Patrick scores in return as Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Devils 5-2

The Philadelphia Flyers came into this game looking to rebound after a 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday night.

With the loss to the Blue Jackets on Thursday, the Philadelphia Flyers again found themselves below .500 on the year with a 3-4-0 record. They’ve been very inconsistent with their play as a team, and hoped to turn the tides against the New Jersey Devils.

Nolan Patrick returned to the lineup after being sidelined with an upper-body injury, playing alongside Scott Laughton and Jakub Voracek. Mikhail Vorobyev was a healthy scratch for the second straight game.

The Devils received the game’s first power-play after a very questionable hooking call on Michael Raffl, and New Jersey took advantage. Marcus Johansson set-up a Damon Severson goal to put the Devils up 1-0. It was Severson’s first goal on the season. The teams traded chances, including a good shift from the Oskar Lindblom–Jordan Weal–Travis Konecny line, until Pavel Zacha took a hooking penalty of his own and put the Flyers on the man advantage.

More from Flyers News

• 5 Philadelphia Flyers training camp battles to watch
• Brent Flahr gives updates on Matvei Michkov, other Flyers prospects
• Flyers could strike trade for blossoming Senators star
• Ex-NHLer: Flyers experiencing the “Keith Jones effect”
• Mark Recchi to be inducted into Flyers Hall of Fame

Travis Sanheim set-up Konecny for an absolute snipe of a shot, tying the game up at one for the Flyers. Konecny has scored a goal in back-to-back games after starting the season on a five game goal-less streak. The Flyers received another power play opportunity in the form of a Kevin Rooney high sticking minor. New Jersey killed it off this time around, and the game remained tied at one. Blake Coleman took yet another hooking penalty, giving Philadelphia their third man advantage of the period. The Devils mostly killed it off, leaving just a second of power-play time entering the second.

Severson cross-checked Voracek and put the Flyers on another power-play to start the second stanza. Brian Boyle and Weal took offsetting penalties during the opportunity, and New Jersey eventually killed the penalty. Minutes later, Weal took an interference penalty, giving the Devils their second power-play of the game. The Flyers killed it off thanks in large part to the aggressive penalty-kill work from Laughton.

Sean Couturier registered the Flyers first shot-on-goal with 7:18 to go in the period, and the teams had just 24 put together when the period ended. Andy Greene would give the Flyers their fifth man advantage in the game, but again the unit couldn’t convert. Nolan Patrick netted his first goal and point of the season after cashing-in on a nice pass from Voracek, giving the Flyers a 2-1 lead to end the period.

The Devils applied pressure early to start the third, but Elliott stood his ground. Weal went on to take yet another penalty in the game, and put the Devils on their third power-play opportunity. Boyle took advantage, tying the game up at two with his third goal of the season. The teams traded chances all throughout the third, until Voracek gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead with three minutes left in the game.

Wayne Simmonds and Laughton scored empty-net goals and the Flyers defeated the Devils 5-2! Voracek led the team with three points (One Goal, Two Assists) while Ivan Provorov had his first multi-point game of the season with two assists. Elliott made 19 saves on 21 shots, which was good enough to get the win.

The Flyers are now 4-4-0 on the year. The team must start winning consecutive games as the season moves along, and can’t keep putting up inconsistent performances.

Next game is Monday night in a game two rematch against the Colorado Avalanche!