Flyers defeat Blackhawks, gain in Eastern wild-card race

CHICAGO -- The Philadelphia Flyers gained ground in the Eastern Conference wild-card race with a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Thursday.

Carter Hart made 40 saves for the Flyers (36-30-8), who are five points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second Eastern wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I mean, we're just trying to win games," Hart said. "The end result is the playoffs, and that's what we want to achieve. We're just taking things in stride.
"It's crunch time right now, and we're just coming to the rink every day, just worrying about our group and everything going on here. All that excess noise, we can't control that, we can't control how other teams are playing, or any of that. We have to worry about ourselves and what's in this locker room."
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist, and Corban Knight and James van Riemsdyk scored for Philadelphia, which won for the second time in five games.
"They were buzzing, they controlled the play a lot in our zone," Couturier said. "But I thought we did a good job protecting the middle of the ice. They got a lot of cycling going on the perimeter. We did a good job keeping a lot of those shots from the outside, and [Hart] did the job there."
Chicago (32-31-10) is four points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
"I think we played pretty good at times and maybe just couldn't find the back of the net," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "Still pretty frustrating that it's another huge opportunity at home, and it's two in a row that we fall short. Still wouldn't say we played as good in our own building as we have on the road as of late.
"So we have to find a way to be better here. Yeah, can't allow ourselves to fall short and not get any points anymore."

Erik Gustafsson scored, and Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the Blackhawks, who are 5-1-1 in their past seven but were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
"We're right in there," Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. "That's kind of how it is. People think we're out and we find a way to climb back in. That's good. That's good that we've showed that resilience, for sure. We'd like to take that next step."
Gustafsson gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 10:39 of the first period when he scored his 15th goal with a shot from the right face-off circle.
Knight tied it 1-1 at 15:43 when he scored from the slot off a pass from Justin Bailey. It was Knight's first goal for the Flyers, and the assist was Bailey's first point for them.

Van Riemsdyk gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead at 9:50 of the third period when he backhanded a shot from the top of the left circle.
"Yeah, I saw some traffic at the net and either my choice was to throw it down over the goal line or try to throw it on net," van Riemsdyk said. "I think I hit a good spot. I wasn't necessarily aiming there, but I'll definitely take it."
Couturier scored into an empty net at 18:46 for the 3-1 final.

They said it

"Yeah, obviously, he was a key part of it. Right from the get-go, that's a tough offensive team to play against. We knew that going in, and at least we didn't give up a ton of breakaways, 2-on-1s, which I've seen in their previous games will happen quite frequently. That part was good. At least you had five guys in the zone. That made it a little bit easier, I guess." -- Flyers coach Scott Gordon on Carter Hart's 40-save performance
"Every game is tough. We've been in this must-win scenario for the last [2-3] weeks. It feels like playoff hockey. That's what the guys are saying in the room. We've got to get down to these points and we've really got to battle hard. We're battling hard and just got to find a way to put a couple in and come away with two points. I think we're right there, right to the end. We're still in this and we've got a big weekend ahead of us." -- Blackhawks forward Dylan Strome

Need to know

Gustafsson is the first Blackhawks defenseman to score at least 15 goals in a season since Dustin Byfuglien had 17 in 2009-2010 and the 10th in Chicago history. ... Couturier has three goals and four assists during a four-game point streak. He has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in the past 10 games and 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) in the past 18. ... Van Riemsdyk has six goals and an assist during a five-game point streak. He has 15 points (11 goals, four assists) in the past 13 games.

What's next

Flyers: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSP, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks:At the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN1, ALT, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)