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

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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 Flyers' Jamie Drysdale, left, knocks the puck away from Chicago Blackhawks' Artyom Levshunov during the third period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) — 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)

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7:05 PM on Thursday, March 26

The Associated Press

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.