Canucks 4, Flyers 1
Alex Burrows broke a tie with two goals in a 17-second span of the third period and host Vancouver improved its playoff chances with a victory over struggling Philadelphia.
Defenseman Alex Edler scored for the first time in 20 games and added an assist for his first points in 10 contests as the second-place Canucks increased their lead to three points over Los Angeles and Calgary in the Pacific Division. Eddie Lack made 27 saves, Radim Vrbata added an empty-netter for his team-leading 26th goal and Daniel Sedin added two assists to snap a season high-matching three-game pointless streak for Vancouver, which is 4-1-0 in its last five contests.
Michael Raffl scored his 17th goal of the season and fourth in 10 contests for the Flyers, who are 1-3-3 in their last seven games and 10 points behind Boston for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Captain Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds each recorded an assist while Steve Mason stopped 31 shots for Philadelphia.
Sedin took a stretch pass from Edler in the neutral zone and drew two defensemen toward him before feeding a streaking Burrows, who snapped a wrist shot between Mason's pads at 6:44. After the ensuing faceoff, Burrows buried the rebound of Sedin's shot for his second multi-goal game of the season.
The Flyers scored first when Giroux delivered a saucer pass in front to Raffl, who got his stick to the puck just ahead of defenseman Luca Sbisa and deflected it past Lack at 10:42 of the second period. The Canucks got even 3:46 later on an aggressive play by Edler, who pinched in along the right boards to keep the puck in the zone and headed for the net where he accepted a back-kick pass from Brad Richardson and lifted a backhander past Mason.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Vancouver RW Zack Kassian, who has scored eight of his 10 goals this season since Feb. 7, did not play after reportedly suffering a undisclosed injury during the morning skate. ... Pat Quinn, who died Nov. 23 at age 71 after a long illness, was honored in a pre-game ceremony. Quinn coached Philadelphia and Vancouver to the Stanley Cup final in 1980 and 1994, respectively, and guided Canada to its first goal medal in 50 years at the 2002 Winter OIympics. ... The Canucks improved to 21-9-1 versus the Eastern Conference, including 12-3-0 at home.