Flyers-Senators Preview

The last time the Philadelphia Flyers came to town, the Ottawa Senators put together one of their most complete games of the season that sparked them through a successful just-completed road trip.

With the Flyers returning to Ontario for the second time in 10 days Tuesday night, the Senators look for another such effort to kick-start their three-game homestand.

Craig Anderson turned aside 36 shots and four Senators scored as Ottawa beat Philadelphia 4-0 on Nov. 21. It was the second victory in a four-game win streak for the Senators (12-6-5), who defeated Dallas and Colorado on their three-game trip before that run ended with a 4-3 loss to Arizona on Saturday.

Mikkel Boedker's second hat trick of the season against Ottawa negated a strong offensive effort by the Senators, who outshot the Coyotes 38-19. Coach Dave Cameron, though, felt his team played too soft defensively - Ottawa gave up goals in the opening minute of the first and second periods.

"I thought we made it easy for them to score tonight, not taking from Arizona," Cameron said. "I'm not saying that they weren't deserving, but it was too easy."

Anderson, who made 15 saves Saturday, carries a scoreless streak of 76:01 against the Flyers into this contest and is 9-4-2 with a 2.63 goals-against average in 16 career matchups.

Mike Hoffman scored a pair of goals against the Coyotes and has five and two assists in a four-game point streak.

The Flyers (9-10-5) have won three of four since being shut out by the Senators, finding some life offensively. While Philadelphia is still last in the NHL with 1.83 goals per game, it's totaled 10 in that four-game span after beating the New York Rangers 3-0 on Saturday.

Wayne Simmonds had two goals and assisted on Sean Couturier's tally while Steve Mason made 24 saves as the Flyers posted their league-leading fourth shutout.

"This is going to be a critical point. We're hoping this can be the flip-around for our season here," Simmonds told the league's official website. "We've got to keep playing hard. We've played two strong games and we just have to continue when we go up to Ottawa."

Simmonds' season-high outburst ended a six-game point drought. Though Philadelphia failed to convert on either of its power-play opportunities against New York, it's gone 4 for 13 in its last four games after succeeding on eight of 60 chances in its first 20 contests.

Hoffman had a goal and an assist while Bobby Ryan added two assists for Ottawa on Nov. 21. The Senators had most of their success against the Flyers' line of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Matt Read and Chris VandeVelde - all of whom were minus-3.

Ottawa also dominated the faceoff dot in the victory, winning 38 of 63 draws as Zack Smith and Mika Zibanejad combined to take 21 of 30.