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 Defenseman Mark Streit had a goal and two assists, centers Chris
VandeVelde and Brayden Schenn and right winger Jakub Voracek had a
goal and assist and the Flyers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-3 on
Monday night.
"Four lines were going well and our 'D' was making good plays,"
VandeVelde said. "We were just getting pucks to the net. I was able
to tip one in, and that carried throughout the night."
Center R.J. Umberger and left wingers Michael Raffl and
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored goals for the Flyers (17-19-7).
The Flyers had lost six in a row to the Eastern Conference-leading
Lightning (27-13-4).
"I thought we defended really well," Flyers coach Craig Berube said.
"You have to defend well against that team. They're the
highest-scoring team in the league. So they came with a lot of
speed. I thought our defense did a good job. Good gaps, forwards
backchecked hard, we forced turnovers and we actually caught them a
few times and got some odd man rushes and some attacks the other way
because of it."
 Centers Steven Stamkos and Brian Boyle and right winger Ryan
Callahan scored goals for Tampa Bay.
"Stuff like this happens throughout an 82-game season," Stamkos
said. "It's a grind but we will see how we respond; that's going to
be the big thing for our team. We will throw this one behind us and
we have to respond tomorrow."
Goaltender Rob Zepp made 21 saves. The 33-year-old is 2-0 in his
only two career starts.
"It feels even better than the first time around," Zeppelin said.
"It was awesome to get a 7-1 lead against a team like that. They
have a lot of offensive power and we hung with it to the end and I
thought we did a really great job today."
Umberger gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead in the first period on his
seventh goal. Right winger Matt Read set it up with a nice feed down
low to Umberger, who backhanded a shot up goalie Evgeni Nabokov's
stick and in for his fourth goal in the last eight games.
Philadelphia exploded in the second period on its way to its third
win in four games. Voracek and Bellemare scored 53 seconds apart to
make it 4-1 early in the period.
Voracek blasted a one-timer past Nabokov on the power play to make
it 3-1 for his 17th goal. Bellemare deflected in VandeVelde's shot
for his fourth goal, sending Nabokov to the bench after four goals
on 13 shots.
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Then, Streit and Schenn scored power-play goals 95 seconds apart to
put the Flyers ahead 6-1. Streit fired in a snap shot for his fifth
goal. Schenn scored his 10th goal on a wrister.
Raffl put in a rebound for his 11th goal to make it 7-1.
Boyle scored his eighth goal to cut it to 7-2. Callahan got his 13th
early in the third to cap the scoring.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead on VandeVelde's third goal six minutes
into the game. VandeVelde deflected defenseman Luke Schenn's slap
shot behind Nabokov for his second goal in six games.
Stamkos scored his 23rd goal on a power-play goal a few minutes
later.
Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn and Lightning center Tyler Johnson
and defenseman Victor Hedman left the game with lower-body injuries.
"That obviously doesn't help but that's something that's just part
of it," Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. "Unfortunately, it
was two of our best players, but hopefully a speedy recovery."
NOTES: Flyers G Rob Zepp was recalled from the AHL's Lehigh Valley
Phantoms to replace Steve Mason, who is expected to miss two weeks
because of a lower-body injury. ... Lightning G Evgeni Nabokov
started his second game since Dec. 19. It was his 697th NHL game,
which ranks 25th all-time and third among active goaltenders. G Ben
Bishop will likely start Tuesday vs. Boston. Bishop has a 1.57 GAA
in his last seven games. ... The Flyers completed a four-game
homestand. They'll play at Washington on Wednesday and finish the
month with five of the remaining seven games at home.
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