Voracek's rare fight fired up the Flyers

DENVER - Even though he was beaten by Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog during a fight late in the second period Wednesday, Jake Voracek played a key role in the Flyers' streak-extending 4-3 victory, his teammates said.

Voracek is known for his scoring, not his fists. So when he dropped his gloves because Landeskog had just leveled teammate Michael Raffl with an open-ice hit, it sent a message to his teammates.

"That was huge," center Brayden Schenn said. "When your star player is stepping up to jump in for a teammate . . . it was just kind of good to show how much of a team we are now."

The fight occurred with the score tied at 2 and

1 minute, 24 seconds left in the second period. The Flyers quickly responded as Roman Lyubimov and Schenn scored in the first 5:16 of the third period, sparking the team's 10th straight win.

"He said, 'Let's go,' so I dropped the gloves," Voracek said. "I just chose a bad city to do it in because I felt like I was going to die."

Not because of Landeskog's punches, but because of the high altitude, which had Voracek gasping for breath.

Voracek said "anybody would have stepped in" and admitted he was exhausted when the long fight ended.

"I felt like I ran a marathon after it," he cracked.

Defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who has helped mentor defense partner Ivan Provorov, played a team-high 24:32 Wednesday, his highest total of the season. He picked up an assist and was plus-1.

MacDonald has four assists in his last six games, and is plus-5 over his last seven.

The Flyers will try to extend their winning streak Saturday afternoon in Dallas. After that game, they'll host Nashville on Monday and Washington on Wednesday.

They are three victories shy of equaling the franchise record for consecutive wins: 13 in 1985.

The game with Dallas is a rematch from Saturday, when the Flyers overcame a late 2-1 deficit and defeated the visiting Stars, 4-2. Schenn had a hat trick in that game, with all three goals on the power play.

Schenn had five goals in his last three games, and had the winning tally in each contest. He could become the third straight Flyers player to win the NHL's No. 1 star of the week honor. Steve Mason and Voracek won in the last two weeks, respectively.

Mason is the first Flyers goalie to win eight straight starts since Ron Hextall won nine in a row in 1996-97. . . . Provorov has played 24-plus minutes in each of the last two games. . . . The Flyers' penalty-killers are 12 for 12 in the last three games. Provorov, MacDonald, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Chris VandeVelde were the key penalty killers as the Flyers were 3 for 3 against the Avalanche.