Simmonds, Mason lead Flyers over Avalanche
PHILADELPHIA -- Wayne Simmonds scored a pair of goals for the fourth time this season and goaltender Steve Mason turned aside 32 shots for his second shutout of the season to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Jakub Voracek and Jordan Weal also scored for the Flyers (29-26-7), who had lost four of their previous five games to fall out of playoff position in the Eastern Conference standings.
Goaltender Jeremy Smith, starting his second straight game in place of Calvin Pickard (neck soreness), surrendered four goals on 26 shots to fall to 1-3-0. The Avalanche lost nine of their last 11 games (2-8-1) and sit last in the NHL with 37 points.
Now trailing only Bernie Parent (486) and Ron Hextall (489) in games played by a Flyers goaltender, Mason (216) made the most of his first start in seven games. Included in his 32 saves was a denial of Mikko Rantanen on a second-period penalty shot and a series of saves on a late Colorado power play.
Simmonds, who leads the Flyers with 27 goals, had several chances to record the second regular season hat trick of his career, but fell just short. His only regular season hat trick came on April 20, 2013 against the Carolina Hurricanes. Since then, he's recorded hat tricks in the 2014 playoffs and the 2017 NHL All-Star Game.
Simmonds got things started 4:04 into the game when he scored the Flyers' first short-handed goal since Nov. 11.
Philadelphia was killing off a penalty to Claude Giroux when defenseman Andrew MacDonald led a three-on-one breakout with Simmonds and Sean Couturier. Simmonds took a return pass from MacDonald and tried to hit Couturier with a backdoor pass. The puck went off the stick of Colorado defenseman Francois Beauchemin and behind Smith for Simmonds' 26th goal of the season and second short-handed.
A little more than three minutes later, after Giroux drew a holding penalty on Fedor Tyutin, Simmonds went to work again, deflecting a Shayne Gostisbehere point shot through Smith for his 27th goal and his 13th on the man advantage.
With Philadelphia on the power play again, Simmonds appeared to become the first Flyer to score a hat trick since Brayden Schenn on Dec. 10 when he swung -- and apparently missed -- at a bouncing puck on its way past Smith. Fans tossed hundreds of hats onto the ice, but replays confirmed Voracek's pass intended for Simmonds caromed off Beauchemin, giving Voracek his 17th goal of the season.
In a first-intermission interview, Voracek joked that it was the first time he ever was booed for scoring a goal.
The Flyers made it 4-0 on Weal's first NHL goal. Weal deflected a shot by Radko Gudas for his first goal in 19 NHL games. Colorado coach Jared Bednar challenged the goal, contending the Flyers were offside on their zone entry, but the call on the ice stood.
NOTES: Despite trade rumors swirling around both teams, neither made a deal on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's 3 p.m. EST trade deadline. ... Flyers D Brandon Manning sat out the first game of a two-game NHL suspension for interfering with Penguins rookie F Jake Guentzel. He was replaced in the lineup by D Michael Del Zotto. ... The Avalanche continue their three-game road trip Thursday night in Ottawa. ... The Flyers are back in action Thursday night at home against the Florida Panthers.