Ottawa Senators

Ottawa Senators rookie goalie Andrew Hammond has been on fire since being called up from the minors in late January. In 11 games, he's 9-0-1 with a 1.44 goals-against average, .954 save percentage and two shutouts. (Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports)

The Flyers will get their first look Sunday night at hockey's newest phenom, a 27-year-old rookie whose known as the Hamburglar.

Ottawa Senators goalie Andrew Hammond is on a historic run since being called up from the AHL after the All-Star break.

Hammond has started 10 of Senators' last 12 games, allowing two or fewer goals in all of them.

His numbers are incredible: 9-0-1 record, 1.44 goals-against average, .954 save percentage.



"He's just playing out of his mind," Sens center Kyle Turris told the Ottawa Sun. "He's given us the backbone to start a run. He's making saves to keep us in games. We're trying to take advantage of those opportunities."

This out-of-nowhere run has carried the Senators back into a chase for the Eastern Conference's last wild card spot.

The Sens, who are 12-2-2 in their last 16 games, trail Boston by seven points with a game in hand heading into Sunday's tilt against the Flyers, who are 10 points off the pace.

Hammond was called up from the AHL on Jan. 29 when All-Star goalie Craig Anderson suffered a bruised hand.

Hammond wound sitting seven games in a row, then allowed two goals on five shots over 20:46 in a shaky season debut against Carolina on Feb. 16, one in which he entered after backup goalie Robin Lehner suffered a concussion.

From there, Hammond has been lights out in his 10 starts, as he has two shutouts, allowed one goal three times and two goals five times.

Hammond is getting all kinds of attention in Canada for his great play, but says his only concern is helping the Sens win that wild card spot.

"We're in the playoff hunt," he told the Sun. "We're not going away and we're showing a lot of resilience. Boston is the team we're chasing. We can't control what they're doing. All we can control is our approach."

This is the second of three Flyers-Senators' meetings this season. The Flyers won 2-1 in a shootout at home on Jan. 6.

Senators star winger Bobby Ryan, a native of South Jersey, will look to end a four-game point drought against his hometown team. Ryan, who is second on the Sens with 49 points and tied for third with 17 goals, has a goal and four points in nine career games against the Flyers.

Here is everything that you need to know about how you can watch the game:

Matchup: Flyers at Ottawa Senators

When: Sunday, 8 p.m.

Where: Canadian Tire Centre; Ottawa

TV: Comcast SportsNet (Jim Jackson, Bill Clement, Chris Therien)

Radio: 97.5 FM the Fanatic (Tim Saunders, Steve Coates).

Here are the projected lineups:

FLYERS

Forward lines

10 Brayden Schenn, 28 Claude Giroux, 93 Jakub Voracek

24 Matt Read 14 Sean Couturier, 17 Wayne Simmonds

36 Zac Rinaldo, 12 Michael Raffl, 25 Ryan White

76 Chris VandeVelde 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, 40 Vincent Lecavalier

Defense pairs

55 Nick Schultz, 32 Mark Streit

5 Nicklas Grossmann, 47 Andrew MacDonald

26 Carlo Colaiacovo, 22 Luke Schenn

Goaltender

29 Ray Emery

OTTAWA SENATORS

Forward lines

68 Mike Hoffman, 93 Mike Zibanejad, 6 Bobby Ryan

9 Milan Michalek, 7 Kyle Turris, 61 Mark Stone

27 Curtis Lazar, 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau, 22 Erik Condra

26 Matt Puempel, 17 David Legwand, 90 Alex Chiasson

Defense pairs

3 Marc Methot, 65 Erik Karlsson

46 Patrick Wiercioch, 5 Cody Ceci

2 Jared Cowen, 74 Mark Borowiecki

Goaltender

30 Andrew Hammond

Here are 3 stories you need to read before the opening faceoff:

1. New motto works for Flyers, who rebound from horrific stretch by hammering Detroit Red Wings

2. Flyers' Steve Mason gets a lot of goal support for change, greatly enjoys blowout win

3. Brayden Schenn loses hat trick, but Flyers blitz Detroit Red Wings

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com Philadelphia Sports on Facebook.