Even at their lowest moments, the Philadelphia Flyers never felt their season was lost. They capped a second-half turnaround with a 3-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday that clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Wayne Simmonds scored two goals, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare had one for Philadelphia. Steve Mason made 18 saves. The win eliminated the Boston Bruins, who lost 6-1 to the Ottawa Senators, from playoff contention. The Flyers are the second wild card in the Eastern Conference and will play the Washington Capitals in the first round.
Nick Bonino scored for Pittsburgh (48-26-8), which had its eight-game winning streak and an eight-game road winning streak end. Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray left the game with 2:35 left in the first period after a collision with Philadelphia forward Brayden Schenn. Jeff Zatkoff replaced Murray and made 22 saves. It was his first game since Feb. 20.
Coach Mike Sullivan said there would be an update on Murray's health Monday.
The Penguins, who had clinched second place in the Metropolitan Division, played without captain Sidney Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang. Letang was a healthy scratch; Sullivan said Crosby was dealing with bumps and bruises and was held out for precautionary reasons.
The Flyers went into the final weekend of the regular season with a chance to return to the playoffs after missing them last season. They started the season 5-8-3 and were 15-15-7 after getting swept on a three-game trip to California that ended Jan. 2. Since then, they were 25-12-7, including 14-5-3 in their past 22 games.
The Flyers weren't playing well at the start Saturday. The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on Bonino's goal at 11:57 of the first period. Simmonds' stretching redirection of a Voracek centering pass with 1:03 left in the first tied the game 1-1. It was the first shot Zatkoff faced after replacing Murray. Simmonds' second goal came when he got into the slot and Gostisbehere's point shot hit him in the right arm and went past Zatkoff at 16:58 of the second period. It was his Flyers-best 32nd goal of the season and sixth in five games. Bellemare scored an empty-net goal with 57.4 seconds left.
The Penguins will play either the New York Islanders or New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs, which begin April 13. The Islanders play the Flyers at Barclays Center on Sunday.
Pens Quotes
Chris Kunitz: "Get a few days here to practice and do some scouting. I'm not sure who we're playing. We'll figure that out and scout out some guys for a way to be successful against whomever we're playing."
Other Results
Friday, April 08Columbus @ Buffalo 4-1
Saturday, April 09
Ottawa @ Boston 6-1
Detroit @ NY Rangers 2-3
Anaheim @ Colorado 5-3
Tampa Bay @ Montreal 2-5
Carolina @ Florida 2-5
Toronto @ New Jersey 1-5
Buffalo @ NY Islanders 4-3 OT
Edmonton @ Vancouver 3-4 SO
Sunday, April 10
Philadelphia @ NY Islanders 5-2
Anaheim @ Washington 2-0
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