PHILADELPHIA – The Flyers rode two goals from Wayne Simmonds to up-end the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1.
“I think our hands were a little too shaky [in the first period],” Simmonds said. “Like everyone had two cups of coffee too much. But we settled down, we figured it out, and we kept going and we stuck with our structure and we kept going and going. … We stuck to our systems. No matter if we were having a good game, bad game, we stuck with it and we just keep trying to improve on our systems. It worked.”
In the process, the Flyers’ win eliminated the Boston Bruins from a post season berth.
“From Day One we believed in the group,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “We believed in the character and the work ethic of the group. From there, it’s all the players in terms of those guys digging in, sticking together, pushing each other to be better, and in terms of the regular season, it culminates with a good win that puts us into the playoffs.”
The Bruins lost to the Ottawa Senators earlier Saturday, 6-1, and were waiting on the Flyers to lose two games.
Nick Bonino staked the Penguins to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the third Flyers goal.
“I think we played some really great hockey against them,” Philadelphia defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said of Washington. “They’re the best team in the League for a reason; they’re very good. We have a good test on our hands there.”
Matt Murray started in net for the Penguins but left after a collision with Brayden Schenn of the Flyers.
“We feel like we’ve been a good team consistently since Christmastime, since the time we came back from the western road swing where we didn’t play very well,” Hakstol said.
Steve Mason made 18 saves for the win that lifted the Flyers into the post season.
“All the weight came off your shoulders,” said Mason, who started his 12th straight game. “The guys fought hard all game, all season long to get to this point. To have that seal the deal there, was definitely a nice feeling to ride out the last 50 seconds.”
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