Flyers top Penguins to clinch playoff spot

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

With their ailing owner watching from home, the Philadelphia Flyers clinched a playoff berth.

Wayne Simmonds scored two goals, Steve Mason stopped 18 shots and the Flyers beat the playoff-bound Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 on Saturday to earn the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

“It’s a great feeling,” rookie coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s a win and playoff berth for Mr. (Ed) Snider and the unbelievable fans.”

Snider, the 83-year-old franchise founder and Hall of Fame executive, watched Lauren Hart sing “God Bless America” on FaceTime as the team’s longtime anthem singer held out her phone during her performance. She blew kisses after the song.

“You get a little emotional when you start to think about it,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. “We know he’s happy we made the playoffs.”

The Flyers’ win eliminated Boston, which lost to Ottawa 6-1 earlier in the day. The Bruins lost a tiebreaker to Detroit. Philadelphia will meet top-seeded Washington in the first round. The Penguins, who are the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, will play the Rangers or Islanders.

“It’s just the beginning for us,” Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek said. “We can’t be satisfied. We have a good enough team to beat Washington and we have to focus on that.”

Pittsburgh rested Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang and played without Evgeni Malkin for the 15th consecutive game because of an upper-body injury.

Penguins goaltender Matt Murray was injured in a collision with Brayden Schenn and left the game in the first period. Murray has started five straight games because Marc-Andre Fleury is out with a concussion. Coach Mike Sullivan said Murray will be evaluated on Monday.

“We regret that he got hurt,” Sullivan said. “When you play hockey, you always run that risk. We felt like we made the best decisions for our hockey team that were going to put us in a position to move forward.”

Murray’s mask flew off when Schenn banged into him, but he made the save on the backhander. Jeff Zatkoff replaced Murray for his first appearance since Feb. 20 and allowed a goal on the first shot he faced.

The Flyers took a 2-1 lead late in the second period when Shayne Gostisbehere ripped a slap shot that bounced off Simmonds’ right arm and fluttered past Zatkoff for his 32nd goal.