SUNRISE, Fla. -- Wayne Simmonds and the Philadelphia Flyers played a strong game in front of Steve Mason, and the goaltender was there when needed.Mason made 38 saves and Simmonds had a goal and an assist, helping the Flyers beat the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Tuesday night.Simmonds scored an even-strength goal in the first period and assisted Nick Cousins on the second of Philadelphias power-plays in the second.Dale Weise also scored for the Flyers, and rookie Travis Konecny and Brayden Schenn had assists.Losing the puck had been a huge problem for the Flyers in a recent stretch when they lost five out of seven games. Simmonds said the aim in this one was to clean that up.Turnovers have killed us in the games weve lost, Simmonds said. Weve just got to do a good job of keeping it simple, and tonight we did.We took what they gave us and executed.Mason, who improved to 8-3-2 against the Panthers, said the defense in front of him made his job easier.Overall, it was a really strong game from the entire team there. From a personal standpoint it felt good, he said. Today was good, but Id point back to the guys up front. They did a good job of moving bodies and giving me lanes.Reilly Smith scored for the Panthers, who got 25 stops from Roberto Luongo.The loss spoiled the return of Florida forward Nick Bjugstad, who had missed all of this season after an injury in the preseason. The 24-year-old returned following a 19-game absence after breaking a bone in his hand in Dallas just before the season began.Bjugstad, who has played center throughout his career, played right wing instead in his return.Simmonds grabbed a loose puck in the first period following a faceoff in Philadelphias zone, beating defenseman Keith Yandle for possession.Simmonds raced in on a 2-on-1, kept the puck and sniped a shot over Luongo for a 1-0 lead and his tenth goal at 11:11.(The Flyers) capitalized on their chances. We made a few mistakes that proved costly, Yandle said.Weise added his first goal this season, a power-play tally, at 13:03 of the second. Konecy collected the puck and fired a shot from the left circle on Luongo and the rebound was backhanded into the open net by Weise to finish off the 2-on-1 break for a 2-0 lead.Simmonds helped increase the lead in the third period when he slid a pass over to Cousins, who beat Luongo for another power-play goal and his third this season at 7:04.The Flyers ranks third in the league on the power play.We give them the puck on turnovers and they went down the other end and scored. Theyre (among) the top PP in the league and you cant give them second chances, Florida coach Gerard Gallant said. We made some bad decisions with the puck. We turned a couple over and it goes down the other end. You have to kill the penalty; thats the number one goal.Smith broke up Masons shutout bid when he deflected in Jonathan Marchessaults shot at 18:09 for his fourth goal.Philadelphia forward Sean Couturier left the ice at 1:40 of the second period after getting tangled with Vincent Trocheck and falling to the ice. Couturier was helped off the ice by a member of the training staff and teammate Claude Giroux. He didnt return.Game notes The game was the first of the Flyers two-game Florida swing. Philadelphia entered the game 2-3-0 in the first game and 4-0-1 in the second of back-to-backs. ... The Flyers scratched LW Roman Lyubimov and defensemen Michael Del Zotto and Nick Schultz. .. Panthers D Keith Yandle played in his 571st consecutive regular season game, pushing him past Mark Recchi into 11th on the NHLs iron man list. ... D Alex Petrovic (broken ankle) is expected to miss two months after blocking a shot on Thursday in the Panthers 6-1 loss to Toronto. ... Florida scratched D Dylan McIlrath, C Seth Griffith and LW Shawn Thornton.UP NEXT:Flyers: Play at Tampa Bay on Wednesday night.Panthers: Host Columbus on Saturday. Derrick McKey Jersey . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Kevin Durant Jersey .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. https://www.supersonicsjerseys.com/680s-lonnie-shelton-jersey-supersonics.html . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. Vin Baker Jersey . Only three players drafted by NHL clubs were included on the Czech selection camp roster on Wednesday. Those players were Dallas Stars 2012 first-rounder Radek Faksa, Winnipeg Jets 2013 fourth-rounder Jan Kostalek and Phoenix Coyotes 2012 seventh-rounder Marek Langhamer. Dennis Johnson Jersey . PAUL, Minn. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Each night, Kayla Banwarth would pack lunch for the next day, lay out her clothes and set an alarm to be out the door by 5 a.m.The U.S. volleyball player spent about five months this year working as a volunteer assistant coach for the mens team at Pepperdine University. She worked under Karch Kiralys former Olympic coach and current confidante, Marv Dunphy, and American assistant David Hunt.The commitment made for a hectic schedule. Banwarth began her day with a 60-mile commute at the crack of dawn from Orange County to get to campus before rush hour. After Pepperdine practice, she would immediately return to Anaheim to work out with the national team -- spending up to two hours on the court with Kiraly each day and hitting the weight room afterward four times a week.As the U.S. women chase their first Olympic gold medal, Banwarth believes shes all the better for having coached. She and the top-ranked Americans defeated Serbia 25-17, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19 on Wednesday to improve to 3-0 and reach the quarterfinals. Serbia upset the U.S. in five sets at last years World Cup in Japan, forcing the Americans to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Games in Lincoln, Nebraska, in January.I for sure think if you coach it helps you be a better player, Banwarth said. Ive been more mindful how I am technically on the court. I think its helped me be a little bit more strategic seeing it from a coachs perspective, kind of what works and what doesnt work and maybe finding more solutions in a faster way.On all those long drives, she would listen to popular podcasts like Serial. Bedtime was 8:30 most nights -- if she wasnt driving home from matches late, that is.It was very busy, for about five months, said Banwarth, the Americans starting back row specialist since 2013, when she was the U.S. womens most improved indoor player. I had it figured out after about five months.The 27-year-old Banwarth studied video, scouted other teams, helped plan practice and learned from some accomplished coaches. Dunphy guided Kiraly and the 1988 U.S. indoor team to a gold medal in Seoul.At first, Banwarth and Hunt had joked about the idea of her helping at Pepperdine. But she alsso stayed home from playing overseas for a second straight year so it made sense to keep her hand in volleyball while also preparing for the Rio Games.ddddddddddddt was a growing and a process that forced her to organize her time better. Shes said shes really out of it in the mornings so she would have to really plan out her day the night before, Kiraly said. It just forced her, or coaxed her, into becoming even more professional in terms of having these other obligations, being responsible for another program, understanding the game from a coaching standpoint. There were lots of really good things she benefited from that experience. Shes become more mature.Dunphy has been around volleyball for so many decades he is a good judge of talent, and he appreciated what his college players gained from watching a woman he considers right up there with the best in the world at receiving serve.It was great for us to have somebody of her stature, Dunphy said. As Im around these Olympic Games, I hear announcers say things and coaches say things, `Oh, the best in the world every match, `that players the best server in the world. Its thrown around too loosely. But receiving serve as a passer, I dont think theres anybody better than her. Our players at Pepperdine knew that when she would say something it held water and very seldom did she demonstrate but there would be a couple times we would give her a workout, and it was like, `Oooh, shes nailing every one of those.Banwarth and Hunt have been able to draw off the things they learned in college and with the national team.It was cool to be able to coach her in this then have those same coaching conversations with her, Hunt said. Coachings more than technique. Its a lot of interpersonal, getting a vibe of how somebodys doing to help them be their best. It was cool to see that.In other Olympic volleyball matches, the Netherlands women responded from losing captain Maret Balkestein-Grothues to an ankle injury Monday to beat Italy in straight sets after China also won its second straight match 3-0. ' ' '