Flyers defeat the Blues in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS - The Flyers usually score as many goals in St. Louis as Chris Pronger's bobblehead figurine, which was given to fans who attended Thursday night's game at the Scottrade Center.

 Thursday was different.

Left winger Matt Read, on a sensational second effort, gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead in the second period en route to their fourth straight road victory, a hard-earned 4-2 win over the Blues.

The Flyers scored more goals in the second period (three) than they had in their previous four visits to St. Louis combined (one).

"We're playing together and getting solid goaltending," winger Brayden Schenn said after collecting a pair of assists. "It's just easier when you play in five-man groups and are working for one another. That's why we've had success on the road."

The Blues, who scored a pair of 1-0 shootout wins in the teams' previous two meetings in St. Louis, got to within 3-2 on David Backes' power-play goal with 12 minutes, 23 seconds left in the third period. The Flyers got defensive and were outshot, 8-1, in the first half of the third.

Ryan White iced the Flyers' first win in St. Louis since 2005, scoring an empty-net goal with 1.7 seconds left.

With 13:21 remaining in the second period, Read pounced on a rebound of a Michael Del Zotto shot, fanned on his first shot, and then made a diving swipe at the puck and put it off the glove of sprawling goalie Brian Elliott.

 It gave the Flyers two goals in a 3:24 span.

"I think it was blocked and I pulled the puck to my forehand and just starting swinging," Read said. "I don't know how it went in or where it went in, but it went in."

Claude Giroux, on a highlight-film move, made it 3-1 with 1:54 to go in the second, skating between Colton Parayko and Magnus Paajarvi and scoring on a backhander after deking Elliott out of position. Giroux finished with three points, giving him 14 points in the last nine games.

 Schenn set up the goal.

"It happened pretty quick.  I got a pass from Schenner and I was able to get a little breakaway," said Giroux, whose line did a commendable job against Vladimir Tarasenko and his high-scoring unit. "The goalie went down and I was able to go around him."

Earlier, Michael Raffl redirected a Schenn cross into the net with 16:45 remaining in the second period, ending the Flyers' scoring drought at 172:47 in games played in St. Louis.

Before Raffl's goal, they had not scored at the Scottrade Center since Danny Briere tallied in 2010.

Raffl scored 1:40 after Robby Fabbri had given the Blues a 1-0 lead. Left alone in the slot, Fabbri converted a behind-the-net feed from Dmitrij Jaskin just 1:35 into the second period.

The Blues had the better scoring chances in a tight-checking first period in which the shots were even, 10-10. St. Louis had six shots in the first 71/2 minutes, including a point-blank attempt by Paul Stastny that Michal Neuvirth (35 saves) turned away.

Late in the opening period, defensemen Nick Schultz and Shayne Gostisbehere went to the locker room with injuries.

Schultz was hit on the arm by an Alex Pietrangelo shot. Shortly thereafter, Jaskin's stick appeared to hit Gostisbehere's chin on a follow-through of his shot.
Both defensemen returned to start the second.

The Flyers are on a 5-1-1 run. They badly outplayed the Islanders on Tuesday but dropped a 4-3 shootout decision.

"The Flyers are playing really well right now; they don't take any shifts off," said St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock, the former Flyers coach.

Defenseman Radko Gudas, playing his first game since serving a three-game suspension, contributed seven hits, three blocked shots, a plus-four rating, and four shots.

"I was excited. I was ready to go. My body was rested," Gudas said.

The Flyers now face the league's highest-scoring team Friday in Dallas. Coach Dave Hakstol said he wasn't ready to name which goalie will start.

Neuvirth is 4-0-1 in his last five appearances. He entered the night tied for the NHL lead with the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist in save percentage (.937), and tied with Lundqvist for second in goals-against average (1.99).

scarchidi@phillynews.com

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