PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tyson Foerster scored two goals in the span of 45 seconds, Felix Sandstrom made 24 saves in his season debut and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Saturday night.
Foerster broke a 1-1 deadlock with 47 seconds remaining in the second period, corralling a bouncing puck off a faceoff and fluttering a shot that went over the glove of Ottawa goalie Mads Sogaard.
“My head was down and the puck was rolling a bit,” Foerster said. “(Joel Farabee) picked their guy so I had a lane and I just shot it and it was lucky to go by him.”
Foerster then scored Philadelphia’s NHL-record fifth penalty shot goal of the season with two seconds remaining in the period.
“He made a great defensive play at their blue line,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said of the play Foerster made that led to the penalty shot. “He’s done it all year long, (but) he’s had a good run here.
"I’ve been looking to him the whole time because he’s been getting chances, they just weren’t going in for him.”
Foerster has nine goals in his last nine games.
“It’s easy for a coach to look at a guy for scoring, but also know he’s probably one of your best defensive players, too,” Tortorella said.
Foerster, with 16 goals, is having a strong rookie season and has scored more goals than all but two other rookies — Chicago’s Connor Bedard and Minnesota’s Marco Rossi, who have 17 each.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa, which lost its fourth straight game.
“It’s that time of the year where there’s not going to be much room out there,” Chabot said. “We made some mistakes, and they found the back of the net.
"Once again, we battled back and gave ourselves a chance. We hit a couple posts, so if one of them goes in, we have a tie game, and you never know what can happen. Still, it’s a frustrating way to lose.”
Sandstrom, who has spent the season with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, was recalled on Friday to serve as the backup. With the Flyers playing on back-to-back nights, he was thrust into action and was impressive, especially while the Flyers were short-handed. He made several big saves to keep Ottawa off the board, including a sprawling glove save on Chabot in the final minute to prevent the Senators from tying the game.
“I want to be that guy,” Sandstrom said. “I want to be someone who can make a difference here. I’m ready for the challenge and I’m going to do everything I can to be a big positive for this group."
Farabee opened the scoring for the Flyers, redirecting a point shot from Nick Seeler past Sogaard for his 18th goal of the season. Cam York added an empty-net goal with one second remaining. Sogaard finished with 36 saves.
The Flyers beat the Senators for the first time this season, having lost four straight and six of seven before Saturday.
“Any season after the All-Star break, the games get really hard whether you are in it or not,” Farabee said. “We have the confidence that we are still in this thing.
"We’re making that push. Just playing meaningful games is really important to this group, especially to the guys who have been here for a long time.”
UP NEXT
Senators: Visit the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.
Flyers: Host the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Anthony Sanfilippo, The Associated Press
