Philadelphia looked to bounce back Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils after a quick trip up the turnpike. The Flyers had many highs going into their first game of the week with highlights of Shayne Gostisbehere coming off the COVID-19 protocol and playing in his first game of the season. Next an absolute spectacular stat; Captain Claude Giroux passed Bobby Clarke for all-time games as a Flyers captain at 611.
Finally, both starting goalies for their respected teams were coming off their last start with a shutout. Could Philadelphia get back in the win column tonight against New Jersey?
In the first frame, the Flyers PK, which has struggled so far this season, was tested early after Giroux took a hooking penalty. New Jersey had a couple of flurry chances on the man advantage but Brian Elliot kept his composure during the PK.
Philadelphia looked to build momentum after taking the penalty. However, things started to slowly look like Saturday night once more against the Bruins. The Devils ran all over the Philadelphia blue line in the opening period including an early give-and-go chance from the Devils after a quick pass from Nikita Gusev to Pavel Zacha who broke in all alone for a breakaway but Elliot kept his shutout streak alive making the save. At one point in the period, The Devils had six of the first seven shots.
Philadelphia didn’t look good defensively in the 1st. Just so much time was spent in their own zone. Elliot was sliding, diving, and grooving all period. The Devils were aggressive on the forecheck and it seemed once more it took the orange and black by shock.
Philadelphia looked to swing the momentum in the frame off a power-play chance after Andreas Johnson took a holding call. Ivan Provorov coughed the puck up allowing the Devils prospect Yegor Sharangovich alone on the second breakaway of the game for the Devils. While he would beat Elliott with the shot, it would hit off the post.
Provorov would make up for the costly turnover by firing the puck from the right side of the point, allowing James van Riemsdyk to tip the puck into the back of the net, beating Wedgewood for his 4th of the year. Jakub Voracek also earned an assist on the power-play, his 400th helper as a Flyer. Philadelphia would take the lead into the dressing room after a sloppy beginning to the game.
In the 2nd period, Philadelphia immediately went to work after earning themselves a power-play less than two minutes into the frame. Once again Provorov shot the puck at the point and the magic touch belonged to van Riemsdyk once more as he parked himself in front of the net and tipped it home once more past Wedgewood for his 2nd of the game, 5th of the season, and for the icing on the cake, his 4th power-play goal.
Philadelphia seemed to find their mojo after scoring that goal forcing New Jersey to make decisions quickly. It was a complete 180 from Saturday’s game against the Bruins.
After so many struggles it’s so nice to see the blue line in sync and active tonight. I think AV found the magic key by splitting up Provorov & Sanheim. They weren’t relying on who was going to cover who. The big bright spot in the middle frame.
Philly got a third power-play with just ten minutes left in the 2nd as PK Subban took another penalty. Not as sharp as the first two-man advantages of the 2nd. Philadelphia would be 2/4 on the power-play at the point leading by two goals.
After a good kill, Devils gained some traction coming up with a few big shifts. After a delayed call on the Flyers, they seemingly puck watched as Michael McLeod would earn himself his first in the NHL. Miles Wood made a nice pass off the boards to McLeod as the puck just slipped through the five-hole of Elliott. New Jersey would make this a one-goal game but another Flyers collapse just like Saturday night was bound to happen.
The Flyers really started to slow down with five minutes to go in the 2nd and that’s been the story all season long. New Jersey was buzzing after a great PK kill and indeed they cashed in. Travis Zajac would tie the game up at 16:43 in the 2nd. Despite Elliot making great saves, trying to keep the one-goal lead it wasn’t enough and the Flyers were beating themselves but kept this a tie game headed into the final frame.
In the 3rd period, the Devils seemed to be steamrolling all over the Flyers. However, a defensive breakdown for PK Subban and some flailing around by Wedgewood allowed the Flyers to re-gain the lead. It was Nolan Patrick who scored his second of the season off a sweet pass from Giroux. He managed to avoid the sliding Subban and used a patient approach to easily set up Patrick.
Connor Bunnaman had a grade a chance to increase the lead as Michael Raffl found him all alone, but the puck just hopped over his stick. New Jersey got a little lazy with 7:24 left in the frame and a costly turnover gave the Flyers a little breathing room with a two-goal lead after Joel Farabee cashed in his first point since his four-point night on opening night.
After the Devils emptied the net, Provorov not only blocked a shot, but he was able to hit the long-range empty netter from almost behind his own net. It was his third point of the night.
New Jersey wasn’t dead yet as Zacha grabbed his second of the night with just over a minute remaining. However, it wasn’t enough as Philadelphia was back in the win column after a 5-3 victory on Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils.
Brian Elliot, with his second start of the season, was phenomenal stopping 23 saves on 26 shots. He improves to 2-0 on the season as Philadelphia improved to 4-2-1-0 on the year.