Brink scores winner in 3rd period, Flyers edge Blues

PHILADELPHIA -- Bobby Brink scored in the third period for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

Garnet Hathaway also scored for Philadelphia (4-6-1) and Samuel Ersson made 20 saves.

The Flyers have won consecutive games for the first time this season, following their 2-0 win at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

"We cannot be satisfied," Ersson said. "We know we're getting some wins now, but we've got to keep playing like this too. We see the effort level, what it's got to be for us to get results."

Nathan Walker scored for St. Louis (5-6-0), which lost its third straight game. Jordan Binnington made 19 saves.

"The effort was much better than the previous two games," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "I thought we did a lot of good things here tonight, on both sides of the puck. But right now our mistakes are amplified so we just have to clean up the minimal mistakes that we made. ... If we play that way and clean up those mistakes we'll win more hockey games than we lose."

Brink scored the go-ahead goal at 16:59 of the third period when he went to the net to finish a give and go with Joel Farabee. It was Brink's first goal since Oct. 15, and in the Flyers' seven games since then entering Thursday, he had one assist and was scratched three times.

"I'm happy for Bobby Brink," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "He has gone through a little bit of an up and down with me as far as the defensive part of the game, but the puck follows him. ... I think the play before he scores the goal, it's in traffic, and he just pushes it wide and goes to the net. It's a really good offensive play."

Brink said he's done his best to stay positive during his early struggles.

"It's not every day you get to score in this league, so it feels pretty good when you do," he said. "... There's ups and downs throughout the year. Right now it's an up, and couple days, a week ago, it was a down. So it happens, and just kind of got to stay in the middle."

The play that led to go-ahead goal started when Blues forward Jordan Kyrou turned the puck over at center ice.

"I had the puck and I tried to skate with it a little bit laterally and it hopped on me and I should have just been more direct there," he said.

Ersson made the lead hold up, including a sliding pad save on Blues forward Brayden Schenn with 24 seconds remaining and Binnington on the bench for an extra attacker. Philadelphia also had two of its 24 blocked shots in the final minute, by defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and forward Noah Cates.

"I think we have a very good level where they're blocking the right shots too," Ersson said. "They're not trying to get in front of everything. They're knowing kind of what shots they can leave to me, and I think that's huge. It builds chemistry between me and the guys in front of me."

Ersson stopped all 14 shots he faced through two periods, building off the 25 saves he had against the Bruins on Tuesday.

"Obviously it's nice whenever 'Ers' is standing on his head for us," said defenseman Nick Seeler, who led the Flyers with six blocked shots. "... His preparation, and the way he goes about his business, you know he's going to show up for every game, and he's going to make some huge saves for us and keep us in every game. That's a goalie you want to play in front of."

Hathaway made it 1-0 at 11:12 of the first period when he scored from the slot to finish an end-to-end rush by Ryan Poehling. The goal was Hathaway's first in 29 games, dating to March 7 of last season.

Walker tied it 1-1 at 9:58 of the third, scoring on the rebound of a Philip Broberg shot. The forward had been scratched the previous four games.

The Blues have scored four goals in their past three games.

"It is tough but that's the way it is when you're in a position like we are where we haven't played well," Bannister said. "The mistakes are amplified and it's not easy to get out of these little slumps. We've got to work for it."

NOTES: Laughton's assist on Brink's goal was his first point in seven games. It also gave the forward five points (two goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak against St. Louis. ... Blues forward Dylan Holloway played his 100th NHL game. ... Walker was in the lineup because Blues forward Kasperi Kapanen was out because of an upper-body injury sustained against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. He is considered day to day.