Music: {allcanada} Simmonds scores twice, Flyers beat Oilers in SO

Saturday, December 28, 2013

{allcanada} Simmonds scores twice, Flyers beat Oilers in SO

EDMONTON -- Ilya Bryzgalov did his best to pull one out against his former team, but he fell short in the Philadelphia Flyers' 4-3 shootout victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night at Rexall Place.

Bryzgalov made 35 saves and was the reason the Oilers were able to pull out a point in the loss.

Flyers goalie Steve Mason made 13 saves.

Michael Raffl scored the shootout winner for the Flyers, who got their other goal in the tiebreaker from Claude Giroux. Bryzgalov stopped Vincent Lecavalier on Philadelphia's first attempt.

Jordan Eberle scored in the shootout for the Oilers, and David Perron and Sam Gagner missed.

Wayne Simmonds scored two goals and Scott Hartnell added the other in regulation for the Flyers.

It was Simmonds' third consecutive two-goal game, making him the first Philadelphia player to achieve that feat since Reggie Leach in 1981.

Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Perron scored for the Oilers, who have lost seven of nine games.

Hall opened the scoring on the first shift of the game, 32 seconds in, intercepting a Braydon Coburn pass in front of the Flyers net and beating Mason from in tight.

Nugent-Hopkins increased the lead at 4:02, beating defenseman Mark Streit on the rush and firing a shot through Mason.

The Oilers had opportunities to increase their lead when they were awarded three consecutive power plays in the period. However, they were unable to convert on any of them.

In the second, the Flyers dominated territorially, outshooting the Oilers 14-3 in the period.

Simmonds scored his first goal at 3:37 on the power play, tipping a Giroux point shot past Bryzgalov.

Simmonds tied the game with another power-play goal at 12:13, finishing off an exceptional cross-ice pass from Jakub Voracek.

The Flyers right wing had the puck bounce to him at the face-off circle and spotted Simmonds alone at the side of the net for an easy tap-in.

In the third, Perron gave the Oilers the lead on the power play at 11:52, banking a centering pass off Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann. It was Perron's 100th NHL goal.

Hartnell tied the game on the power play at 14:28, tipping a Kimmo Timonen point shot past Bryzgalov.

Perron had a great chance to put the Oilers back in front on a breakaway with a little more than two minutes left in the third, but he was stopped by Mason, who got a piece of a backhand shot and redirected it off the goal post.

Saturday was the first of a six-game road trip for the Flyers. They travel to face the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.

The Oilers will take on the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday in the first of a three-game road trip.

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