Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Philadelphia Flyers
* With the win, the Flyers extended their regular season home winning streak over Chicago to 11 games… Their last regular-season loss to Chicago at home came on November 9, 1996 in the second month of regular season hockey at the Wells Fargo Center.
* The Flyers have 21 of their 30 victories the season at home, going 21-9-6 at the Wells Fargo Center, including 6-1-2 in their last nine at home and 13-4-3 at home since Jan 1.
* Jakub Voracek posted an assist to move into a tie for first place in the NHL with 74 points.
* Claude Giroux extended his point streak to four straight games – he has four goals and five points in that stretch.
* Wayne Simmonds recorded his 100th goal as a Flyer.
GAME RECAP
PHILADELPHIA — Steve Mason made 34 saves to help the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday.
Wayne Simmonds, Ryan White, Claude Giroux and Michael Raffl scored for Philadelphia, which had one regulation win in its previous nine games (1-4-4).
The Flyers (30-29-16) moved within nine points of the idle Ottawa Senators for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining.
Chicago (44-23-6) got a goal from Andrew Shaw. Goaltender Corey Crawford made 28 saves.
The loss leaves the Blackhawks third in the Central Division, four points behind the second-place Nashville Predators and five behind the first-place St. Louis Blues. They’re also three points ahead of the fourth-place Minnesota Wild.
Shaw scored for Chicago 2:24 into the third period. On the ensuing faceoff after Philadelphia’s Carlo Colaiacovo was sent to the penalty box for high-sticking, Jonathan Toews won a faceoff and Chicago held the puck in the Flyers’ zone. It ended up high in the zone for Duncan Keith, and his low slap shot was redirected by Shaw past Mason for his 13th goal of the season.
The Blackhawks had another power play moments later when Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto was called for slashing, but their only chance was a shot from the right side by Toews that hit the goal post.
The Flyers got an insurance goal from Raffl at 15:55 of the third on their second power play of the period. Matt Readpushed the puck ahead to Raffl who carried it down the right side of the Chicago zone, faked a centering pass and beat Crawford to the short side, past his glove.
It was Raffl’s 19th goal of the season but first on the power play.
Giroux gave the Flyers a 3-0 lead at 13:58 of the second. He drove through the middle of the ice and got a piece of Jakub Voracek‘s centering pass and tipped it over Crawford’s glove for his 22nd of the season. It also was Giroux’s first even-strength goal at home in nearly a year; his previous one was scored on March 28, 2014 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The assist gave Voracek 74 points and tied him with John Tavares of the New York Islanders and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the League scoring lead.
White’s goal at 7:09 of the second gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead. Rookie center Nick Cousins beat Shaw on a faceoff on the right side of the Chicago zone, and Zac Rinaldo pushed it back to Nicklas Grossmann at the point. He sent it across to Colaiacovo, who took a shot that White tipped down from the slot and past Crawford.
The goal was White’s fifth goal in 27 games this season; he had five in his first 141 games.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead on Simmonds’ goal at 7:20 of the first period. Crawford tried leaving a Flyers dump-in for Michal Rozsival, but Simmonds tipped the puck away from him and chased it down on the right side. He spun and released a shot that Crawford stopped but couldn’t control and Read tipped the rebound away from Rozsival. The puck rolled to Nick Schultz, who pushed it deep for Read. He sent a pass across the zone to Simmonds on the right side, and he beat Crawford for his 28th goal of the season. It was Simmonds’ 100th goal with the Flyers.
MacDONALD, SIMMONDS OUT
Following the Flyers 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, Flyers GM Ron Hextall announced the following injury update:
Simmonds suffered a lower-body injury and is done for the rest of the regular season. Defenseman Andrew MacDonald suffered an upper-body injury and is done for the rest of the regular season.
Simmonds recorded his 28th goal of the season to help the Flyers to the victory over Chicago. His 28 goals leads the Flyers as does his 14 power-play goals, which also ranks third overall in the NHL. He also has 22 assists for a total of 50 points, having appeared in all 75 games for the Flyers this season.
MacDonald has appeared in 58 of 75 games for the Flyers, recording two goals and 10 assists for 12 points while averaging exactly 20 minutes of ice-time per-game.
