Flyers play lights out in 6-2 thrashing of Tampa Bay

Tuesday night had it all.

A grand return. A highlight-reel goal. The Flyers holding the NHL’s top power play off the board. Strong play once again from Sam Ersson. And a power outage.

Literally.

But in the end, all that mattered was that the Flyers nabbed two critical points with a 6-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wells Fargo Arena. It ended a two-game losing streak, gave the Flyers their second win in six games, and staved off the teams trailing them in the standings.

First, Bobby Brink returned with a power surge all his own. The forward was recalled from Lehigh Valley on Tuesday and lit the lamp on his first shift in the NHL since Jan. 15.

Taking a pass from Morgan Frost, he skated into the Lightning zone and sent a wicked wrister ripping past Andrei Vasilevskiy from between the circle. The puck did flutter and may have clipped defenseman Calvin de Haan on the shot across the grain. It was Brink’s first NHL goal since New Year’s Eve in Calgary.

And then the lights went out. Well, some of them.

With several scoreboards and lights out on the east side of the arena, including parts of the concourse and press box, and the audio out after a transformer blew, the game was delayed for roughly nine minutes with 13 minutes, 39 seconds left in the first period.

A few of the lights, and the audio, came back midway through the second period — the Wells Fargo Center crew, fittingly, played the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” — but until then it was well enough lit to keep going despite there being no visible clock in the arena.

So as shadows danced around the rink like the days of yesteryear, and as Jakub Voracek’s favorite singer, Bruce Springsteen once wrote, the Flyers and Lightning went dancing in the dark.

» READ MORE: Flyers take on Lightning in near darkness following Wells Fargo Center power outage

As if their source of power was connected to the lights, the Lightning seemed to struggle for the rest of the first period. The visitors only mustered three shots on goal among 10 shot attempts despite the final 13-plus minutes including a power play; the Flyers had 12 shot attempts during the same stretch.

The Lightning came out a little recharged in the middle frame and tied things up on a shot from the slot by Nick Paul.

But if there’s one guy on the Flyers who has been electrifying the crowd lately, it’s been Tyson Foerster — and the forward paid his bill on Tuesday.

Going in one-on-two just 54 seconds into the third period, he dangled the puck through his legs to create space between him and Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix before scoring short-side with a backhander. Foerster now has goals in every game since he returned from injury (four in three games).

It started a power surge for the hometown team.

Noah Cates hit the trailing Travis Sanheim for a rising wrist shot from the right faceoff circle to make it 3-1. The defenseman now has goals in consecutive games and five points during a four-game point streak. Sean Walker added an insurance goal with a shot from the left circle off a neutral-zone turnover.

It was needed as the Lightning coach Jon Cooper decided to give his squad a power-up by pulling Vasilevskiy around the 9-minute mark of regulation. Quite unorthodox, but during the six-on-four Steven Stamkos scored on a rebound to cut the Flyers’ lead to two.

But then the empty-netters started coming. First, it was Cates scoring after Ryan Poehling poked the puck away from a rushing Nikita Kucherov in the neutral zone. Cam York then added another for the blue-line crew as the Flyers got a little payback for a 6-3 thrashing by the Lightning in late January.

The Flyers placed Rasmus Ristolainen on IR with an upper-body injury. He is week to week. ... Defenseman Jamie Drysdale is out with an upper-body injury and will be re-evaluated in two weeks. ... Travis Konecny missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury and is day to day. ... Coach John Tortorella is not scheduled to miss any time but he has been bit by the injury bug, too. He underwent hand surgery on Monday and wore a sling on the bench. ... Cam Atkinson was a healthy scratch for the second time this season.

The Flyers are on the road Friday, taking on the Washington Capitals (7 p.m. on NBCSP).