Flyers route Tampa, 6-2 on five-goal third

PHILADELPHIA – The Flyers erupted for five goals in the third period on Tuesday night to rout the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-2.

Samuel Ersson made 20 saves in the win.

The Flyers improved to 31-22-7.

“I think first two periods weren’t our best, but we were still hanging in there,” the Flyers Morgan Frost said. “I don’t think we were bad per se, just weren’t really creating too much and getting in on the forecheck. But in general, playing like that in the third against a team like that, it gives us a good feeling.”

The game was tied, 1-1, entering the third period.

Tyson Foerster snapped the tie and put the Flyers ahead, 2-1, with 54 seconds gone in the period.

“I didn’t really have any sense of trying to take it to the net,” Foerster said. “I was just trying to get it on net. I don’t know if it was the lights or not, but it just squeaked in, and I was pretty happy.”

Travis Sanheim a pushed the advantage to 3-1 at 3:08 scoring with a shot from the right side.

“They scored a couple quick goals (in the third),” Stamkos said. “I thought we were playing a pretty good road game, low-event game, low scoring. We were comfortable. The two previous games were like that. I liked our game, but they scored the two quick ones.”

The Flyers kept the pressure on, and Sean Walker extended the lead to 4-1 at 6:55.

Skating with an empty net behind them, Tampa’s Steven Stamkos finally stopped the run with a goal at 14:34 to make it 4-2.

The Lightning continued to play with an empty net and extra skater, and the Flyers capitalized.

Noah Cates hit the empty net at 15:22 for a 5-2 lead, and to make it 5-2, and Cam York repeated the effort at 17:41 for the 6-2 final count on the scoreboard..