Hayes, Hart carry Flyers past Sharks
PHILADELPHIA — It took 20 minutes for the Flyers’ new lines to find some chemistry, but they regrouped and increased their winning streak to four on Tuesday.
Kevin Hayes had two goals and an assist and Carter Hart continued his superb play at the Wells Fargo Center, carrying the opportunistic Flyers past San Jose, 4-2.
The win moved the Flyers to within one point of secondplace Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins have two games in hand.
Hart made 26 saves and is now 17-2-2 at home. In games at the Wells Fargo Center this season, he took a 1.64 GAA and .942 save percentage into the night.
Earlier in the day, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said he moved Scott Laughton — who had been the third-line center — to Hayes’ line because he liked the chemistry the two forwards displayed in their 21 games together earlier in the season. So Laughton was moved to left wing on the second line, and newcomer Derek Grant played center on the third line.
The move worked perfectly. Hayes’ line, with Laughton (two assists) and Travis Konecny (goal, two assists), had three of the Flyers’ goals and combined for eight points. Hayes had an assist to go with his 20th and 21st goals.
It was just the Flyers’ second win in their last 12 home games against the Sharks, and it avenged a 6-1 loss in San Jose on Dec. 28.
Hayes gave the Flyers a 4-1 lead with 16:17 left in the third, and Noah Gregor answered for the Sharks with 11:42 to go. But San Jose, which suffered its fifth straight loss, would not get any closer.
The Flyers allowed just three shots over the last 28 minutes
After a sluggish first period, the Flyers built a 3-1 lead on second-period goals by Hayes and Konecny (22nd).
“We had a good conversation at the first intermission and came out better,” Konecny said. “The message was received.”
Hayes, who now has two more goals than he scored last season, finished off a three-on-two by converting a pass from Laughton with 16:09 left in the second.
The goal was reviewed for offside, but it stood and the Flyers were given a power play for the failed challenge.
“We watched it on the screen a couple of times and couldn’t figure if it was offside or not,” Hayes said.
After San Jose pinned the Flyers in their own end for a while, Hayes broke out and fed Konecny on a two-on-one rush. Konecny put it between goalie Aaron Dell’s legs to make it 3-1 with 10:19 remaining in the second.
The line changes seemed to affect the Flyers in a 1-1 first period in which they were out, 158 — 15-2 after they had the game’s first six shots.
A pair of trades Monday brought centers Nate Thompson and Grant to the Flyers and caused Vigneault to change three of his lines, and they all looked out of sync in the opening 20 minutes.
The only line that looked sharp was the one that stayed intact: Sean Couturier centering Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek.