Flyers use penalty kill to defeat Predators

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers killed four consecutive minutes on the power play against the Nashville Predators, including two minutes at 5-on-3 late in the second period, in a 2-1 win at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

Carter Hart made 31 saves for the Flyers (14-15-4), who have won their first two games under coach Scott Gordon. Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux scored for Philadelphia, which was 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
"That was the difference-maker," Hart said. "Our penalty kill was on fire tonight. Guys were sacrificing their bodies for the betterment of the team, and that's why we came out on top."
WATCH: [All Predators vs. Flyers highlights]
Nick Bonino scored, and Pekka Rinne made 29 saves for Nashville (22-12-2), which lost its third straight game and ninth in a row on the road.
"It's been frustrating," said center Ryan Johansen, who hit the post at the final buzzer. "Struggling on the road of late. We know we can be successful, just look at the start of year on the road (eight straight wins). ... We have a smart, great hockey team, and we'll get back on track."
Trailing 2-1, the Predators went on the power play at 16:45 of the second period when Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds was called for hooking. Philadelphia's Radko Gudas was penalized for delay of game at 17:47, four seconds before Andrew MacDonald was called for high sticking.
The Flyers used center Sean Couturier and defensemen Robert Hagg and Travis Sanheim for almost the entire two-minute 5-on-3 penalty kill. Gordon called a timeout with 34 seconds left in the period to allow them to stay on the ice.
Philadelphia limited Nashville to two shots on goal during the 5-on-3, and Hagg had two blocked shots.
"Our [penalty kill] hasn't been the best during the season, but I think during the last 10 games, it has been a lot better, and I think we showed that tonight," Hagg said.

Gordon said killing the four straight minutes, which carried into the opening 45 seconds of the third period, gave the Flyers a lift.
"To leave the ice (after the second period) and have the fans cheering, and when it was finished start of the third period, same thing," he said. "You can feel the emotion from the crowd, and that carries to the bench. Guys watching players sacrifice themselves to block the shots, it's a tremendous effort."
Voracek scored at 5:10 of the first period to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.
Bonino tied the game 1-1 with a tap-in goal at 4:04 of the second.
Giroux put the Flyers ahead 2-1 when he kept the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Rinne from the right face-off circle at 8:33 of the second.
Philadelphia, which killed two penalties in the third period, entered the game ranked 30th in the NHL on the penalty kill (73.3 percent), but it is 33-for-38 (86.8 percent) the past 12 games.
"I think we're putting a lot more pressure than we did 10 games ago and don't let them set up," Hagg said. "Because they're skilled guys out there, every team in the League. So take away time and space for them and don't let them set up. That's the biggest thing."

The Predators outshot the Flyers 13-8 in the third period, but Johansen lamented the missed opportunity late in the second.
"We had some good looks," he said. "[Hart] made some good saves, made our 5-on-3 look bad. It was frustrating. We came in here at the intermission and we were all frustrated. I think we did a good job of settling down and understanding that we needed to just go out and play a good 20 minutes of hard hockey the way we can, and I thought we competed really hard. Good hockey game, good close game, we just couldn't find a way."

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They said it

"I thought it was a competitive game. I thought we showed up, we played hard, we lost 2-1. They scored two, we weren't able to get that second one." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette
"We're playing a little bit different, I would say. New coach, everything is a little bit new. I think we did a great job defensively and we created a lot of chances, and that's a good thing for future. We just got to keep it going." -- Flyers forward Jakub Voracek on their play under coach Scott Gordon, who was promoted from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League after Dave Hakstol was fired Monday

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Need to know

The Predators lost to an Eastern Conference team in regulation for the first time this season (10-1-1). ... Giroux tied his NHL career high with 10 shots on goal. ... Voracek is one point from 600 in the NHL.

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What's next

Predators: At the Boston Bruins on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, SN1, NESN, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Flyers: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSP, FS-O, NHL.TV)