Flyers stay hot with win over Senators

OTTAWA -- The Philadelphia Flyers are reaping the benefits of their longest winning streak of the season.

Jeremy Roenick had a goal and two assists as Philadelphia extended its winning streak to six games with a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.

The Flyers, who have won 12 of their last 14 games, moved into first place overall in the Eastern Conference with 60 points.

"We're full of confidence," Roenick said. "We don't feel that we have to impress anybody. We come out and try to play a very sound system -- get the puck in, play as physical as we possibly can and try to intimidate teams."

Justin Williams, Simon Gagne and Kim Johnsson also scored for Philadelphia, which entered the game in a tie with Toronto and Boston for first place in the conference. The Maple Leafs lost 3-2 to Atlanta on Tuesday night, while the Bruins were idle.

"It was a great win for us," Flyers coach Bill Barber said. "I know they're not in our division, but they're in our conference. It is a four-point game. It's a very important game for us."

Roman Cechmanek made 36 saves as the Flyers snapped a five-game winless streak at the Corel Centre.

"They protected their lead really well," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "They didn't make too many mistakes. They kept it pretty simple, they dumped the puck in and didn't give us much. We did turn around in the second and create some good chances, and they scored the 3-1 goal that kind of hurt us."

Radek Bonk scored for Ottawa, which outshot Philadelphia 37-35 and lost to the Flyers for just the second time in 12 games.

"They had a lot of shots from outside," Roenick said. "I don't think they had really very many quality scoring chances."

Roenick scored for the third straight game 8:56 in when he fired a shot over goalie Patrick Lalime's left shoulder on a two-on-one after stealing the puck from Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden at the blue line.

Williams completed a two-on-one with Keith Primeau at 14:10, extending his point streak to five games.

The Senators closed within a goal when Bonk scored his 15th goal 7:08 into the second.

Gagne's 19th goal of the season restored Philadelphia's two-goal lead with 4:23 left in the period.

Johnsson extended his point streak to six games when he scored his eighth goal on a power play with 5:24 left in the third.

"Our puck movement tonight was second to none," Barber said. "We moved the puck in all the right areas, and we got pucks in deep when we needed to, and we got on their defense very quickly. We had some great scoring opportunities."

Ottawa center Todd White left the game with a mild concussion just 32 seconds in after he was checked into the boards behind the Flyers' net by defenseman Dan McGillis.

Notes: Philadelphia successfully killed off three penalties. Just four minor penalties were called in the game. ... The Flyers are 16-5-0 since Dec. 1. ... Senators left winger Shawn McEachern has gone 21 games since scoring his last goal in a 4-2 loss in Colorado on Dec. 3. ... Ottawa defenseman Zdeno Chara didn't play because of a left shoulder injury sustained in a 2-1 win in Tampa Bay on Saturday. He is day-to-day.