Flyers hold off the Nashville Predators, 2-1, for third straight victory

There’s a saying, “It’s a good life if you don’t weaken,” and right now, the Flyers are living it up with their strong play.

Three games into the Brad Shaw era, the Orange and Black are undefeated, beating the visiting Nashville Predators, 2-1. It wasn’t a barnburner nor was it high-flying, like the two previous games, when the Flyers scored 13 goals, but it got the job done.

Ryan Poehling, who scored twice in Saturday’s 7-4 Flyers win against the Buffalo Sabres — he was credited after the game with deflecting in the goal originally given to Owen Tippett — got on the board again on Monday. This time it was off a nifty passing play with Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny in the second period.

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Michkov carried the puck into the Nashville zone, dipping around defenseman Jordan Oesterle, and sent a seam pass to Konecny. The Flyers’ leading scorer found Poehling at the far post for the tap-in. Poehling now has six goals in his last seven games.

Just 34 seconds after the Predators tied things up on a rebound goal by Zachary L’Heureux, Konecny and Michkov got assists again, but Jamie Drysdale was on the receiving end this time.

Working in the offensive zone, Konecny sent the puck to Michkov in the right faceoff circle. He went cross-ice to Drysdale, who put a shot on goal that was blocked in front by Nashville defenseman Spencer Stastney. The puck went to Michkov, who tried to stickhandle but lost the puck on the transfer that slid to Drysdale, who put the puck past Nashville goalie Justus Annunen.

Michkov now has four goals and 11 points during a six-game point streak. His 58 points this season are one point behind Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Huston for the rookie points lead. The 20-year-old phenom also has 24 goals, three more than Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, for the top spot among rookies.

Ivan Fedotov made his first start since a disastrous recent weekend on the road. On March 22, he was pulled after the first period after allowing two goals on three shots in the Flyers’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars. The next day, he got the start and allowed seven goals on 29 shots to the Chicago Blackhawks.

On Monday, he stopped 28 of 29 shots, making several dandy saves. Although he didn’t face his first shot of the game until 8 minutes, 8 seconds in, he made his best save in the first period — granted, he created the opportunity. Fedotov played the puck behind the net but right to a Predators player and ended up making a shoulder save on L’Heureux.

In the third, with the Flyers leading 2-1, he made several key saves. He stopped Nashville’s Michael Bunting before making a big pad save at the right post on Nick Blankenburg. He did have a goal waved off with 8:25 left as he and the puck were pushed in by Steven Stamkos.

Then, in the last 1:13, the Flyers ate several shots, including back-to-back blocks by Bobby Brink and Poehling on shot attempts by Bunting and Stamkos, respectively. The Flyers finished with 21 blocked shots. Poehling and Sanheim had four each.

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The Flyers’ best chance in the first period came from none other than Michkov. After Travis Sanheim blocked a shot by Predators’ Filip Forsberg, Konecny sent an alley-oop pass to the Russian winger, who knocked it down with his glove as he broke out. Michkov got behind the defense and was stopped by Annunen — kind of. He made the save, but it rolled away and almost over the line before he spun around and got some help from Forsberg to clear the puck.

The Predators have already been eliminated from the postseason. … Garnet Hathaway returned after missing 15 games with an upper-body injury. The game was the 600th of his NHL career.

The Flyers do not play again until Saturday in Montreal against the Canadiens (7 p.m., NBCSP), who are battling for a wild-card spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.