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Flyers edge Senators for second straight win

Mar 2, 2013 - 9:18 PM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Ilya Bryzgalov posted 33 saves to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds each scored a goal for the Flyers, who have won two straight and three of four to reach .500 (11-11-1) for the first time this season.

"It's huge for us to get back to .500," said Voracek. "It's a good step and I think we are in the playoff spot now and we just have to keep winning."

Marc Methot scored the lone goal of the game for the Senators, who have dropped their past two following a five-game winning streak. Ben Bishop stopped 39 shots in defeat.

Just past the midway mark of the first period, Harry Zolnierczyk leveled Mike Lundin in the Flyers zone and was handed a charging major on the play.

Philadelphia, though, was able to survive the extended power play thanks in part to a too many men on the ice call to Ottawa during the advantage.

The Flyers finally got through at the 7:24 mark of the second period for a 1-0 lead. Luke Schenn chipped the puck out of his zone and into the Ottawa end where Voracek picked it up along the right wing. Voracek then flew around a defender before snapping it in for his ninth of the season.

It was a 2-0 game four minutes later as Simmonds took a pass at the right circle and charged to the front before slipping a backhand between the pads of Bishop.

Ottawa, though, got one back with 5:49 to play in the middle stanza as Methot's slap shot from the left point beat Bryzgalov cleanly for his first goal of the season.

A cross-checking major to Daniel Alfredsson in the third period along with a high-sticking call to Erik Condra gave the Flyers an extended 5-on-3, but they were unable to convert.

"It was a chippy game, no question," said Alfredsson. "I think we took exception to some of their hits and felt like the referees didn't call everything that maybe they should have. We stuck up for each other and obviously my five minutes kind of hurt us in our chance to get back."

A penalty to Kimmo Timonen saw the Senators skate 6-on-4 after pulling Bishop for an extra attacker, but the Flyers blocked several shots in front of Bryzgalov and a couple of clears helped the team kill the rest of the clock.

Game Notes

It was the 200th win of Bryzgalov's career ... The Flyers play in New York against the Rangers on Tuesday ... Ottawa plays a road game on Sunday against the Islanders ... Lundin didn't return to play after the hit ... Ottawa's power play was 3-for-38 over its previous 11 games coming in and went 0-for-5 on Saturday ... Philadelphia was also 0-for-5 on the power play ... These two teams split four games last season.