Hart, Laughton lead Flyers past Red Wings

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Carter Hart made 29 saves, Scott Laughton scored and the Philadelphia Flyers won their third straight with an 3-0 shutout of the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

Kieffer Bellows also scored and Tyson Foerster had an empty-netter for Philadelphia in a matchup of two of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams.

The Red Wings have lost five of six and were 0 for 7 on the power play.

Philadelphia began play with the sixth-fewest points in the league while Detroit had the 10th-fewest.

Laughton netted his third in as many games and seventh straight against Detroit.

“Just try to make the most of my opportunities and things are going in,” Laughton said.

Philadelphia entered 30th of 32 teams in the NHL, averaging 2.68 goals per contest. But the Flyers have 26 goals in the current seven-game homestand, which ends Tuesday against Montreal when they will try to tie their season high for consecutive victories.

The 21-year-old Foerster’s emergence has boosted Philadelphia’s offense. He has seven points in eight games since his call-up from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.

“He has played really good,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said.

Hart has been Philadelphia’s best player all season. He recorded his second shutout of the season and fifth of his career.

“I just think he’s in a little bit of a zone,” Tortorella said. “He just stays within himself. He hasn’t skipped a beat this year. He’s kept his consistency and never changes how he goes about his business. Really important.”

The Philadelphia goalie’s best save came 2:04 into the third period when he robbed Jonatan Berggren with a glove save on a wrist shot from the slot. He denied Berggren again with a sprawling, glove save on the man-advantage with 3 1/2 minutes left.

“Trying to get my body in front of it,” Hart said. “The last one hit me, so I was glad it stayed out of the net.”

The Flyers went up 2-0 with a pair of goals in the second period.

Bellows netted his third of the season on a rebound of Owen Tippett’s shot with 9:50 left in the period.

Laughton increased the advantage to two by scoring a 4-on-4 goal with 35.7 seconds left before the break. After stealing the puck in the Detroit zone, he elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 with Joel Farabee. Laughton’s wrister sneaked just inside the post, beating Alex Nedeljkovic on the glove side.

“You like his feistiness,” Tortorella said. “He’s an easy guy to follow behind for some of our guys.”

Nedeljkovic made 19 saves.

“Overall I thought we were fine,” he said. “It wasn’t great. It wasn’t bad. Pretty decent hockey game. (Hart) made some good saves. They got what they deserved. We were right there. That game was there for the taking the entire night.”

NOTES: Detroit’s Adam Erne went to the locker room in the first period after a high stick from Tony DeAngelo, who received a double-minor penalty. Erne returned later in the contest. … The Flyers improved to 4-2 on the homestand and 16-16-5 overall on home ice this season. ... Philadelphia has five winning streaks this season.

UP NEXT

Red Wings: Host Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

Flyers: Host Montreal on Tuesday night.

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