Flyers win third straight, 2-1, over Predators

PHILADELPHIA – The Flyers won their third straight game under new coach Brad Shaw on Monday night. They defeated the visiting Nashville Predators, 2-1.

Micheal Bunting #58 of the Nashville Predators raises his arms in celebration of the goal by teammate Zachary L’Heureux #68

Ivan Fedotov made 28 saves in the win.

“I think they’re realizing they’re a little on the same wavelength as far as how they can create offense once they’re crossing the offensive blue line, and they’ve shown a patience and ability to get open for the other guy,” Shaw said. “That’s a really nice thing to see because they’re making something out of nothing sometimes. They’re keeping the offense going later, longer than the defense can withstand it and they’re getting some glorious chances because of it.”

Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale were the Flyers’ strikers.

“Just starting to find a nice rhythm,” the Flyers’ Travis Konecny said. “[Sean Couturier] complements really well with us, keeps us in check. We just have a tendency to look for one another, and it’s only going to get better and better.”

After a scoreless first period, Poehling hit just ahead of the midway point of the second period for a 1-0 lead to the Flyers.

“If you look forward from the start of the year, we’ve lost guys, so players got to step up,” Poehling said. “I’m playing a lot more. I’ve been playing well. … I’m getting the bounces right now and making the most of them.”

Zachary L’Heureux scored less than five minutes later to tie the game, 1-1.

“I thought we battled hard,” L’Heureux said. “I don’t know what the shots were at the end, but they’ve got to be close to double at least. We had our chances and unfortunately couldn’t capitalize.”

The Flyers regained the lead just 54 seconds later on Drysdale’s marker.

“The one that really hurt was we tied it and 34 seconds later, the things that sort of haunted us a lot of the year where we kind of turn the puck over and we lose coverage in our own zone and make a soft play in front of our net, and we fall down 2-1,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “And when goals are hard to come by, the margins are tiny, and they’re tiny right now, but in saying all that, I thought we played a really good game. I thought we didn’t give up a whole lot of room, we had the puck a lot, and we just didn’t capitalize on the chances we had.”

Justus Annunen made 16 saves in the loss.

“I thought he’s been really good the last couple of games,” Brunette said. “… When he’s skating and he’s on top of things, like he was tonight, he’s going to get opportunities to score. The recipe for him, for me, is when he’s skating, he’s effective. When he’s not, he’s not that effective. And he skated tonight.”