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Lupul helps Flyers upend Predators

Mar 8, 2009 - 5:36 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Joffrey Lupul netted a pair of goals as the Philadelphia Flyers recorded a 4-1 triumph over the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

Captain Mike Richards and Claude Giroux also tallied and Martin Biron turned aside 31 shots for Philadelphia, which improved to 9-4-1 in its last 14 games.

"I think 'Lupes' (Lupul) has played well the last two or three weeks," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "He has really come on and got to a level of play that we expect from him. I'd like to see that line get hot."

Martin Erat scored and rookie Pekka Rinne finished with 22 saves for Nashville, which saw its six-game winning streak come to an end.

"They were on a bit of a winning streak. Usually teams even themselves out and we were able to keep them off the puck," Biron said.

"They were a tough team and I think they came out hard too. It was a tight checking game for a while. In the third period, we got a couple of goals that made the difference, but for most of the game, it was pretty tight."

Stevens also credited his netminder.

"I thought when he came in the other night (vs. Calgary), he was confident as he has been in a long time," Stevens said. "He carried that right into tonight. He was aggressive, he was square and he held onto pucks. It looks like it is a confident Marty that we are used to seeing."

After Richards opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the second period, Lupul doubled the advantage nearly four minutes later after deflecting a centering feed from All-Star Jeff Carter past Rinne.

"I thought we played really well for the first 50 minutes, but we pretty much gave away those first goals," Rinne said. "We had some unfortunate stumbles and some missed passes and the Flyers executed very well. We need every single point and when we look back on these games it is disappointing."

Erat cut the deficit in half 7:45 into the third, but Lupul restored the two-goal cushion just 66 seconds later after collecting a loose puck in the slot and lifting a shot past a prone Rinne for his 20th goal of the season.

"It is very cool to be on a team where that many guys have made it to 20 goals," Lupul said. "I think that's kind of the strength of our team. It has been for the last couple of years - depth down the lineup. I think that will make us a hard team to check come playoff time."

"That third goal was the killer," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We had the puck about four times but they stayed on the puck. We finally were able to get it and we passed it to our winger, but he fell down. I think we had it twice more, so we turned it over about six times on that shift after we got a big goal."

Giroux netted his fifth goal of the season with 3:13 remaining to seal the win.