Zegras has 3 points, Flyers defeat Predators for 3rd straight win

PHILADELPHIA -- Trevor Zegras had two goals and an assist, and the Philadelphia Flyers won their third straight game, 4-1 against the Nashville Predators at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Zegras has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a three-game streak, and 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during a season-opening seven-game home point streak.

"I just try to play a good game every time I go out there and feed off my teammates that are doing the right things," Zegras said. "I thought Dan (Vladar) played unbelievable tonight, kept us in it for the first couple periods until we found our legs a little bit. Another two big points at home."

Jamie Drysdale and Travis Konecny also scored, and Matvei Michkov had two assists for Philadelphia (6-3-1), which won its fifth straight home game. Vladar made 32 saves.

Matthew Wood scored his first NHL goal for Nashville (4-6-2), which has lost three straight and seven of nine (2-6-1). Juuse Saros made 14 saves.

"Another tough loss," Predators forward Ryan O'Reilly said. "Disappointing. Had some good opportunities; it could have been different. But that's the way it's going right now, so we'll keep fighting."

Zegras gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 12:45 of the second period, scoring on a shot from above the face-off circles. The play was set up by Michkov winning two puck battles along the boards on the right side of the Nashville zone.

"He plays with his head up, and he knows where everybody is on the ice," Zegras said of Michkov. "So it was a great play by him."

At the time, the Predators were outshooting the Flyers 20-9.

"We had the momentum there for a while, and couldn't get that break to give us that confidence," O'Reilly said. "And that's been kind of all year for us. We're hanging on and a bad thing happens, and we kind of ... you can feel us all tighten."

Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet credited Vladar for keeping the Flyers in it until that point.

"He was great," Tocchet said. "He was the difference-maker. We were kind of asleep for a couple periods, and he was our smelling salt. He was really good."

Drysdale extended it to 2-0 at 15:41, scoring from the bottom of the left circle. It was the defenseman's first goal of the season.

"Definitely feels nice," he said. "It was ugly, just squeaked in, but sometimes you've got to start with that. Heck of a pass by [Michkov] and it was nice to get one."

Predators coach Andrew Brunette felt that was the goal that changed the game.

"I thought we hung in there at 1-0," Brunette said. "The second goal was the one that hurt. I thought we were still doing the things that we did most of the game. When you hold a team to that many shots after two periods, you're usually dominating the game. I thought through stretches of the game we did, and that second one hurt a little bit."

Wood cut it to 2-1 at 18:03. Erik Haula knocked down a Flyers clearing attempt at the Philadelphia blue line, and Wood, playing his 11th NHL game, scored from the slot.

"He works so hard, had some great chances," O'Reilly said. "It's nice to get that first one for him. Very proud of him. It's going to be first of many for him. He's a great player, and obviously a positive there."

Zegras made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 7:00 of the third period. Noah Cates won a face-off to start the man-advantage, winning the puck back to defenseman Cam York, who set Zegras up for a one-timer from the right circle.

"They have their [defenseman] back in that circle so there's a lot more time and space up top with it," York said. "That was a great pre-scout there by Jay (Varady, assistant coach) and we were able to execute it."

Konecny scored an empty-net goal at 15:54 for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: Flyers forward Sean Couturier did not play the final two periods because of an undisclosed injury sustained when he was hit by a shot by teammate Noah Juulsen with 14:35 remaining in the first. He played five more shifts in the period before exiting. Tocchet said Couturier was being evaluated after the game. ... Philadelphia has scored a power-play goal in three straight games for the first time since scoring one in each of the first four games of last season. ... The only player to start his Flyers career with a longer home point streak than Zegras was Peter Forsberg (eight games) in 2005-06. ... Philadelphia's home winning streak is its longest since winning seven in a row from Feb. 10-March 7, 2020. ... Vladar has allowed two goals or fewer in all six of his starts this season. He's the second Flyers goalie in the past 25 years to win each of his first four home games in a season, following Martin Biron (six games) in 2007-08.