The Philadelphia Flyers have now improved to 4-0-1 in their last five games after defeating the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, 3-1.
The Flyers are alone in fifth in the Metropolitan Division with the victory and are within one point of a Wild Card berth for the time being.
This game was a dogfight from start to finish with choppy ice and sloppy play plaguing both sides, as evidenced by the 18-13 shot count in favor of Philadelphia. But the Flyers were able to find some rhythm and eventually pull through with the victory.
FIRST PERIOD
It didn’t take the Devils long to strike as Dougie Hamilton’s point shot found its way through a sea of bodies and past a bewildered Sam Ersson on the first shot of the game just 2:17 into the contest.
The Flyers would head to the penalty just over four minutes later, but they were able to kill Travis Konecny’s tripping minor and keep themselves within a goal.
Despite allowing the early goal, Philadelphia did a good job of getting in front of shots and keeping the Devils from getting to the middle of the ice as the period wore on. Shot blocking has always been a key for this team and it was on display in the first twenty minutes. The Flyers entering this game were leading the league in blocked shots per game at 18.09.
The Flyers earned their first power play with 8:16 remaining in the period after Luke Hughes tripped Garnet Hathaway. All they could muster was one shot on goal as the Devils took care of business with their sixth-ranked penalty kill.
It was a tightly contested first twenty minutes by both teams and New Jersey led on the scoreboard despite being outshot 6-3 by the Flyers.
SECOND PERIOD
After the Devils spent a good portion of the first minute or so in the Flyers’ end, Luke Hughes fanned on a pass and Sean Couturier intercepted it to spring Matvei Michkov ahead of the pack. The 20-year-old made no mistake and fired home his 14th goal of the season past Jake Allen to tie the game.
The Flyers almost made it 2-1 not long afterwards as Joel Farabee niftily shot the puck and it bounced off Allen and high in the air, which led to a Couturier bank shot that almost squeaked through to a wide open goal mouth with the Devils netminder out of position.
Philadelphia had some solid offensive zone pressure with about five minutes remaining in the period, but then a pass along the blueline was intercepted by Paul Cotter and he was impeded by Jamie Drysdale as he skated in, earning a holding penalty and a New Jersey power play.
The Devils looked completely disinterested and disorganized on the power play. The Flyers spent some quality time killing the clock in the Devils’ end with the puck and New Jersey was very lackadaisical when making passes, allowing Philadelphia to intercept the puck and disrupt attempted rushes up ice.
Again, it was a tight-checking period with not much offense to be found, but the Flyers found a way to tie the game, 1-1, and led in overall shots, 11-8.
THIRD PERIOD
It appeared the Devils took a 2-1 lead with 16:19 remaining on a Jesper Bratt one-timer, but the Flyers challenged the play for offside as Bratt beat the puck in after dishing it to Ondřej Palát. Philadelphia’s challenge was successful and the game remained tied.
Despite the disallowed tally, the Devils remained poised and started to generate some solid pressure. They spent another long shift in the Flyers’ zone beginning around the 11-minute mark of the period. The Flyers survived after New Jersey was once again careless with the puck and Owen Tippett had a breakaway attempt disrupted by a slash from Jonas Siegenthaler, putting the Flyers on their second power play of the afternoon.
Philadelphia’s power play went right to work and Noah Cates spotted Bobby Brink alone in front after a takeaway. Brink made no mistake and wired the puck past the glove of Allen to make it 2-1 in favor of the Flyers with 7:16 left.
The Devils had some looks at the net later on with the extra attacker out but the Flyers kept blocking shots and fighting in front of Ersson to keep them at bay. Ersson also made some big saves when needed, which can be tough when not facing a lot of shots.
After another breakup off the faceoff by birthday boy Tyson Foerster, Travis Konecny fired home the empty-netter to officially seal the deal with only 1.1 seconds remaining.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Bobby Brink – PHI, 2) Matvei Michkov – PHI, 3) Sam Ersson – PHI
OBSERVATIONS
– Sam Ersson wasn’t a busy goalie but he was good when he had to be and looked sharp once again. Ersson has now won 4 starts in a row and is 6-1-0 in his last 7 appearances. Goaltending, at least for now, isn’t a problem for the Flyers anymore.
– The Tyson Foerster-Noah Cates-Bobby Brink line continued to sizzle on Saturday. Foerster racked up 2 assists and played well defensively all game long. Cates’ usual two-way prowess was on full display, and Brink now has goals in 2 of his last 3 games. The trio seems to be doing everything right, from forechecking to defending to scoring, and they are simply rolling right now.
– That goal had to have felt good for Matvei Michkov. He hadn’t scored since last Saturday’s blowout over Anaheim but he’s been sticking with it and was rewarded for his strong play today. Michkov now has 4 points in his last 5 games and moves to second outright on the team in goals with 14.
UP NEXT
The Flyers return to Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night to host the Detroit Red Wings on Pride Night (7:00pm; NBCSP).
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