Tomasino scores twice, lifts Predators past Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Philip Tomasino scored twice, and the Nashville Predators ended the Philadelphia Flyers' nine-game point streak with a 4-2 win at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

Tomasino has three goals in his past four games after just one in his first 22. He was scratched seven times in the Predators’ first 15 games of the season.

"Obviously my goal is to be here in the lineup every night," he said. "I'm a point producer and I'm a guy that likes to score goals. I think I've been a little bit, I don't want to say snakebitten, but I think I have to start burying my chances a little more. Especially the last 10 or 15 games, I think I've had a lot of really good looks that haven't gone in. So, if I can hopefully continue to do that, I think there'll be a lot more. But I'm just trying to do the right things every day, and it's been working out. So, it's been it's been a lot of fun for me."

Cole Smith and Gustav Nyquist scored, and Colton Sissons and Filip Forsberg each had two assists for Nashville (19-14-0), which has won five of six. Juuse Saros made 29 saves.

"I thought it was outstanding all game," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. "Felt we were really competitive on the puck, doing the things we didn't do Tuesday (5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks). I thought we did them tonight. I think we played about a 58-minute game that I felt very comfortable with."

Morgan Frost and Sean Couturier scored for Philadelphia (18-11-3), which was 7-0-2 in its previous nine games. Samuel Ersson made 27 saves.

"We've been on a nice little run here," Frost said. "We want to go into the break with a good mindset. I think we've bounced back all year. This team has a lot of resiliency and mental toughness. I don't think a loss is going to hold us down."

Frost gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 1:31 of the first period. Bobby Brink rimmed the puck behind the Nashville net, where it went off Frost's skate, popped over the crossbar and bounced off Saros' back into the net.

Smith tied it 1-1 at 1:05 of the second period with a short-handed goal, lifting the puck over Ersson’s blocker on a 3-on-1 rush.

Couturier scored on the power play to put the Flyers ahead 2-1 at 4:45, taking the puck around Saros and tucking it in at the left post.

The Predators tied it 2-2 at 5:24 when Tomasino finished a 2-on-1 with Tommy Novak.

Tomasino put the Predators ahead 3-2 at 15:59 of the third period with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.

"I'm proud of him," Brunette said of Tomasino. "From where we started the year ... it was a little bit of work to get him to play to a certain pace and understand kind of my expectations of him. And he put the work in. He's been playing exceptional here the last month or so. It was nice to see him get rewarded tonight because he's had so many good looks and he was driving a lot of offense for us."

Nyquist scored an empty-net goal for the 4-2 final at 19:59.

"They had the better of play in the third period, but we're holding on and we just can't keep it simple," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "When it comes down into late in the third period, its who blinks first, and we blinked a number of times and didn’t give ourselves a chance to win.”

NOTES: Saros has 162 wins, moving past Tomas Vokoun for second in Predators history, behind Pekka Rinne (369). ... Nashville, which used a lineup with 11 forwards, finished with 10 after Yakov Trenin was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct at 12:37 of the second period. ... The Predators have not lost consecutive games since Nov. 30 and Dec. 2. ... Sissons' two assists give him 100 in the NHL. ... Couturier's power-play goal was the Flyers' first in eight games, ending an 0-for-19 drought. ... Frost's goal was Philadelphia's sixth in the first two minutes of a game, tied with the Edmonton Oilers for the most in the NHL.