In the opening period, Trevor Zegras created a turnover and backhanded it off the post. On the ensuing play, Luke Glendening got a high stick up, giving the Flyers an early power play opportunity.
Shots on goal were 6-5 for the Devils past the midway point of the opening frame.
Late in the first, Ethan Edwards took a screened shot from the point that Kevin Rooney got a stick on, slipping it past Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar for the 1-0 goal.
“We got a puck in behind their D, something we talked about before the game,” Rooney said. “Eddie found a lane to get it to the net and I just tried to get a stick on it”.
Not too long after, the Flyers tied it up. Travis Sanheim picked up the puck by the left dot and batted it by a screened Jake Allen. Allen then made a great glove save on Rodrigo Abols with about 90 seconds to go in the opening frame.
With 6.9 seconds to go in the first, Matvei Michkov took a penalty to give the Devils their first man advantage of the game. After one, shots on goal were 11-9 for the Flyers.
Early in the second, the Devils converted. Lenni Hameenaho scored to restore the lead off a setup from Shane Lachance and Calen Addison.
“I got a great pass,” Hameenaho said. “It was a pretty easy job to finish that one. Overall, I felt my game kept getting better all the time this camp” .
Travis Konecny equalized for Philadelphia, finishing off a feed from Michkov behind the net. A few minutes later, Allen slid across to rob Michkov on the goal line and keep the game tied.
“It’s always a better thing to have more than less, to be honest,” Allen said of the heavy workload. “It’s good for me to get my feet going, get a sweat, get a full game in, and get ready for next week” .
Midway through the second, shots on goal were 18-13 for Philadelphia. The Flyers carried most of the play in the latter half of the period as the teams traded power plays, and shots after 40 minutes were 21-13 for Philly.
Allen came up with a couple more big stops in the early part of the third to keep the game knotted up. Shots midway through the period were even at six apiece as Devils also pushed for the go-ahead marker. With less than nine minutes to play, Cotter cashed in. Vladar mishandled a puck behind the net, Arseny Gritsyuk pounced, and Cotter finished in front for the 3-2 goal.
“That line was really good for us,” assistant coach Jeremy Colliton said of Glendening, Gritsyuk, and Cotter. “They were able to capture momentum at key times, stop theirs, and get us going. It was a big goal for us in the third” .
But the Flyers struck late to tie and ultimately prevailed in the shootout. Despite the result, the Devils pointed to strong individual performances, particularly in net.
“He’s been outstanding the whole preseason,” Rooney said of Allen. “It’s been a pleasure playing in front of him. He’s a goalie that’s been around a long time, so we’re lucky to have him” .
Colliton agreed, adding: “His presence back there is calming to the group. He made some big saves for us when it got scrambly. He was really good” .
In overtime, Allen came up big again, turning away three shots in the final two minutes. With 26.5 seconds to go, Hameenaho was tripped up, giving the Devils a late power play, but the Flyers secured the shootout win.
