Voracek’s OT goal lifts Flyers past Blues
Smith scores twice, Blackhawks beat Canadiens 4-1
ST LOUIS, Jan 16, (AP): Jakub Voracek scored in overtime and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the St Louis Blues 4-3.
Tyler Pitlick, Michael Raffl and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers, who won for the third time in their last four games. Brian Elliott, playing for the first time since Jan 7, stopped 30 shots and improved to 6-2 in his career against his former team.
Justin Faulk, Ryan O’Reilly and Alexander Steen scored, and Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for the Blues, who had their NHL best nine-game home winning streak snapped. The streak matched the longest in franchise history set from Jan 26-Feb 26, 1991.
Voracek’s goal spoiled the Blues’ comeback bid and snapped his 10-game scoreless drought, dating back to Dec 21.
With the Blues trailing 3-1, O’Reilly cut the deficit in half with his ninth midway through the third. The goal snapped a seven game scoreless stretch for O’Reilly, dating back to Dec 29.
Steen tied it with 6:21 left on a backhand after Robert Thomas’ pass found him all alone in front of the Flyers’ net. It was Steen’s fourth of the season, all of which came on the Blues’ current five-game homestand.
Faulk’s power-play goal, a one-timer off a perfect feed from Alexander Steen, gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with 5:36 left in the first period. Faulk has 21 points in 31 career games against Philadelphia, the most he has scored against any team.
St Louis has at least one power-play goal in 11 of their last 14 games.
Pitlick tied the game with his fifth goal of the season with 7:17 left in the second period. Pitlick scored when his centering attempt from behind the net deflected off the leg of a Blues defender past Binnington.
Raffl banged home a rebound of Robert Haag’s slap shot to put the Flyers up 2-1 with 4:17 left in the second. It was Raffl’s fifth goal of the season and first in three games.
Konecny’s power play goal 26 seconds into the third gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead. Konecny capitalized on a slick no-look pass by James van Riemsdyk.
Blackhawks 4, Canadiens 1
In Montreal, Zack Smith scored twice to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Alex DeBrincat and Drake Caggiula also scored for the Blackhawks, who were coming off a 3-2 overtime win against the Senators on Tuesday.
Corey Crawford stopped 32 shots to improve to 11-2-2 against his hometown team. Chicago won for the seventh time in 10 games.
Phillip Danault scored for the Canadiens, who have lost 10 of their last 11. Still looking for his first victory of the season, Charlie Lindgren finished with 24 saves.
Lindgren started the first game of a back-to-back for Montreal. Carey Price gets the nod Thursday at Philadelphia.
The Blackhawks scored twice in a fast-paced first period before Montreal even managed its second shot on net.
Miscommunication between Lindgren and Tomas Tatar behind the net led to Smith’s short-handed goal at 5:42. Lindgren hesitated with the puck and Tatar knocked into him, giving Caggiula the chance to feed Smith in front.
Chicago’s fourth line struck again less than three minutes later. Defenseman Slater Koekkoek threw the puck into traffic and Smith, unmarked to Lindgren’s right, deflected it into the top corner at 8:32.
Smith came in with two goals in 40 games all season. The former Senators forward doubled his tally after four shifts.
Lindgren kept Montreal in the game with a desperation save on rookie Dominik Kubalik late in the first to keep it 2-0.
Goals have been tough to come by for the Canadiens lately but they got one 54 seconds after the restart. A nolook pass from Ilya Kovalchuk into the slot fooled Jonathan Toews and Danault scored beneath Crawford’s glove to make it 2-1.
The Canadiens have scored 16 goals in their last nine games.
Max Domi’s roughing penalty on Matthew Highmore midway through the second proved costly for Montreal when DeBrincat’s power-play goal at 11:27 restored Chicago’s two-goal lead. After Lindgren lost his blocker in a goal-mouth scramble, DeBrincat scored on a one-timer from Patrick Kane.
Domi was benched for the remainder of the second as punishment for the penalty.