Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers Vs. Red Wings: John Tortorella's Club Has Season-Best 5-Game Point Streak

With a 3-0 win Saturday afternoon over the Red Wings, the Flyers are on a season-best five-game point streak.

Flyers on season-best 5-game point streak after blanking Red Wings originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Behind some opportunistic scoring, strong penalty kill work and Carter Hart, the Flyers blanked the Red Wings, 3-0, Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.

Kieffer Bellows, Scott Laughton and Tyson Foerster scored for the Flyers (28-32-12), who are on a season-best five-game point streak (4-0-1).

Foerster's empty-netter sealed the game.

"You can see I'm using the young players in a lot of situations," head coach John Tortorella said. "It's not any type of criticism on the older guys. I want to use the young guys in these situations — protecting a lead, all that stuff. They continue to get reps. Just going to keep on trying to play and try to find them some spots."

On their season-long seven-game homestand, the Flyers are 4-1-1 and have scored 4.17 goals per game.

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Hart has been excellent throughout the home swing.

The Flyers swept the Red Wings (31-32-9) in their three-game regular-season series.

• Hart, who came in 3-0-0 with a .915 save percentage on the homestand, turned away 29 shots from Detroit.

With the Flyers holding a 2-0 lead early in the third period, Hart erased an Owen Tippett turnover on a glove stop.

The 24-year-old finished with 13 saves in the final stanza.

The club's penalty kill went 7 for 7. The Flyers didn't help themselves by piling up 14 penalty minutes.

"Hartsy was our best penalty killer," Laughton said. "Made a couple of huge saves at the end there when it got to 5-on-5. Good team effort. We found a way and continue to grow as a team."

The Flyers defended hard, blocking 20 shots.

Red Wings netminder Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 19 of the Flyers' 21 shots.

• This season leaves the rebuilding Flyers with a ton of questions, but Laughton and Tippett have been really good.

Laughton had a two-point game Saturday (one goal, one assist), giving him 40 or more points (18 goals, 23 assists) for the first time in his NHL career.

"He has been unreal this year," Hart said. "He's got a lot of skill, he's an underrated player. He plays both ends of the ice tremendously well. Probably the biggest leader on our team.

"For a guy that is willing to block shots, step up for guys, scrap if he needs to and say the right things around the room, just carries himself around our locker room very professionally. Gets guys pretty pumped up and likes to have fun, so a huge part of our team."

Tippett also reached the 40-point mark Saturday. He has 21 goals and 19 assists on the season. His previous career high in points was 21.

• It's very possible this was the last game for Foerster and Egor Zamula with the Flyers this season.

After the victory, Tortorella confirmed the two prospects are headed back to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley for the Phantoms' playoff push.

Foerster opened eyes in his audition with the big club, putting up seven points (three goals, four assists) over eight games. He came back to earth a bit Saturday, committing a pair of penalties. But he finished the game with another goal and point.

"He's a special player," Morgan Frost said. "A pretty funny guy off the ice, I like hanging out with him. I knew him before he came to Philly. Just really excited for him, I think he's really showing what he can do.

"I don't know what's going to happen, but I think he showed that he deserves to be up here and he's helping us win games. Awesome to see."

Zamula was solid this week with two assists and steady play in three games after being called up Monday.

• Nicolas Deslauriers missed a second straight game because of an upper-body injury.

Bellows took his place again and cashed in on the opportunity.

The 24-year-old winger opened the game's scoring a little over midway through the action by flushing a rebound for his third goal as a Flyer.

• The homestand wraps up Tuesday when the Flyers welcome the Canadiens (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

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