Flyers, Senators battle to enter Olympic break on high note

As a three-week Olympic break looms, the Philadelphia Flyers and visiting Ottawa Senators will be hungry for a win when the teams face off Thursday.

With a victory, Philadelphia would head into the break with back-to-back wins following a stretch of 11 losses in 13 games.

The Flyers topped the Washington Capitals 4-2 on Tuesday thanks to Jamie Drysdale's tiebreaking goal in the third period and nifty goaltending from Dan Vladar.

"It's a huge bounce-back game," said Owen Tippett, who opened the scoring as Philadelphia ended a four-game losing streak and won at home for the first time since Jan. 6. "We finished the game out and didn't let old habits creep in. I think we stuck with it all the way through. Glad we got the win."

Rasmus Ristolainen had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia. Carl Grundstrom also scored for the hosts.

Vladar was a shining star in the first period and finished with 26 total saves. He has allowed no more than two goals in six of his last nine outings.

"I thought we had more energy," defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "Thought you could tell we came out playing fast, we had some pace. Just had more jump. That's what we talked about before the game, and in doing that we ended up making better plays and harder plays."

Ottawa enters this matchup in the opposite fashion. The Senators had a four-game winning streak halted in Tuesday's 4-3 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes.

Despite the loss, spirits were high in the Ottawa locker room after the team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game. A sloppy third-period line change led to the decisive Carolina goal, but the Senators outshot the talented Hurricanes 25-18 and simply ran into a red-hot goaltender in Brandon Bussi.

"I liked our game a lot tonight," Ottawa coach Travis Green said. "It's not very often you come into Carolina and you keep them under 20 shots. I think we outchanced them 2-to-1 tonight. Their goalie played well, and we just came up short."

Jake Sanderson had a goal and an assist for the Senators, while Stephen Halliday and Tim Stutzle also scored. Dylan Cozens chipped in two assists and James Reimer turned aside 14 shots.

"We're playing good right now," Sanderson said. "Obviously not the result we wanted tonight, but nothing to dwell on. Learn from a few things there and move on. One more game to the break."

This is the teams' third and final meeting this season. Ottawa nipped Philadelphia in the first two matchups, winning 2-1 at home on Oct. 23 and 3-2 in overtime on the road on Nov. 8.

Michael Amadio scored in both games for Ottawa, while Linus Ullmark was the winning goaltender in each contest. Ullmark will likely be back in net Thursday.