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Wrap: Flyers Down Devils, 6-3

March 2, 2019, 12:12 AM ET [145 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wrap: Flyers Down Devils, 6-3

It wasn't nearly as easy as the final score would suggest, and it certainly wasn't pretty. All that really mattered, though, was that the Philadelphia Flyers left Newark on Friday night with two points in the standings as they defeated the New Jersey Devils, 6-3, at the Prudential Center.

The Flyers (31-26-8) gained one standings point on the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lost to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime on Friday. With 16 games remaining, the Flyers are six points (five standings points and a 36-29 ROW tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets also hold two games in hand over the Flyers. The Penguins, who are below the playoff cutoff line by virtue of having played one more game than Columbus and having a 36-32 ROW disadvantage, are five standings points ahead of the Flyers as well.

The Carolina Hurricanes, who defeated the St. Louis Blues in regulation on Friday, are in third place in the Metro. They are six standings points plus a 34-29 ROW advantage ahead of the Flyers, and one point ahead of both Columbus and Pittsburgh.

On Friday night, the Flyers received power play and even strength goals (18th and 19th) in the first period plus a late-game assist (16th) from James van Riemsdyk. The Flyers built a 2-0 lead by the first intermission despite a sluggish start, only for the Devils to come back to erase the deficit in the second period.

Travis Konecny scored a lucky goal off his skate to restore a 3-2 lead late in the second period and an empty netter in the third period (19th and 20th). Ivan Provorov scored a deflection goal (7th) that gave the Flyers a 5-2 lead in the third period after Sean Couturier (26th) restored a two-goal margin.

Jakub Voracek racked up three more assists (39th, 40th, 41st) while Claude Giroux (48th and 49th) had two helpers. The Flyers got one assist apiece from Ryan Hartman (11th overall, 1st as a Flyer), Travis Sanheim (20th) and Scott Laughton (15th).

Cam Talbot earned the win in his first game as a Flyer, stopping 30 of 33 shots. The Flyers set an NHL record by using their eighth different goaltender of the season; all of whom started at least one game.

The injury-riddled Devils dressed a makeshift lineup chock full of AHL callups. They played very aggressively on the forecheck and a bit recklessly in the physical department. A boarding major (but no game misconduct) on Kurtis Gabriel at 5:02 lit the fuse, and the game turned chippy by the third period apart from big hits on both sides.

Defenseman Damon Severson had a goal (9th) and two assists (23rd and 24th) to figure in all of the scoring by New Jersey. Jesper Bratt, who returned from a two-game injury-related absence, scored a goal (8th) and had a late game helper (25th assist) on a Kevin Rooney tally (4th). The Devils outshot Philly in all three periods.

Veteran netminder Cory Schneider stopped just 18 of 23 shots for New Jersey. The Couturier goal was a backbreaker early in the third period on a stoppable shot; the Devils fell back into a multi-goal hole after coming back in the second period to get the game tied at 2-2.

The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. They were 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.

Philly did very little with a five-minute power play on the Gabriel boarding major, and nearly coughed up a shorthanded goal. Talbot bailed out his new team. On the Flyers' second power play JVR made it 1-0. Taking a pass from Giroux in the left slot, van Riemsdyk managed to one-time a bouncing puck and shot it upstairs and into the net at 12:53 of the first period.

JVR struck again at 14:16 of the first period, taking a nice centering feed from Hartman and scoring short-side with Schneider expecting Hartman to swing around the net and attack from the other side. Caught off the short-side post, it was too late for Schneider to get back.

First periods shots were 9-8 in New Jersey's favor.

The second period was New Jersey's best and the Flyers' worst of the three, with much of the stanza seeing the Flyers struggle to generate much of any attack until late in the period. At 4:25 of the second period, Severson potted the rebound of a Kenny Agostino shot from outside the dot. At 8:49, the Flyers paid for a couple of turnovers and a failed clear, as Bratt backhanded home a Severson rebound.

Through sheer puck luck, the Flyers restored a lead at 3-2 with 30 seconds left in the period. Radko Gudas, playing his 400th NHL game, put a puck at the net. The rebound went off Konecny's skate (no kicking motion), then pinballed off Schneider's skate, then off Rooney's skate and finally into the net.

Second period shots were 12-9 in New Jersey's favor. A successful Philadelphia penalty kill late in the period on an Oskar Lindblom trip of Bratt was a stabilizer of sorts.

The Flyers didn't generate a lot of shots by volume in the third period but scored goals on three of their seven shots on goal. At the 27-second mark, a harmless-looking shot by Couturier found room under Schneider's arm for a 4-3 lead. At 6:33, Provorov re-directed home a center point shot from Sanheim for a 5-2 lead.

With a big Flyers lead, the nastiness intensified. Midway through the period, Patrick sought some payback on Gabriel, with Konecny once again getting involved in a four-player scrum. Flyers and Devils players chirped at and challenged each other from the respective penalty boxes.

At 16:12 of the third period, JVR unselfishly passed up an opportunity to shoot at an empty net in an attempt to complete a hat trick. Instead, he found Konecny, who had a better shooting lane and made no mistake once the pass was completed. With the scored 6-2, the Flyers took their foot off the gas a bit and Rooney took advantage as he scored on a cross-ice feed by Bratt through flat-footed defenders. By that point, though, it was far too little and too late for the Devils.

Third period shots were 12-7 in New Jersey's favor.

The Flyers will have an off-day on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, they will be in Long Islander to play the New York Islanders in a 3 p.m. ET game.
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