Simplicity is working for the Philadelphia Flyers, who moved into a Stanley Cup Playoff position with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.
The Flyers fought back from two one-goal deficits to score the game's final two goals using defense, goaltending and skill in a win that moved them past the Red Wings for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.
Philadelphia defeated Detroit 4-3 at home on Tuesday.
Philadelphia took their first lead midway through the third period on a goal by defenseman Radko Gudas. His shot from the right point hit the stick of Chicago defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and bounced past goalie Scott Darling at 9:53.
The Blackhawks didn't get enough bounces. They made a strong push late in the third and got four shots on goal but were unable to beat Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth (24 saves). Chicago's losing streak is a season-high four games.
Ryan White scored in the first period, and Schenn scored in the second for Philadelphia, which is 8-1-1 in its past 10 games. Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews scored for Chicago, and Darling made 26 saves. Hossa and White scored the only goals in a fast-paced first that featured a combined five penalties. Each scored on special teams, with Hossa getting a shorthanded goal at 8:18 to put Chicago up 1-0 and White tying it 1-1 at 18:48 on power play. Hossa's goal was the 497th of his career and second shorthanded goal of the season. A turnover gave him a breakaway, and he beat Neuvirth with a shot between the goalie's right pad and blocker.
Two minutes later, the Blackhawks got a 5-on-3 man-advantage that lasted 1:53, but put two shots on goal and failed to score. Chicago, which is third in the NHL on the power play, finished 0-for-3 and hasn't scored a power-play goal in the past three games (0-for-14).
After White tied it, Toews put Chicago back up 2-1 at 4:58 of the second with a goal off the rebound of his shot at the right post. It rewarded a reworked top line of him, Kane and Tomas Fleischmann for a strong shift.
The Flyers countered with Schenn's goal at 13:02 on a play that began with simplicity and finished with creativity. Simmonds forced a turnover. Schenn got the puck and fed Claude Giroux for a rush up the ice, then trailed the play to get a pass back from Giroux for the shot. In the third, Hossa couldn't convert another breakaway and Neuvirth withstood the Blackhawks' late pressure. Patrick Kane had an assist to push his NHL-leading point total to 90.
Hawks Quotes
Patrick Kane: "We're headed into a stretch here where we've got 11 games left and we've lost four in a row. Obviously [it's] not the stretch we want. I don't want to say it's panic time, but at the same time, we have shore things up before playoffs come into play here."Brent Seabrook: "It's tough. I think we were up 1-0 at the time. It would have been nice to stretch that lead. We got some looks. We got some chances. It just didn't go in for us."
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