The Philadelphia Flyers ended their two-game losing streak Tuesday night in New Jersey. Beating the Devils 5-3.
New Jersey would come out and take it to the Flyers early. The Devils would fire eight of the first nine shots on goal. But, Brian Elliott would stop them all.
The Flyers, after surviving the Devils early push, would score first. James van Riemsdyk would get his 1st of the night on the power-play. After barely missing on the wrap-around, van Riemsdyk would deflect home an Ivan Provorov point shot.
James van Riemsdyk would get his 2nd of the night just 0:59 seconds into the 2nd period. van Riemsdyk would deflect home another Ivan Provorov point shot on the power-play.
The Devils would cut the lead to one on a delayed penalty call. Ivan Provorov was going to be called for interference. But, after the referee’s arm went up, Provorov stopped playing & let a corner pass by Miles Wood go right to Michael McLeod in the slot. Who would leak one through Brian Elliott.
Just like their previous two games in Boston, the Flyers couldn’t contain the pressure by the Devils thereafter. New Jersey would fire the next five shots on net. Almost scoring on two of them. But, Brian Elliott would keep the Flyers afloat & the one goal lead.
New Jersey would tie the game though with 3:17 left in the 2nd period. After a failed dump-in, the Flyers would be caught on a line-change & the Devils would go in on a 3v2. Travis Zajac would go to the net & deflect home the Andreas Johnsson’s shot to tie the game.
The Flyers would retake the lead 7:03 into the 3rd period. After being too patient on multiple chances earlier in the period, Claude Giroux’s patience would lead to the goal. Holding the puck until Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood was out of position before dropping the puck to Nolan Patrick. Who would have a wide open net & score.
Joel Farabee would give the Flyers a two goal lead with 7:24 left in the 3rd period. Scott Laughton’s pressure behind the Devils net would led to a turnover caused by Oskar Lindblom. Laughton would then get to the loose puck & send a beautiful backdoor pass to Farabee for the goal.
Ivan Provorov would score an empty net goal before the Devils would score with 1:08 left to make it 5-3.
Brian Elliott would stop 23 of the 26 shots he faced for his 2nd win of the season.
Loose Pucks…
– With an assist on the Flyers first goal, Jake Voracek would get his 400th assist in a Flyers uniform. Voracek became just the 5th Flyer ever to reach 400 assists.
– Playing in his 611th career game as the Flyers captain, Claude Giroux became the longest tenured captain in Flyers history. Giroux passed Bobby Clarke, who was the Flyers captain for 610 games.
– James van Riemsdyk continues to return to his impressive power-play form. With two more power-play goals tonight, van Riemsdyk now has as many power-play goals (4-goals) in his first 7-games this season, then in all 66-games last season.
– The Flyers defensive zone coverage continues to be a concern. A concern that goes well beyond the team just missing star center Sean Couturier. Too much puck watching & inactive sticks have led to easy goals.
– In his season debut, Shayne Gostisbehere played 21:57, had 3-shots on goal, was a +2, & blocked 2-shots. “It’s a good first step. I wanted to play simple, solid and have a positive effect on the game. I’m just going to keep being me.”
Result : Flyers 5 – Devils 3 , WIN
Record : 4 – 2 – 1
Next Game : 1/28 New Jersey Devils, Newark NJ, 7:00pm
Photo Credit : Bruce Bennett – Getty Images
