Flyers act tough in win over Sens
PHILADELPHIA >> Scott Laughton responded to a jarring hit to his teammate in a big way.
Laughton had a goal, an assist and a hard check in a chippy contest to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators Saturday.
“It was a physical game,” Laughton said. “I like playing in those, so it was nice.”
Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny and Shayne Gostisbhere also scored for Philadelphia, which has won six of seven.
Konecny didn’t return after a hard, open-ice hit by Mark Borowiecki late in the first period due to what Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault called an upper body injury.
Borowiecki entered third in the NHL with 115 hits, and he caught an unsuspecting Konecny with a hard check with 2:22 left in the first. No penalty was called on the hit.
The game got physical after that, with Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek fighting Nick Paul in a one-sided affair won by Paul. Less than 15 seconds into the second, Laughton sent Ottawa’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the ice with a hard hit of his own. Pageau got up and then fought Flyers rookie Joel Farabee to a draw.
“I think the way our team responded was a big plus for us,” Gostisbehere said.
The checking remained hard, but the game settled down from that point — until the final seconds.
There were sticks and gloves all over the ice with 24.5 seconds remaining when Brady Tkachuk sent Laughton down with a crosscheck and then jumped on him looking for a fight. Tkachuk was sent off with two penalties, for cross-checking and roughing.
Laughton recently returned from a broken finger that cost him 13 games and couldn’t respond the way he wanted. Asked if he wished he could’ve fought Tkachuk, Laughton said, “Yeah.”
Anthony Duclair netted a pair of goals and Tkachuk also scored for Ottawa, which has lost six of seven.
“I think we were engaged, physically at least, from the very beginning,” Senators defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “We just made too many mistakes that end up being in our net, but you can’t fault our effort. I thought we played hard.”
After Duclair notched his second of the contest to tie it with five minutes left, Laughton answered just 11 seconds later by finishing on a rebound to put Philadelphia ahead.
“He’s one of the guys who responded best,” Vigneault said of Laughton.
Provorov gave Philadelphia a 3-2 lead 3:17 into the third when he fired a wrist shot past Anders Nilsson’s glove side.