On Tuesday, the Flyers felt they had been robbed of a second point in a shootout loss to the Islanders. On Thursday night, they earned the two points.
The Flyers turned in a similar showing in the second period to their aggressive pressure from two nights earlier and scored three times. That was enough as the Flyers would hold off a third-period rally for the St. Louis Blues to claim the victory, 4-2, on Thursday night at Scottrade Center.
As has been the custom of Flyers-Blues matchups in St. Louis, the first period went by without any scoring. Both teams mounted chances as they fired an even 10 shots apiece on the opposing netminders.
In the second, the Blues came out strong and took an early lead. A nice pass from behind the net by Dmitrij Jaskin found Robby Fabbri in front and he scored for his fifth of the season.
The Flyers quickly answered back. A centering pass by Brayden Schenn was deflected in by Michael Raffl, evening the score just 1:40 later.
The Flyers would take the lead at 6:39 as a hard-working shift by the second line resulted in a goal. Wayne Simmonds held possession along the far boards and dropped a pass to the point for Michael Del Zotto. Del Zotto's shot was stopped but Matt Read was in the slot to grab the rebound and with determination, staying with it to put it past Brian Elliott. Simmonds picked up an assist for his 100th as a Flyer and 300th NHL point.
Late in the period, Claude Giroux extended the lead to two. The Flyers captain took the puck in the neutral zone off a Brayden Schenn pass and turned on the jets, streaking in and splitting two Blues defenders before working his way around Elliott and tucking the puck home for his 11th goal of the season. With the goal, Giroux has now scored against each of the other 29 teams in the NHL.
The Blues came out strong in the third as well and kept the Flyers on their heels. The Flyers survived an early flurry from the Blues, but could not survive their first power play attempt.
Getting a man advantage on a Wayne Simmonds hooking minor, the Blues capitalized. A shot by Alexander Steen was stopped by Michal Neuvirth, but he could not find the rebound before David Backes put it past him to cut the lead to one.
The Flyers would have to kill off another penalty just over two minutes later, and survived that one with a strong effort on the PK.
Again, the Blues would swarm the Flyers net in the closing seconds. A mad scramble in front of the net with 15 seconds to play nearly had the Flyers on the wrong end of another late goal. The Flyers survived again and off the ensuing face-off, got a clear from Ryan White that went all the way down the ice and into the empty net to seal the win.
Neuvirth made 35 saves to secure yet another victory. The Flyers were 0-for-1 on the power play. The Blues were 1-for-2. The Blues outshot the Flyers, 14-7, in the final period. Shots were 23-22 St. Louis through 40 minutes.
The win is also the Flyers first in St. Louis since December 17, 2005.
The Flyers have a quick turnaround, returning to the ice in Dallas to face the Stars on Friday night. The opening face-off is set for 8:30 p.m.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
