Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Philadelphia Flyers
* The Flyers erased a third-period deficit to earn at least one standings point for the second consecutive game, after coming back from down 2-0 at the start of the third to tie Calgary on Tuesday.
* The Flyers are four points behind the Boston Bruins for the final Wild Card berth in the Eastern Conference.
* The Flyers held the Blues without a goal on the only power play they received tonight. The Flyers are now 29-for-31 in their 12 home games during this current 18-game run where they are 10-3-5.
* Luke Schenn recorded two assists for his first multi-point game since December 9, 2013. It’s his first multi-assist game as a Flyer… His last came for Toronto against the Flyers on Feb. 9, 2012.
* Matt Read also recorded two assists for his fourth multi-point and third multi-assist game of the season.
GAME RECAP
PHILADELPHIA — Michael Del Zotto and Wayne Simmonds scored 1:50 apart midway through the third period, and the Philadelphia Flyers held on for a 3-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Matt Read assisted on each goal, and Michael Raffl scored an empty-net goal. Philadelphia goaltender Steve Masonmade 28 saves.
The Flyers trail the Boston Bruins by four points for the second wild-card spot into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Boston lost to the Calgary Flames 4-3 in a shootout.
Jaden Schwartz scored for the Blues, who lost in regulation for the first time in four games. Brian Elliott made 28 saves.
St. Louis was leading 1-0 midway through the third when Philadelphia got on the board.
Read won a puck battle in the left corner of the Blues zone and got the puck out to Del Zotto above the circles. Del Zotto took one stride to his right and sent a slap shot on goal that deflected off Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson and past Elliott at 9:47.
Moments later it was Read with another strong effort, tipping a loose puck past Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo at center ice and holding the puck on the left side of the St. Louis zone. Read waited for Mark Streit to join the play, and the defenseman’s low shot was redirected in the slot by Simmonds past Elliott at 11:37.
Simmonds’ 26 goals lead the Flyers. It was his fifth game-winner.
Raffl scored with 1:13 remaining to close the scoring.
The Blues took the lead at 13:52 of the first period on Schwartz’s 21st goal. Streit skated the puck out of his zone and tried making a cross-ice pass for Claude Giroux, but it was intercepted at center ice by the Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko, who carried the puck back into the Flyers end. Tarasenko found Schwartz cutting down the slot. His shot from the left hash marks beat Mason.
St. Louis trails the Nashville Predators by four points for first place in the Central Division. The Predators lost 4-3 to the New York Islanders.
