Nicholas Paul leads Lightning to victory over Flyers

Nicholas Paul scored two goals, Ian Cole added one goal and one assist and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the host Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Thursday.

Ross Colton scored a goal, Corey Perry had two assists and Steven Stamkos earned an assist for his 1,000th career point to help the Lightning win for the seventh straight visit to Philadelphia. Tampa Bay improved to 7-2-0 in its past nine games overall.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves.

Travis Konecny scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who lost for the 11th time in 12 games (1-8-3). Carter Hart stopped 23 shots.

The Lightning appeared to be on the verge of scoring the first goal at 7:12 of the first period when Alex Killorn fired a shot off a rebound, but Hart sprawled out to make a stellar glove save.

Philadelphia's Noah Cates ripped a wrist shot at 13:46 of the first that was stopped by Vasilevskiy's blocker.

Tampa Bay went ahead 1-0 at 16:02 of the opening period on a power play. Paul received a crisp pass from Perry from behind the net and scored.

The Lightning opened aggressively in the second period and had a couple of solid scoring chances. Hart continued to turn away the shots, including one by Pat Maroon from point-blank range.

The pressure paid off as Tampa Bay took a 2-0 advantage at 7:55 when Paul's shot appeared to deflect off Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo and into the net. Stamkos received a secondary assist for his milestone point.

After a Flyers turnover, Colton capitalized for a 3-0 lead with only 3.4 seconds remaining in the middle period.

The Lightning outshot the Flyers 17-2 in the second.

DeAngelo and Konecny each had scoring chances early in the third, and Philadelphia's Scott Laughton then drew a penalty at 5:06. Tampa Bay killed off the penalty, however.

Cole flipped a shot from center ice that bounced off the boards and then ricocheted off Hart's pads and into the net for a 4-0 lead at 9:19. Vasilevskiy picked up a rare assist.

The Flyers closed within 4-1 when Konecny connected at 11:23.