Flyers snap losing streak with 4-2 win over Blue Jackets

Jake Voracek padded his NHL points lead. Wayne Simmonds scored just his third goal in the last 15 games. Claude Giroux had two assists and became the 18th player in Flyers history to reach 400 career points.

Put it all together and the Flyers ended a four-game losing streak Saturday night, whipping speedy Columbus, 4-2, at the Wells Fargo Center.

Steve Mason, aided by the fact his team allowed just 22 shots, beat his former team and outdueled former Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (33 saves) as the hosts avenged a 4-3 loss to the Blue Jackets eight nights earlier.

"Tonight I thought was probably our best all-around effort of the season," Mason said.

Simmonds said it's no coincidence that the Flyers have played consecutive strong games following general manager Ron Hextall's outburst after Wednesday's loss in New York.

"Any time your GM calls out every single player on the team, I think it's going to light a fire under your butt," said Simmonds, whose team had a 37-22 shots advantage and was much better on its breakouts. "I think we had a good response."

Simmonds scored a bizarre power-play goal, increasing the lead to 3-1 with 4 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the second period.

Standing to the left side of the net, Simmonds caught a flying puck, put it down on the ice, and fired a shot that bounced off Bobrovsky's right leg and into the net. Bobrovsky was trying to get back into position and seemed to have lost track of where the puck went - and appeared stunned that Simmonds had it.

"The puck deflected, and I don't think anyone saw it but me," Simmonds said of the pass/shot from Voracek. The goal highlighted a dominating second period in which the Flyers outshot the Jackets, 18-4.

Columbus' Matt Calvert (backdoor play) cut the lead to 3-2 with 17:54 left, but a little over a minute later, Braydon Coburn (two points) made it 4-2 with his first goal of the season and second of the night for a Flyers defenseman.

Earlier, defenseman Mark Streit jumped into the offense and, after taking a pass from Giroux, scored on his own rebound with 5:05 left in the opening period, giving the Flyers the lead for good at 2-1.

"Great play by G," Streit said.

"Chief talked to me and let me know I should jump into the play and create offense in a smart way," said Streit, referring to coach Craig Berube by his nickname.

Brayden Schenn opened the scoring on a deflection from in front, putting the puck off the left post and right post and into the net after just 2:37. (Oddly, the first team to score has won the last 11 games the Flyers have played.)

It gave the Flyers their first lead since Nov. 8, against Colorado.

The lead lasted just 1:59. That's how long it took Columbus to knot the game on Boone Jenner's power-play goal after a nice feed from James Wisniewski.

But the Flyers regrouped, and the ever-present Voracek contributed a pair of assists to increase his points total to 29, tops in the NHL.

The Flyers avoided their first 0-5 stretch since 2009. They now play seven of their next eight games on the road, starting with a game Monday at the much-improved New York Islanders.

Breakaways. The Flyers dressed seven defensemen in case Michael Del Zotto suffered some discomfort. Del Zotto returned to the lineup after missing a game because of a lower-body injury. . . . Giroux won 23 of 28 faceoffs (82 percent). Entering the night, Giroux led the NHL in power-play goals (six), time on ice per game for forwards (21:41), shots (86), and percentage of team's faceoffs taken (41.9). . . . Because they dressed just 11 forwards, the Flyers rotated several players on the fourth line with Zac Rinaldo and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. . . . Scott Laughton had six hits.