Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Philadelphia Flyers
* The Flyers have now won three straight games on home ice and earned a point in the standings in five straight homes games, going 3-0-2.
* Jake Voracek scored two goals to extend his current scoring streak to six games (3g-8a-11pts)… It’s his sixth multi-point game of the season and first multi-goal game.
* Voracek’s start is the best for a Flyer through 12 games since the 2005-06 season, when Peter Forsberg was 4g-21a-25pts and Simon Gagne was 15g-8a-23pts through 12 games.
* Voracek has scored in 11 of the Flyers’ 12 games this season, with the only exception being the shutout loss at Chicago on Oct. 21.
* Luke Schenn recorded his 100th NHL point on his second-period goal… It was assisted by his brother Brayden, marking the second time this season the brothers have hooked up for a goal – the other was Luke assisting Brayden on Oct. 18 at Dallas, the first time the two had combined for a goal in the NHL.
* The Flyers were 66 percent (44-for-67) on faceoffs: Claude Giroux was 20-for-26 (77 percent), Vincent Lecavalier was 9-for-12 (75 pct) and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was 5-for-7 (71 percent), while R.J. Umberger (3-for-3) and Brayden Schenn (1-for-1) won all their draws.
* Michael Del Zotto recorded an assist, six hits, three blocked shots and led the team in time-on-ice at 23:17… Del Zotto has played over 23 minutes of ice-time in each of his last four games and has led the team in time-on-ice in four of his last five games.
* The Flyers did not receive a power play opportunity tonight – The last time that happened was March 15, 2012 at NYI, and it also happened five days prior to that, on March 10, 2012 at Toronto… The last time it happened in a home game was February 21, 2008 vs. San Jose.
GAME RECAP
PHILADELPHIA — Jakub Voracek scored two first-period goals to help the Philadelphia Flyers snap a two-game losing streak with a 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center.
Pierre Edouard Bellemare and Luke Schenn also scored for the Flyers, and Steve Mason made 35 saves for his first win of the season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers. Viktor Fasth, making his first start since Oct. 14 because of a groin injury, allowed four goals on 25 shots. The Oilers went 0-for-4 on the power play, including two chances in the third period.
The loss was Edmonton’s third straight, but their first against an Eastern Conference team (4-1-0).
Voracek’s two goals extended his point streak to six games and gave him at least a point in 11 of 12 games this season. They also gave Voracek 18 points, temporarily tying him for the NHL lead with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who regained the top spot with an assist against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
After Voracek’s two goals gave the Flyers the lead, Bellemare added to it on Philadelphia’s first shot of the second period. Strong work in the offensive zone by the Flyers’ fourth line saw Zac Rinaldo pull the puck out of the corner and find an open Chris VandeVelde, whose shot was stopped by Fasth. But Bellemare poked the puck between the Edmonton goaltender and post at 4:09 to make it 3-0.
“The goal was as simple as it gets,” Bellemare said “We got the puck deep and we win it. … I’m down, and the puck somehow goes off my stick and it goes in. It’s not the nicest goal, but that’s exactly the kind of goals we need to get.”
Nugent-Hopkins turned a great individual effort into his fourth goal at 9:54 of the second. Jumping on a loose puck in the Edmonton zone, he raced past Rinaldo and skated around Flyers defenseman Mark Streit. Nugent-Hopkins cut through the crease and lifted a puck over Mason’s glove to make it 3-1.
Schenn made it 4-1 at 12:01 on a strong play by his brother, Brayden Schenn. Brayden bumped the Oilers’ Matt Hendricks off the puck behind the Edmonton net. As he was falling he pushed the puck out to Luke Schenn in the right circle, and the older of the Schenn brothers one-timed a shot past Fasth for his first goal since March 1, ending a 32-game goal drought.
It’s the second Schenn-to-Schenn goal this season; on Oct. 18, against the Dallas Stars, Luke set up Brayden for a goal.
“We didn’t connect the first two years [as teammates in Philadelphia], and this year we already have a couple,” Luke Schenn said. “We connected a lot of times as kids growing up in the backyard rink, and to do it in the NHL is pretty special.”
Mason made the lead hold up in the third with a number of strong saves, including two on an early power play when he denied Nail Yakupov on a hard shot from the left circle and then stopped David Perron on the left post. On an Oilers power play midway through the period, he made a great glove stop on Mark Acrobello next to the left post moments after Justin Schultz hit the same post with a low point shot.
Two fortuitous bounces allowed the Flyers to take a 2-0 lead after one period.
Philadelphia opened the scoring on Voracek’s fourth goal, at 3:59 of the first. Streit dumped the puck behind the Edmonton net, and Voracek tried to make a no-look backhand pass back into the slot. The puck bounced off Edmonton defensemen Oscar Klefbom’s skate and went back to Voracek. The Philadelphia forward moved out from behind the net and stuffed the puck inside the right post.
It was the third time in 12 games the Flyers scored the first goal.
Voracek made it 2-0 at 16:04 of the first. He made a sharp cross-ice pass to a cutting Michael Del Zotto, and the Philadelphia defenseman tried redirecting the shot on net but the shot bounced off Edmonton’s Jeff Petry right to Voracek in the slot. He shot it past Fasth before the Edmonton goaltender could set himself.
