Flyers beat the Blackhawks 5-1 after 2 goals in the first 2:33

Philadelphia Flyers' Alex Bump, left, and Travis Konecny celebrate after a goal by Bump during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alex Bump and Sean Couturier scored in the first three minutes of the game and the Philadelphia Flyers used the fast start to cruise to a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

Bump, Noah Cates and Christian Dvorak had a goal and an assist each for the Flyers, who have won six of their last eight games to stay in the chase for a wild-card playoff spot. Denver Barkey also had a goal for Philadelphia and Samuel Ersson made 25 saves.

Connor Bedard scored his 30th goal of the season for Chicago to become the third Blackhawks player with a 30-goal season at age 20 or younger, joining Jonathan Toews (34 in 2008-09) and Eric Daze (30 in 1995-96).

Spencer Knight had 37 saves for Chicago.

Bump scored just 48 seconds into the game and Couturier made it 2-0 at 2:33 of the first.

Barkey made it 3-0 at 5:14 of the second before Bedard got one back.

Cates scored his fourth goal in his last five games with 7:19 to play in the second to make it 4-1. Dvorak scored with 25 seconds left in the second period. With an assist on Dvorak’s goal, Cates has 40 points this season, a career single-season high.

Chicago’s Sacha Boisvert played in his first NHL game. The 18th overall pick in the 2024 draft signed his entry-level contract with the Blackhawks on March 16.

The Flyers outshot the Blackhawks 42-26 and won 61.8% of the faceoffs. The Blackhawks, who are well out of the playoff picture, went scoreless on three power-play chances while the Flyers were 0 for 4 on the power play.

Up next

Blackhawks: Play at the New York Rangers on Friday night.

Flyers: Visit Detroit on Saturday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.