Flyers hold off Avalanche's late charge to notch 10th straight win

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DENVER — There have been easier ways to chalk up a victory during the Flyers’ long winning streak, but none was as intense and electrifying as their 10th straight victory Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.
 
The Flyers survived, 4-3, against a determined Colorado Avalanche squad with a final 90 seconds of “chaos,” according to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, with guys without sticks and others who had the wrong stick (see Instant Replay).
 
“It was the worst right-handed stick I could get,” said Bellemare, who gave his stick to Andrew MacDonald, who had his break and took Wayne Simmonds’ righty in its place. That is why Bellemare failed to clear a puck at the end, which started the chaos.
 
“We had to withstand a huge push in the last minute and a half and a couple good saves in there,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “Broken sticks and everything else made it interesting. We withstood the push.”
 
Heroes abounded. Steve Mason had a couple timely saves at the bitter end. Jakub Voracek sacrificed himself in a fight at the end of the second period that gave his team a jolt for the third (see video).
 
And Brayden Schenn got his third straight game-winner.
 
“It was an all-out battle there with guys blocking shots, clearing pucks. We had a broken stick, a failed attempt on a clear with a wrong-way stick,” Mason said laughing. “Just a heck of a way to close out a game.”
 
Schenn’s fifth goal in three games saw the Flyers score twice in 1:46 to break a 2-2 tie, starting with Roman Lyubimov’s goal.
 
“We stuck with it and battled back once again,” Schenn said. “We thought we’d get rewarded and we did.”
 
Almost lost in there was Voracek's standing up for a teammate. Michael Raffl has taken some hard shots lately and was nailed by Gabriel Landeskog at 18:36 of the second period with a blind hit.
 
Voracek immediately came to his teammate’s defense and took his lumps.
 
“Anyone would have stepped in,” Voracek said. “That was a long [fight] to be honest. I don’t think I picked the right city to fight in. I felt like I ran a marathon after it. I was tired.”
 
Rafll called it a clean hit.
 
That fight gave the Flyers a bit of a spark for the third period with the game tied at 2-2.
 
“That was huge,” Schenn said. “Our star player stepping up. It was a hard, clean hit and one of the most dominant players in the league dropped his gloves for a teammate. It shows how much of a close team we are right now.”
 
The Flyers controlled the puck most of the opening period as they outshot (12-5) and out-chanced Colorado. However, they had nothing to show for it as goalie Calvin Pickard, making his first career start against the Flyers, handled the pressure.
 
Michael Del Zotto scored at 4:01 of the second period as he batted his own tip out of the air for a 1-0 lead that the Flyers quickly lost.
 
“It's always nice to contribute offensively, but for me the biggest thing is to be reliable defensively,” Del Zotto said. “When the offense does come, to put one in or contribute that way, I'm always happy to do that, too.”
 
Rene Bourque tied the game eight minutes later off a faceoff. Carl Soderberg won a draw off Claude Giroux. Bourque got the puck, skated a semi-circle, turned and fired on Mason, who appeared surprised and possibly screened by Landeskog.
 
A turnover along the defensive boards by Giroux saw the Avs take a 2-1 lead at 16:34, but the Flyers came right back seconds later with Simmonds’ 16th goal off the rush.

“It was huge,” Simmonds said. “Anytime a team takes momentum away, you want to have a good response and we responded.”
 
A few more seconds passed and the Flyers thought they had regained the lead on a Bellemare redirect, but it was overturned on review for a high stick.
 
Yet as this 10-game win streak — last achieved in 1985 — has unfolded, the Flyers always get the better end of it in the third period. Or beyond.
 
“I’ve never won 10 in a row in any league,” Simmonds said. “This is pretty special.”

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