A solid third period, strong goaltending, a 4-for-4 night on the penalty kill and some timely plays from role players proved to be the difference as the Philadelphia Flyers earned a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Thursday night. With the win, the Flyers improved their record to 5-2-1 despite not having their "A" game going overall in the eight matches the team has played to date.

Making his Flyers debut and playing his first game in the NHL in two seasons, 34-year-old Nate Prosser unexpectedly scored his 11th career goal in his 355th game in the league. He also logged four minutes of penalty killing time, and blocked three shots in his 13:12 of ice time.

The Flyers fourth line trio of Michael Raffl, Connor Bunnaman and Nicolas Aube-Kubel was rewarded by head coach Alain Vigneault with extensive third period ice time. They also contributed what proved to be the game-winning goal at 2:10 of the third period as Raffl (2nd goal of the season) potted the rebound of a Bunnaman shot off the post.

A healthy scratch in Tuesday's game against the Devils, Erik Gustafsson bounced back from an early game coverage gaffe on Devils defenseman Damon Severson (1st) and drew assists on goals by Prosser and Claude Giroux (1st). The latter was a slap pass that Giroux re-directed into the net. Jakub Voracek also got an assist on the play. The first was a point shot that James van Riemsdyk tipped and rebounded to Prosser off a set play that started with a Kevin Hates faceoff win.

Carter Hart stopped 33 of 34 shots fired on his net. New Jersey's Scott Wedgewood finished with 14 saves on 19 shots (the Flyers only were credited with eight shots through two periods).

Although Vigneault said after the game that "you don't critique a win," he made no bones about how displeased he was with the overall play of the Kevin Hayes and Nolan Patrick lines in the first two periods while praising the performances of the Bunnaman and Scott Laughton lines. On this night, the team found a way to step up in the third period.

Ivan Provorov logged 27:38 of ice time to lead all players. He also blocked four shots and was credited with one shot on goal and one hit.

The Flyers will return home to Philadelphia to take on the New York Islanders (3-4-0) in a back-to-back set at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday and Sunday.

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