Spezza has 4 points as Senators beat Flyers 5-2

OTTAWA – Jason Spezza had a goal and three assists to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 5-2 victory over the slumping Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

Ryan Shannon and Bobby Butler each had a goal and an assist, and Nick Foligno and Milan Michalek also scored for Ottawa. Craig Andersen stopped 27 shots and Filip Kuba added two assists.

The Senators have won two of three and four of their last five at Scotiabank Place to improve to 15-20-5 at home.

Mike Richards scored both goals for the Flyers, who failed to clinch the Atlantic Division title. Philadelphia lost its fourth straight and fifth in the last six. The Flyers also fell out of first place in the Eastern Conference, and now trail Washington by two points after the Capitals won at Toronto.

Butler scored at even strength on a breakaway late in the second period to give the Senators a 3-2 lead. Spezza 20th goal of the season came on the power play at 8:02 of the third to push Ottawa up two. The Senators scored three times with the man advantage.

Kimmo Timonen assisted on both goals and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 shots for the Flyers, who have only two wins in the past nine. Philadelphia played without center Daniel Briere for the second straight game because of a lower-body injury.

Philadelphia has dropped seven straight and 10 of its last 11 at Scotiabank Place, with the last victory coming Nov. 24, 2007.

The Flyers made it 1-0 on the power play when Richards picked up his own rebound off a blocked shot and wired the puck past Anderson at 3:40 of the first.

Philadelphia was soon back on the man advantage after Ben Holmstrom appeared to catch Ottawa's Zack Smith with a high hit. With no penalty called on the play, Senators right wing Chris Neil took Holmstrom to task for the check and received an instigator penalty and 10-minute misconduct in addition to the players' fighting majors.

The Flyers failed to take advantage, however, and Foligno redirected a pass from Spezza past Bobrovsky on Ottawa's power play at 15:37.

Power plays also accounted for the next two goals with Richards taking a pass from Nikolai Zherdev in the slot and beating Anderson with his 23rd goal of the season at 15:56 of the second to make it 2-1.

It was short-lived, however, as Shannon answered less than 2½ minutes later with a shot from the point through traffic.

In the final seconds of the period, Smith sprung Butler on a breakaway and he scored to give the Senators a 3-2 lead.

Michalek scored into an empty net with 18 seconds left.

NOTES: The Senators recalled F Roman Wick and D Andre Benoit and D Patrick Wiercioch from Binghamton of the AHL for the game. ... Ottawa wraps up its home schedule Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens. ... Foligno has declined USA Hockey's invitation to join its team for the upcoming world championship in Slovakia. ... After the game, the Senators gave their shirts away to randomly-drawn season-ticket holders. ... The Flyers placed G Michael Leighton on waivers Tuesday. ... Flyers C Blair Betts sat out the game with a lower-body injury suffered Sunday against the New York Rangers. He's listed as day-to-day. ... The Flyers don't play again until Friday, when they visit Buffalo.