PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tyson Forster and Bobby Brink each scored and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Tuesday night after a nine-minute delay caused by a power outage. .
Foerster and Brink had only recently returned to the lineup.
The Flyers also scored in the third period from three defensemen: Travis Sanheim, Sean Walker and an empty netter from Cam York. Noah Cates also made an empty-netter and goaltender Samuel Elson made 21 saves in the win, Philadelphia's second in the past six games.
“The biggest takeaway from this result is that we stayed focused. It was an easy game with the delay and the lighting,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said on the Wells Fargo Center section. He mentioned the delay in the first period due to a power outage. “During the second period, neither team produced much, so it was a good sign that we were able to play well in the third period.”
Nicholas Paul and Steven Stamkos each scored, and the Lightning's road winning streak ended at four. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots. Nikita Kucherov assisted on Stamkos' goal and added to his league-leading point total. Kucherov scored 103 points in 60 games.
Tampa Bay had won eight straight games in Philadelphia, but that streak ended when the third period snowballed.
“We’ve had a lot of success in this building, so at some point something is going to give,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They scored early (in the third period) and had it their way.”
Förster made a nifty toe-dragging move. pass the puck to yourself between your legs before hitting a backhand past Vasilevskiy 54 seconds into the third period.
“I didn't have any intention of putting it on the net, I was just trying to get it on the net. I don't know if it was because of the lights, but it was kind of like a squeak, and I was really happy,” he said.
Foerster returned to action Sunday after missing four games with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot.
Brink took the lead 2:22 into the first period with a shot on goal that evaded Vasilevskiy's blocker.
Brink, who was with the Flyers at the start of the season, was sent to the AHL's Lehigh Valley on Jan. 22 in hopes of revitalizing the season.
He was recalled before Tuesday's game and made an immediate impact, scoring on his first shift.
“If you try to prepare for a lot of challenges, you're probably going to be unprepared,” Elson said of the lighting issue. “It was strange because it was different than usual. It felt like old school, maybe 50 years old hockey. That's what it looked like to me.”
With the Flyers leading 1-0 with 13:43 left in the first period, a partial power outage in the building halted the game.
The emergency lights remained on and the teams resumed play. The end of the rink where Tampa Bay was filming was a little darker than the rest of the rink. Power was lost to much of the east end of the building, including the concourse, suites, balcony level where executives from both teams were stationed, the broadcast booth, and the press box.
“During the first period, we had event-level transformers running,” said Phil Laws, director of the Wells Fargo Center. “It exploded. It burned out. We don't know why. We don't know if it came from outside or from inside the building.”
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Lightning: Host the Sabers on Thursday.
Flyer: Visit the capital on Friday.
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