The New Jersey Devils handled their business with relative ease tonight as they handed the Philadelphia Flyers their first loss of the preseason – in their first game.
They were paced by 4 goals in the first 6 minutes from Ondrej Palat, Erik Haula, Tyce Thompson, and Alexander Holtz. They would add 2 more – one in each period – as they completed the shutout with Vitek Vanecek and Erik Kallgren in goal. The Flyers mustered up 22 shots on goal with very few scoring chances.
The Philadelphia Flyers stepped onto the ice for the very first time this season – preseason game – on the road against the New Jersey Devils. With so many changes occurring in the offseason, John Tortorella’s Flyers were set to welcome back a few faces who had spent all of last season on the mend, while mixing in a few of new ones.
Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson were set to return to the ice today for the first time in at least one full season, unfortunately Atkinson was ruled out just before the game was to begin. In his stead came a bubble-player in Wade Allison, who would be looking for every opportunity to capitalize with so many players vying for so few roster spots.
Joel Farabee, Bobby Brink, and Sean Couturier represented the first line, Olle Lycksell, Morgan Frost, and Tyson Foerster rounded out the top-6, Matt Brown, Denver Barkey, and Wade Allison patrolled the third line, and Brendan Furry, Elliot Desnoyers, and Sami Tuomaala rounding out the forwards. On defense it was Cam York and Sean Walker, Olive Bonk with Nick Seeler, and Emil Andrae with Helge Grans. Felix Sandström and Cal Petersen were the two netminders.
FIRST PERIOD
Unfortunately for Flyers fans, it only took the New Jersey Devils 68 seconds to get on the board. Jesper Bratt came into the offensive zone with too much speed, fed Ondrej Palat on the other side of the net for an easy-tap in past Cal Petersen for a very quick start.
It didn’t take the Devils too long to double their lead after Erik Haula finished off a pretty feed from Bratt – once again – for a 2-0 score. Tyce Thompson then added another goal to give the Devils 3 goals in 4:24 seconds after a simple play from the point netted a rebound that Petersen couldn’t handle. The rebound was there for the taking and New Jersey already looked in mid-season form against the shaky Flyers.
With the Flyers down and out early, Nick Seeler tried to bring about some energy with a quick fight against Brian Halonen that ended rather quickly with the latter losing his footing.
Unfortunately that did nothing to help the cause as the Devils’ Alexander Holtz scored a gimme in front of the net after a perfect set-up by Timo Meier after forcing a turnover on Cam York – just 5+ minutes into the game.
The first period ended with the Devils up 4-0, ahead on the shot-clock by a margin of 13-5, and even out-hit the Orange and Black 9-4. Cam York paced the Flyers with 8:11 TOI, Sean Walker right behind him with 7:17, and Oliver Bonk at 7:02.
SECOND PERIOD
Sean Walker was nailed down for a delay of game penalty just 29 seconds into the second period. A penalty killing unit that struggled mightily last season allowed a power play goal to Timo Meier with 29 seconds remaining as he made no mistake with a wide open chance in the slot. Nico Hischier was initially stopped, corralled his own rebound, and then fed a laser to Meier for the finish.
43 seconds later, Tyce Thompson earned the Devils’ first penalty of the game for interference. Cam York turned it over just outside of his own zone as he tried to sling-shot it to an unsuspecting Sean Couturier. York was then forced into taking a hooking minor as the Devils almost capitalized on the turnover had it not been for a quick shovel play out of the blue paint by Couturier.
The Flyers found themselves back on the power play with 6:37 remaining in the middle frame after Daniil Misyul was called for a holding minor. They looked a little better compared to their first attempt but not much was finding the goaltender or being fed through open lanes.
The second period came to a close with the Flyers down 5-0. It was a better showing than their first 20 minutes but the Devils still controlled most of the period, held a 10-6 shot advantage, and of course added to their lead with a Meier tally. York paced the Flyers with 15:36 TOI, Walker 14:13, and Helge Grans with 13:14. Couturier led the forwards with 12:06.
THIRD PERIOD
Felix Sandström found himself in goal to start the third period as expected.
Matt Brown was set up beautifully by Olle Lycksell mid-way through the third period but rang his shot off the post. A minute later and on the other side, Denver Barkey was whistled for a slashing minor with 7:31 left in regulation. The Devils power play was cut short after Haula tripped up Couturier in the Devils’ zone.
The Devils would add to their lead courtesy of a Micheal McLeod breakaway goal with 10:50 left on the clock. Dougie Hamilton was able to move the puck ahead with relative ease and found McLeod who made no mistake with a dandy move on Sandström.
The Devils found themselves back on the power play after York was whistled for his second minor of the game, this time for roughing. The Flyers were a little more organized as they were able to kill off their 3rd consecutive penalty.
Unfortunately, the clock was winding down and they were unable to get a puck past Vitek Vanecek or Erik Kallgren. The Devils outshot the Flyers 34-21, outhit them 19-13, and scored at least one goal in each period. The Flyers weren’t able to muster up a whole lot of anything but it was nice to see Couturier back on the ice and Joel Farabee showing some jump.
York led the way with 22:17 TOI, Walker behind him with 21:20, and Emil Andrae 19:38 TOI. In his first game since December of 2021, Couturier was on the ice for 18:05, 2nd most for a forward outside of Farabee’s 18:22. Petersen stopped 19 of 24 shots and Sandström stopped 9 of 10.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will take on the New York Islanders on Wednesday night at UBS Arena at 7:00pm ET.
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