Tyson Foerster streaking at the right time for the Flyers

The Flyers needed a spark.

Although the Senators sit in the basement of the Atlantic Division, they had been a perpetual thorn in the Flyers’ side this year. And with the Flyers coming off a loss to the Metro rival Washington Capitals the night before, Saturday’s game against Ottawa was two points the Flyers could not afford to lose.

Tied at 1-1 midway through the second period — and with their leading scorer, Travis Konecny sitting out injured for his fifth straight game — the Flyers needed someone, anyone, to step up.

That someone ended up being rookie winger Tyson Foerster, who put the team on his back with two goals in a 45-second span to propel the Flyers to a 4-2 win. Foerster generated a team-high four individual scoring chances during the game — which doesn’t even count his second goal, scored on a penalty shot.

“Any time you score, you feel good,” Foerster said. “... I was getting so many chances, I felt like, and they just weren’t going in, and now they’re starting to.”

Foerster missed four games in January with a lower-body injury, which kept him out for the Stadium Series loss. But since returning on Jan. 24 against the Rangers, he hasn’t missed a step. And it even seems like he’s gained one.

His six goals in his last five games have brought his season total to 16, one goal behind Connor Bedard and Marco Rossi for the league lead in rookie scoring.

But earlier in the season, identical shots might not have gone Foerster’s way. He has experienced long stretches in his rookie season when the chances were there, but the finish just wasn’t.

“He played in the areas when he wasn’t scoring,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “A little bit snakebitten, some blocked. It was just one of those things.”

Tortorella has been a fan of Foerster’s all season, often pointing to the defensive strength of his game. Tortorella said he needed to have only one conversation with the winger, during one of his scoring slumps when he thought Foerster was showing some frustration. For the most part, however, Tortorella said that he has handled himself well.

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“I feel like I just tried to stick with it,” Foerster said, adding that in lieu of scoring goals, “I was trying to focus on not getting scored against ... Still trying to help the team win.”

Joel Farabee, who broke out of a slump of his own on Saturday, said going through periods of adversity like that is beneficial for a young NHL player.

“It can be really tough just acclimating to playing pro hockey and playing in the NHL,” Farabee said. “To see him just stay even-keeled throughout the whole thing, even when he wasn’t scoring, I think he was doing a lot of a little things right. In the D zone, making little plays, and you just kind of knew that eventually it’s going to turn, so definitely excited for him. And hopefully he can keep this thing going.”

Foerster’s penalty-shot goal on Saturday, the first such attempt in his career, also helped the Flyers etch a place in NHL history. Their five goals off the penalty shot are most ever in a single season.

The Flyers, who not long ago held the mantle of worst shootout team in the league, have found success in one-on-none situations this season, and Foerster has been a key part of that. In addition to his goal against Ottawa’s Mads Søgaard, it was his shootout goal that beat the New York Islanders on Nov. 25.

Foerster credited working in practice with goalie Sam Ersson, who has also been a major factor in the reversal of the Flyers’ shootout fortunes.

But no matter how the pucks are going in, Foerster is streaking at a key time for the Flyers.

“Him having success definitely helps the team, and when you have your young guys playing with confidence, I think definitely helps the group just as a whole,” Farabee said. “I think if we want to get to the places we want to get to, our young guys have to play as well as they’re playing. And if they keep doing that, and we’re hopefully going to get in that last playoff spot.”

Travis Konecny remained unavailable against St. Louis, marking the sixth straight game he has sat out. Konecny was on the ice during Monday’s morning skate wearing a noncontact jersey and participated in penalty-kill drills. ... Ersson will start in net against the Blues (2.62 goals against average, .897 save percentage).