Flyers 4, Predators 1
Wayne Simmonds tallied twice and Ilya Bryzgalov turned aside 26 shots as the Philadelphia Flyers snapped the Nashville Predators' five-game winning streak with a 4-1 home triumph on Thursday.
Matt Read scored his NHL rookie-leading 16th goal of the season and All-Star Claude Giroux added an empty-net tally as Philadelphia snapped a three-game losing skid at the Wells Fargo Center. With the win, the Flyers moved to within three points of the Atlantic Division-leading New York Rangers.
All-Star defenseman Ryan Suter spoiled Bryzgalov's bid for his second shutout of the season and 25th career at 8:37 of the third period. The Russian shut the door from there to improve to 3-0-2 in his last five games - allowing one goal or less in four of those contests.
After Simmonds opened the scoring late in the first period, Read doubled the advantage with 5:28 left in the second.
Read poked the puck away from Predators defenseman Kevin Klein to create a partial breakaway before beating Anders Lindback, who was making the rare start in place of Pekka Rinne.
Simmonds collected his fourth point in two games versus the Predators this season by cleaning up a rebound with 4:41 remaining in the third period. With 15 goals, Simmonds sits one tally shy of his career high.
Lindback finished with 24 saves to suffer his fifth straight loss and sixth in eight decisions this season (2-6-0).