5:19 of the second period. Pageau had terrific jump in this game, twice driving the net past Flyers defenders — creating a scoring chance with one and drawing a holding penalty on the other.
Emery matched Hammond with 27 saves in regulation.
While they had chances to pad their lead, the Senators stood and watched the Flyers tie the game. After a lengthy session in the Ottawa zone, the Flyers’ top point producer, Voracek, put a fluttering shot past Hammond at 12:12 of the second. Hammond got a piece of the shot with his trapper but the puck trickled past him.
Hammond was at his burglarizing best in the first period. The most important of his seven stops came on Giroux, in alone after stepping past defenceman Erik Karlsson. Hammond flicked his left pad as much to say howdy-do, and the Flyers understood how previous Hammond victims felt.
Said head coach Dave Cameron of Hammond: “He’s here and he wants to make a statement.”