OTTAWA - Things are going much better for the Philadelphia Flyers since they last visited Ottawa 10 days ago.

On Nov. 21, Philadelphia dropped a 4-0 decision to the Senators — its third straight loss and second straight shutout. But on Tuesday night, Wayne Simmonds scored the tiebreaking goal and Sean Couturier had an empty-netter and two assists as the Flyers downed Ottawa 4-2 for their third consecutive victory.

"It's been nice. The last little bit we've been playing good hockey," said Simmonds, who scored the winning goal late in the second period and picked up an assist on the empty-net goal by Couturier that sealed the deal. "I think we're spending a lot more attention to detail and we're getting it done."

Shayne Gostisbehere and Evgeny Medvedev also scored for the Flyers (10-10-5) while Steve Mason made 23 saves.

It was Philadelphia's fourth win in five games and first three-game winning streak of the season.

"Oh yeah, we haven't won too many in a row but we're starting to build our confidence and you can really tell everyone has got their head up," said Flyers captain Claude Giroux.

Zack Smith and Mike Hoffman scored for the Senators (12-7-5) and Craig Anderson made 29 saves. The Senators have now dropped two straight after winning four in a row.

Both teams traded first-period goals less than three minutes apart with the Flyers taking a 1-0 lead at 14:27 on the Gostisbehere goal and Smith following up at 17:17 to tie the game.

"I thought the first period was real good," Senators coach Dave Cameron said. "The four lines were going, they were moving the puck well. We didn't generate a whole lot, but we did generate some and I was very happy with the first period."

After taking a pass from Giroux at the top of the left faceoff circle, Gostisbehere thought about shooting but instead took advantage of the space given to him and moved towards the bottom of the circle before firing a shot over Anderson's shoulder and in.

Minutes later, Luke Schenn tried to wrap the puck around the boards behind his net and out of the zone but the puck was intercepted 10 feet inside the blue line by Cody Ceci, who fed Smith for a one-timer to tie the game.

The Flyers took a 3-2 lead after two periods on goals from Medvedev and Simmonds.

Medvedev scored just as a Flyers' power play came to an end at 3:14 of the second period.

After Hoffman tied the game for the Senators at 4:20, the teams played scoreless hockey for 12 minutes before Simmonds scored at 16:35, giving the Flyers their third one-goal lead of the game.

"Lately we've been closing games pretty good and not giving up too much," Couturier said. "For sure, we're playing some better hockey, we trust each other more, we're playing more in the system and we're finding ways to close games. Earlier in the season we were sacred to lose games and it cost us a few points. Lately we've been doing a really good job."

Notes: Forward Colin Greening and defenceman Patrick Wiercioch were scratches for the Senators. Scratches for the Flyers were forwards Vincent Lecavalier and Sam Gagner and defenceman Nick Schultz. … Senators forward Curtis Lazar hasn't scored in his past nine games. … The Senators and Flyers won't meet again until April.