Trevor Zegras notched two goals and an assist, propelling the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Nashville Predators on Thursday.
Matvei Michkov collected two assists for the Flyers, who improved to 5-1-0 in their past six games. Philadelphia’s Jamie Drysdale and Travis Konecny also scored, and Dan Vladar finished with 32 saves.
Zegras tied his career high by collecting three points for the seventh time.
Matthew Wood’s first NHL goal was the only tally for the Predators. Nashville’s Juuse Saros made 14 saves, denying breakaways by Owen Tipppett and Michkov in the second period and a runaway by Rodrigo Abols in the third.
Nashville controlled the play in the first period and in the early stages of the second before Philadelphia answered with two goals less than three minutes apart.
Zegras opened the scoring with a wrister from the high slot at 12:45 — a perfectly placed shot just under the crossbar — for his third of the season.
Shortly thereafter, Michkov was camped behind the net when he found Drysdale from a sharp angle for his first tally of the campaign.
However, the momentum didn’t last long, as Wood found the back of the net less at 18:03 of the middle period. Michael Bunting left a drop pass in the slot for Wood, who had plenty of room to unleash a wrister that snuck through Vladar.
Zegras’ fourth goal of the season made it 3-1 on a power play with 13 minutes left in the third period. Cam York set up the first-year Flyer on a one-timer that deflected off Nashville’s Cole Smith and past a helpless Saros.
Konecny’s empty-netter with 4:06 remaining sealed the deal.
Flyers captain Sean Couturier got hit by a shot early in the opening session. He took his regular shifts the rest of the period but didn’t return after the first intermission.
The Predators, who continued to play without defenseman Roman Josi (upper-body injury), have dropped three straight games and seven of their past nine (2-6-1).
