Flyers win fifth straight game
PHILADELPHIA -- The Flyers are playing their best hockey during their toughest stretch of the season.
Left winger Brayden Schenn scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, goaltender Steve Mason made 32 saves and Philadelphia beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-1, on Saturday.
Left winger Scott Hartnell and right wingers Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds also scored goals to help the Flyers (38-25-7) win their fifth straight game and move three points ahead of the New York Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
The winning streak began with a sweep of home-and-home series against Pittsburgh last weekend. The Flyers then beat Chicago and Dallas.
"Playing good teams is a good test for us," captain Claude Giroux said. "We're playing well so it's good timing for us. You can see why they're good teams and we can learn from that.
"We have to keep going. We can be better. We made a lot of mistakes."
Left winger Jaden Schwartz scored the only goal for St. Louis (47-16-7). The Central Division-leading Blues lost in regulation for only the second time in 11 games.
"We just have to remember that we are a good team and if we stick to what works, then we're going to have success," Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said.
Schenn put the Flyers ahead, 2-1, in the second period with his 18th goal. Simmonds set it up with a nice play, going wide on goalie Ryan Miller, and Schenn stuffed in the rebound.
Voracek gave Philadelphia a two-goal cushion with 4:19 left, taking advantage of a turnover by the Blues. Flyers center Claude Giroux set it up with a nice pass to Voracek, who wristed a shot over Miller's blocker for his 19th goal.
"We should that we have a lot of confidence right now; we're playing very, very well," Voracek said. "I think we played very physically over the last couple of weeks, which I think was the biggest difference.
"That's why we were winning those games and I think we showed the league that we can play with everyone and that we can beat everyone."
Simmonds scored his 24th goal into an empty net, tying Giroux for the team lead.
Giroux committed four penalties for eight minutes. The star captain had only 32 penalty minutes entering the game.
Miller had won seven of nine games since being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 28. He had allowed two goals or fewer in seven of the nine games.
The Flyers beat former coach Ken Hitchcock, who led them to three straight 100-point seasons from 2002-03 to 2005-06 before being fired after a 1-6-1 start in 2006.
"We were really good in the first and then didn't outwork the goalie in the third," Hitchcock said. "You're down, 2-1, and have the chances you get in the third period, you have to outwork the goalie.
"I thought his level of competition was harder than ours, in and around the net area, and we couldn't get the second and third chances that we probably need to."
Schwartz gave the Blues a 1-0 lead in the first period on his 22nd goal. A turnover by Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald led to a two-on-one, short-handed breakaway. Schwartz beat Mason to the glove side on a pass from defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.
Hartnell scored a power-play goal to tie it, 1-1, only 57 seconds into the second period. Voracek made a crisp pass to Hartnell, who lifted a shot over Miller's shoulder for his 19th goal.
Mason made two sensational stops in the third to preserve a one-goal lead before the Flyers put the game away.
"I think we've proven that we're a good hockey club," Mason said. "We just beat the No. 1 team in the NHL. That's something to be proud of, but everyone in this dressing room realizes that this is going to be a long grind to finish out this year.
"Beating good hockey teams along the way is definitely a good sign."
NOTES: The Flyers allowed 2.82 goals per game in 62 games before acquiring D Andrew MacDonald from the Islanders. The total dropped to 2.43 per game in first 17 games with him. ... Flyers RW Steve Downie left the game in the first period because of an upper-body injury. ... The Flyers agreed to terms with D Robert Hagg, their second-round pick in the 2013 draft. ... Flyers C Claude Giroux extended his points streak to six games. ... The Blues were missing LW Brenden Morrow, who was involved in a collision that also injured Blackhawks star RW Patrick Kane on Wednesday night. ... D Jordan Leopold (ankle) and RW Vladimir Tarasenko (hand) also were out of the lineup for St. Louis, but LW Magnus Paajarvi returned from an upper-body injury. ... The teams last played on Oct. 22, 2011, a 4-2 win for St. Louis.
