Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves. Steven Stamkos, Tyler Johnson, and Valtteri Filppula each scored. Ryan Callahan grabbed a pair of assists and Tampa Bay continued their mastery over the Philadelphia Flyers with a 3-1 win on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The first period started out with both teams having some good chances. Tampa hit two posts and Nick Schultz made a sliding save in the crease. The Flyers had chances too and Andrei Vasilevskiy had all but one answer.
The Flyers were able to kill two penalties midway through the opening period and looked to push the pace. With just under a minute left in the period, Brenden Morrow took a hooking penalty on Nick Schultz.
Sixteen seconds later Wayne Simmonds redirected a shot from Mark Streit and put the Flyers up 1-0. The goal was his team leading 14th goal of the season. The Flyers would go to the locker room leading 1-0 after one period.
The lead did not last long. After a good shift by the Couturier line, Steven Stamkos got his 18th of the season at the 1:50 mark to tie it 1-1. Stamkos picked the corner high to the blocker side on Mason.
The goal lifted Tampa as they had the better of the play the rest of the period. Tampa took the lead at 7:34 of the period on Tyler Johnson's 10th of the season.
The goal came less than a minute after the Flyers killed off a tripping penalty to Brayden Schenn. They could not gain control and clear the zone following the penalty and Johnson buried it behind Mason.
The Flyers would get two cracks at leveling the score but were unable to capitalize on two power play chances midway through the period. The teams would head to the dressing room with Tampa up 2-1 after two.
The third was more of the same as Tampa sat back and counter attacked. The Flyers never got any sustained pressure. Valtteri Filppula put the game away scoring an empty net goal with 40 seconds left.
Steve Mason made 20 saves in the loss. Vasilevskiy made 23 saves for the win. The Flyers will be back in action on Thursday night as they host the Florida Panthers. Game time is 7:00.
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074
