Tippett, Flyers defeat Blues for 4th straight win

ST. LOUIS -- Owen Tippett scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to help the Philadelphia Flyers win their fourth straight game, 4-2 against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Monday.

Tippett beat Brandon Saad to the puck in the neutral zone, skated around Blues defenseman Justin Faulk in the slot, and beat goalie Joel Hofer short side with a backhand to make it 3-2 at 14:27.

"It was just one of those ones that kind of opened up," Tippett said. "Obviously, was looking shot first, but you know, [Faulk] kind of stood up and made himself small and I was able to kind of get around him."

Scott Laughton and Ryan Poehling scored, and Carter Hart made 28 saves for the Flyers (24-14-6), who won three road games in the span of four days.

"We just keep on playing," Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. "Have some good minutes, have some bad minutes, but we just keep on playing.

"Statement games, measure games, I don't believe in that. I just think the team just comes to work, and that's what's good about our group. They come to work each and every day and they attack that day. That's how we've been going about it and that's what we'll continue to do."

Saad and Oskar Sundqvist scored, Brayden Schenn had two assists in his 900th NHL game, and Hofer made 38 saves for the Blues (21-19-2), who went 1-2-1 on a four-game homestand.

"Certainly Joel played well again here today. (He) made some saves, kept it close, gave us a chance to work ourselves into it," St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. "I think we got what we deserved. For 40 minutes we didn't have enough effort in our game in hard areas. We continue to mismanage the puck that is making it difficult on our team. We have to defend, which makes it easy for them. More offensive zone time, more shots at the net.

"First two goals, we turn the puck over in the offensive zone, it goes down and it's in the back of our net. Those plays can't happen. We've got to make better decisions there."

Laughton put the Flyers ahead 1-0 at 1:03 of the second period, scoring from the right circle after Garnet Hathaway's initial shot produced a long rebound.

Sundqvist tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 18:19, collecting a rebound in tight and tucking it past Hart's left pad.

Poehling responded for Philadelphia to make it 2-1 at 19:53. He batted the rebound of Egor Zamula's slap shot into the net off the body of Blues forward Jordan Kyrou from a sharp angle.

"There was not a lot of time left on the clock when I first went out there," Poehling said. "I think we're just trying to play it forward and play fast, and I ended up hearing [Zamula] was taking it wide. So, I just gave him a good look and ended up having a lucky bounce."

The Blues had the puck in the Flyers' zone prior to the goal, but defenseman Torey Krug turned it over, which allowed the Flyers to transition the other way.

"A goal like that can't happen," Bannister said. 'We're under a minute at that point. We don't have to look to make plays in high ice at that point. We put our 'D' in a difficult position, and our 'D' made a play that shouldn't have been made, should have just went on the wall behind the net and we're safe. But at that point of the game, we tie it up and we have a little bit of momentum, we've just got to play safe and get through the period, regroup and get ourselves ready for the third."

Saad tied it 2-2 at 1:18 of the third period. Schenn's pass hit the stick of Poehling in the slot, but it settled enough for Saad to beat Hart glove side with a wrist shot.

After Tippett put the Flyers back in front, Joel Farabee scored into an empty net at 19:06 for the 4-2 final.

"It just shows you've got to be consistent in this league," Poehling said. "It seems like we keep winning and, you lose two, three games in our division right now and we're probably sixth or seventh in the league. So, for us to just be consistent and continue to work with one another I think is the biggest thing for us to move forward."

NOTES: Tippett had an NHL career-high 10 shots on goal and has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past five games. ... Krug was minus-4 and Faulk, his defensive partner, was minus-3. ... Schenn has five points (one goal, four assists) in a four-game point streak. ... Flyers forward Noah Cates played 12:14 in his return after missing the previous 22 games with a broken foot. ... Kevin Hayes played 13:49 in his first game against Philadelphia since St. Louis acquired the forward in a trade on June 27.