Flyers win 10th game in row

DENVER -- Roman Lyubimov and Brayden Schenn scored 1:46 apart early in the third period to help the Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 at Pepsi Center on Wednesday for their 10th consecutive win, matching the third-longest streak in their history.
"I'm very happy with the way everybody in this locker room has performed," said goalie Steve Mason, who made 13 of his 26 saves in the third period and has won an NHL career-best eight games in a row. "We've found different ways to win hockey games, but the one constant is the guys are battling. That's what we need.
"This team has so much care and character, and when everybody's going, we're a hard team to play against. Ten in a row, that's quite the accomplishment. It's very hard to do in this league."

Lyubimov gave the Flyers (19-10-3) a 3-2 lead at 3:30 of the third period when he forced a turnover and beat goalie Calvin Pickard with a shot from the right circle.
WATCH: All Flyers vs. Avalanche highlights
Schenn skated down the right wing, cut inside Colorado's Francois Beauchemin, and continued to the net to jam the puck past Pickard to make it 4-2 with his ninth goal at 5:16.
"[Andrew] MacDonald hit me with the quick up, I was able to catch the [defenseman] flat-footed, and I was able to take it to the post," said Schenn, who has five goals in a three-game streak.

Schenn's power move didn't surprise Pickard, who had 21 saves.
"I've seen that before, I played against him in junior," he said. "He came with some speed, and you can't commit too early. He's coming pretty fast."
The Avalanche (11-16-1), who are 0-5-1 in their past six home games, closed to 4-3 with 4:45 to go when Matt Duchene scored his second goal of the game, his 12th of the season. They pulled Pickard for a sixth skater with 1:24 left.
"I missed (tying the game), I think by an inch, from the backdoor," Duchene said. "We pressed, we didn't give up which is good, but we put ourselves into too many bad positions this year. The starts of periods are killing us, and tonight was no different."
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 4:01 of the second period on a goal by defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who batted his own rebound out of the air for his fourth goal.

The Avalanche tied it 1-1 at 12:14 on Rene Bourque's ninth goal. Carl Soderberg won a faceoff in the right circle and drew the puck back to Bourque, who spun around and beat Mason from the high slot.
Duchene and Philadelphia's Wayne Simmonds exchanged goals 23 seconds apart later in the second.
After Duchene put in a rebound for a 2-1 Avalanche lead with 3:26 remaining, Simmonds tied it 2-2 with 3:03 left with his 16th goal.

Goal of the game

Lyubimov broke a 2-2 tie when he pressured Bourque in the right faceoff circle in the Avalanche zone. He knocked the puck off Bourque's stick and took a quick shot that beat Pickard.

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Save of the game

The Flyers were on a second-period power play when Simmonds took a point-blank shot from the left side of the crease that Pickard stopped with his right pad at 13:17.

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Highlight of the game

Duchene gave Colorado a 2-1 lead after feeding Nikita Zadorov for a hard shot that Mason stopped. Duchene knocked in the rebound for his first goal at Pepsi Center this season.

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Unsung performance of the game

The Avalanche pulled Pickard for a sixth attacker with 1:24 left in regulation and were pressing for the tying goal. The Flyers managed to hang on after Simmonds had to drop his broken stick. "Just an all-out battle," Mason said. "Guys were giving everything they could to block shots, try to clear pucks. We had a broken stick, a failed clear. It's a heck of a way to close out a game. Pretty chaotic."

They said it

"I've never won 10 in a row in any league, never mind the NHL, so it's pretty special."-- Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds

"It's frustrating, absolutely. When you play like that and lay it all on the line ... you lay it all on the line and you don't get any results. It's frustrating for sure, especially when we're at where we're at. That's what we need every night. We need that effort every night." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

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Need to know

The Flyers have outscored teams 36-22 during their streak. ... Schenn has scored the winning goal in the past three games. … Duchene's two goals gave him 168 for his career, moving him past Alex Tanguay into seventh place in Avalanche history. ... MacDonald went to the locker room at 12:00 of the third period after getting hit in the face with a puck, but he was able to return. "He played the rest of the game, I'm sure he's fine," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said.

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What's next

Flyers: At the Dallas Stars on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, CSN-PH, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: Host the Florida Panthers on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-F, NHL.TV)