Ottawa Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot (72) falls on the ice as he knocks the puck away from Philadelphia Flyers right wing Travis Konecny (11) to prevent him from breaking away during first period NHL hockey action in Ottawa, on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – Claude Giroux scored a milestone goal against his former team, but the Philadelphia Flyers spoiled the celebration with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday night.
The game was Giroux’s first against his former team, but he doesn’t have much to boast about as the loss now has the Senators (4-7-0) mired in a five-game losing streak.
Zack MacEwen’s second-period goal held up as the winner, while Kevin Hayes also scored for the Flyers (6-3-2). Carter Hart was solid stopping 31 shots.
Giroux scored the lone goal for the Senators, while Cam Talbot, making his first start for the Senators, made 26 saves.
Trailing 2-1 in the third, Ottawa had a chance for the equalizer after Travis Sanheim was called for interference on Giroux at the 13-minute mark, but failed to capitalize on the power play.
The Senators will look at the second period as a missed opportunity. Ottawa had three power plays and failed to take advantage or create many scoring chances.
The Flyers broke the 1-1 tie with just under two minutes remaining in the second period when Ottawa got hemmed in its own end. MacEwen grabbed a loose puck and wristed it past Talbot.
Giroux didn’t take long to make an impact against his former team scoring the opening goal for the 300th of his career.
The lead didn’t last long as the Flyers evened the score with a power-play goal as Hayes tipped a Tony DeAngelo shot.
INTERESTING FACT
Carter Hart is good friends with Senators’ netminder Talbot. In the past, they’ve trained together and Talbot was a mentor of sorts to Hart when the latter was in the early stages of his career. Talbot and Hart were teammates for a brief period with the Flyers during the 2018-19 season.
NOTES
With his first period goal, Giroux has now scored against all 32 teams in the league. The Senators recalled D Jacob Bernard-Docker, but he was not inserted in the lineup. Philadelphia has allowed the opposition to score first in nine of its 11 games. This was the first of three meetings between the two teams.
UP NEXT
The Senators host the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night, while the Flyers will host the St. Louis Blues Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2022.
