Flyers hand Blues their first home loss this season
ST. LOUIS -- Michal Neuvirth stopped 33 shots and made an early second-period goal by Brandon Manning stand up to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 2-0 win Thursday night over the St. Louis Blues.
The loss, which snapped a four-game winning streak for the Blues, was their first at home in six games this season and their first in regulation in their last eight games.
Neuvirth withstood a strong start by the Blues, who outshot the Flyers 10-1 in the first 10 minutes of the game and went on to post his 11th career shutout.
The Flyers' Claude Giroux scored into an empty net with six seconds left.
Manning scored his first goal of the game just 38 seconds into the second period, thanks to a coach's challenge and video review.
Manning's shot from just inside the blue line got past goalie Jake Allen, but the Flyers were initially called for goalie interference and the goal was waived off. After the challenge and review, however, it was determined the Blues' Alex Pietrangelo had knocked Jakub Voracek into Allen, who had no chance to make the save.
That was the only goal allowed by Allen, who made 21 saves.
Among Neuvirth's saves was stopping a breakaway by former Flyer Brayden Schenn midway through the second period.
Later in that period, Schenn was called for interference when he collided with the Flyers' Sean Couturier, knocking him to the ice. Couturier, the Flyers' leading scorer, was able to skate off on his own but went directly to the locker room for evaluation. He returned for the start of the third period.
The Blues pulled Allen for an extra attacker with 1:50 to play but still were unable to come up with the tying goal.
NOTES: With D Radko Gudas out of the Flyers' lineup after suffering an upper-body injury on Wednesday night in Chicago, D Will O'Neill made his NHL debut, meaning four of the team's six defensemen had less than 15 games of NHL experience. The team's most experienced defenseman was Brandon Manning, playing in the 150th game of his career. ... G Ville Husso served as the backup for Blues G Jake Allen and normal backup G Carter Hutton was out because of the birth of his first child. ... The Blues will host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night and the Flyers return home to host the Colorado Avalanche.