Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Steve Mason turned away 34 pucks and four different players lit the lamp as Philadelphia claimed a surprise 4-1 victory over Chicago on Wednesday.
"At this point winning feels good," Mason said. "However there is that sobering feeling of where we're at in the standings. Tonight was an effort that you look back on and you can be proud of the effort.
Wayne Simmonds, Ryan White, Claude Giroux and Michael Raffl scored once each for the Flyers, who put a four-game losing streak to bed against one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
Philadelphia, which is on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff chase, recorded just its second regulation win in the last 10 games (2-4-4).
In addition, the Orange and Black are 9-1-4 in their last 14 games against teams currently in playoff position while an incomprehensible 0-6-3 against teams which would not be included in postseason play at present.
"It's very frustrating," Giroux said. "I'd like to tell you why, but it's a frustrating thing that we're not in the playoffs. We know we can play against good teams. Feels like when we're ready to play we play our best games."
Andrew Shaw provided the sole offense while Corey Crawford made 29 saves for the Blackhawks, who completed a four-game road swing with a 2-2 record.
The Flyers went up 2-0 at 7:09 of the second as White chopped a Carlo Colaiacovo point shot out of the air and past Crawford, then Jakub Voracek fed Giroux for a deflection that ticked the post en route to the back of the net at 13:58 for a three-goal spread.
Voracek's assist moved him into a tie with John Tavares of the Islanders and Sidney Crosby from the Penguins -- both idle on Wednesday -- for the most points in the NHL with 74.
Giroux, who ranks second on the club and tied for eighth in the league with 68 points, recorded his first even-strength home goal of the season.
Crawford kept his team's deficit at three with a sprawling save on Pierre- Edouard Bellemare on an odd-man rush with 20 seconds left in the second.
Chicago finally hit the scoreboard on the game's first penalty, with Shaw getting a piece of Duncan Keith's drive at 2:24 of the third period, 14 seconds after Colaiacovo sat for high sticking.
Raffl's wrister from the right wing, a man-advantage marker with 4:05 left in regulation, effectively sealed the outcome.
"We didn't play smart road games this road trip and we have to be better than we have been," said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews.
Simmonds put the hosts on the board at 7:20, taking a Matt Read cross-ice pass and beating Crawford from the right side. Shaw could have evened things for the Blackhawks, but missed a wide-open net roughly one minute later.
Crawford was sharp to stop a Sean Couturier shot with his glove to fend off a 3-on-1 with two minutes left in the first and Mason had his turn shortly thereafter by denying Shaw off a 2-on-1.
Game Notes
Philadelphia extended its regular-season home win streak against Chicago to 11 games, since a loss on Nov. 9, 1996 (4-1) ... Simmonds' goal was his 100th as a Flyer ... Bernie Parent (11/1/73; 2/3/77) and Robert Esche (10/30/06) remain the only Flyers netminders to blank the Blackhawks in Philly ... Chicago defenseman Kimmo Timonen returned to Philadelphia for the first time since a trade-deadline deal sent him to the recent two-time Stanley Cup champions. He recorded two blocked shots in 17:25 of ice time ... Read and Michael Del Zotto each picked up two assists for the hosts ... Following the game, the Flyers announced that Simmonds and defenseman Andrew MacDonald were out for the season after suffering fractures when blocking shots.
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