PHILADELPHIA — Ottawa found its point and the postseason.
Needing just one point in the season finale, the Senators wrapped up their sizzling second-half rally with a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Headed toward a spot in the NHL draft lottery two months ago, the Senators finished 23-4-4 over their final 31 games to storm into the postseason.
Ottawa’s win leaves the Boston Bruins in a tough situation. They have to win Saturday night at Tampa Bay and hopes Pittsburgh loses at last-place Buffalo to get into the playoffs.
The Senators hope they can play deep into the postseason behind goalie Andrew Hammond. Nicknamed the “Hamburglar”, Hammond went from a borderline AHL goalie to posting a 20-1-2 record since he was recalled in the second half.
He stopped 34 shots and made sure the Senators would not need help from other teams to make the playoffs.
Mark Stone scored twice and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for Ottawa. Matt Read scored for the Flyers.
The 27-year-old Hammond entered with a 1.76 goals-against average since his recall from the AHL. Not bad for an undrafted rookie.
Ottawa fans have tossed hamburgers on the ice and the owner of six McDonald’s locations in the Ottawa Valley arranged for Hammond to have a card that gives him free McDonald’s food for life.
He led the Senators to a super-sized record down the stretch and now they await their playoff destination.
The Senators mobbed him at the net when the final horn sounded.
Stone also has led Ottawa’s surge, finishing the season with a nine-game points streak. He scored an empty-netter in the first period when goalie Steve Mason was wildly out of position off a misplayed shot.
Stone made it 3-1 in the third with his 26th goal of the season.
Pageau snapped a 1-1 tie in the second with his 10th goal and third in three games.
The Flyers finished 33-31-18 missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons and this absence could cost Coach Craig Berube his job. Berube led the Flyers to the playoffs last season when he took over with the team off to an 0-3 start.
Berube was elevated from an assistant to the head job by former general manager Paul Holmgren. Ron Hextall, in his first season calling the shots, could go in a different direction with the Flyers set to have a top-10 draft lottery pick and a potential rebuild ahead.
Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux both were in the mix most of the season for the league scoring title and Wayne Simmonds led the team in goals despite missing the final two weeks with a foot injury.
Simmonds hobbled on crutches and posed with fans in the press box during intermission, getting a bird’s eye view of a team that never lived up to so much playoff potential.
The Flyers have not won a Stanley Cup since hoisting two straight in 1974 and 1975. The Flyers have been close – real close to another: Philadelphia lost in the Stanley Cup finals in 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1997 and 2010.
The Flyers have missed the playoffs two times in a three-season span for the first time since they missed it five straight seasons from 1989-1994.
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