Flyers' Simmonds and Voracek shine in victory

Thanks to wingers Wayne Simmonds and Jake Voracek - and a late five-minute penalty kill - the Flyers started the unofficial second half of the season with a win Tuesday night that they hope will propel them toward a playoff spot.

Simmonds scored a pair of goals, and Voracek contributed three assists as the Flyers outlasted Montreal, 4-2, at the Wells Fargo Center.

"It's huge. It's a pivotal point for our season now," defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said. "We have a game every other day, and this is where we make our money. This is where we get the points."

Voracek, who has 34 points in his last 32 games, made a strong play to set up the game-winner.

"Right now, Jake is at a high level. He's making game-changing plays," coach Dave Hakstol said.

With 8 minutes, 4 seconds left, Simmonds (eight shots) converted a Voracek pass and scored from the slot, putting the Flyers ahead, 3-2.

It was sweet revenge for the duo. In the opening minute of the third period, Simmonds (team-high 16 goals) appeared to be speared by P.K. Subban. Voracek interceded and went after Subban.

When order was restored, only Voracek (roughing) was sent to the penalty box. Angered, he kicked the door in the penalty box.

Montreal got a five-minute power play with 7:44 remaining as defenseman Radko Gudas was called for "clipping" when he hit Lucas Lessio near the boards. The Flyers, with Steve Mason making six saves, killed the penalty and had shorthanded breakaways by Chris VandeVelde (off the right post) and Sean Couturier (save by Mike Condon).

"Our PKers did an unbelievable job," Simmonds said.

"Just a great kill at a huge part of the game," Mason said. "The penalty kill has been an up-and-down thing for us all season long, and tonight when we needed it, for five minutes, everybody did a great job."

"There was no panic on our team," captain Claude Giroux said.

Matt Read added an empty-net goal with 42.2 seconds left.

With the victory, the Flyers tied Montreal at 52 points. The Flyers, who remained five points out of a playoff spot, have three games in hand on the Canadiens, who are in a 5-19-1 slide.

Montreal tied it at 2 when Jeff Petry scored from the top of the left circle, firing a shot that bounced off Gudas' butt and past a screened Mason.

Mason denied Max Pacioretty on a shorthanded breakaway with 14:30 left in the second. With 48 seconds remaining in the period, Montreal's Nathan Beaulieu had a power-play goal on his stick from the left circle, but he shot right into Mason's pads with an empty net staring at him.

The Flyers, slow starters most of the season, got power-play goals from Simmonds and Brayden Schenn to take an early 2-0 lead.

The Flyers were 2 for 2 on the power play in the first period. They have power-play goals in five straight games.

"Right now we have a shoot mentality," said Gostisbehere, the power-play's quarterback. "If we all keep shooting, it's going to open other things."

Simmonds finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Schenn and Voracek, tapping in the goal to put the Flyers ahead, 1-0, with 13:49 left in the first period. The Flyers had five shots on the power play.

"All those guys made a great play," said Simmonds, who has seven goals in his last 11 games.

A little over nine minutes later, Schenn redirected a Voracek pass past goalie Mike Condon to make it 2-0. Gostisbehere, who leads rookie defensemen with 23 points, collected the secondary assist.

Montreal, which has been in a free fall since standout goalie Carey Price was injured, cut the deficit on a power-play goal of its own - defenseman Andrei Markov's first goal in 34 games. From a bad angle to the left of the goal, Markov took a fortuitous bounce off the backboards and knocked a shot off the right post and into the net. Mason was out of position because he had been defending a shot on the other side of the net.

The Flyers took a lead into the second period for just the seventh time in 48 games. They are 6-1 in those games.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

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