Flyers complete sweep of Western Canada with victory over Canucks
Jakub Voracek assists on 1st 3 Philadelphia goals
Shayne Gostisbehere and Claude Giroux each had a goal and an assist, helping the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 on Thursday night.
Michael Raffl and Wayne Simmonds also scored for the Flyers, who have won three in a row after a 10-game losing streak. Jakub Voracek had three assists.
"It's good for our confidence," Giroux said. "We changed a couple things how we want to play and our identity as a team and everybody has bought into it. It makes it a lot more fun.
"We deserve it. We have been through a really tough stretch and we're battling back right now. We have a lot of character in this room. It's one of the tightest groups I have been on and we are just playing on the same page right now."
Philadelphia's Brian Elliott made 36 saves for his 200th NHL victory.
"My goalie coach shook my hand and said 200 and it's pretty special for me," he said. "You get your first win and you just try to stay in the league and play your game and try to win a Stanley Cup. But reaching milestones like that means a lot and hopefully I can go for another hundred."
Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who had won three in a row. Jacob Markstrom, coming off his first career NHL shutout, stopped 22 shots.
Vancouver played without top-line centre Bo Horvat, who could miss up to six weeks with a broken foot. Horvat, who has 10 goals and 10 assists in 28 games, got hurt Tuesday against Carolina.
"When you lose top guys in your lineup someone else has to step up," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "And a lot of times it's by committee. You can't expect one person to become Bo Horvat."
The Canucks jumped all over the Flyers in the first period, outshooting Philadelphia 9-0 before Markstrom made his first save around the eight-minute mark. The goalie was busy after the early lull, making seven saves during a power play for the Flyers.
Philadelphia scored on the second of three straight man advantages in the first. Gostisbehere fired from the blue line and the puck caromed off Sam Gagner's stick to open the scoring at 14:08.
The Flyers got another goal just 45 seconds into the second. Voracek won a puck battle along the boards, skated through the slot and then dished to Raffl, who tipped in the puck.
Vancouver's penalties cost the club again midway in the second, this time with Sven Baertschi off for interference. Giroux one-timed a pass from Gostisbehere and the Flyers had a comfortable 3-0 lead.
"On 5-on-5, I thought we deserved better," Canucks forward Henrik Sedin said. "But we took too many penalties and gave up two on the penalty kill and that was the difference."