GAME STORY: Devils 4, Flyers 3

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -The Devils' STK Line - Yegor Sharangovich, Travis Zajac, Janne Kuokkanen - continued to thrive by hooking up for two goals and six points as New Jersey defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3, at Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night.
Zajac and Sharangovich had one goal and one assist each while Kuokkanen had two helpers for New Jersey, which improved to 4-1-1 in its past six games. Since being put together on March 7, the STK Line has combined for 10 goals and 25 points from Kuokkanen (4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points), Zajac (1-8-9) and Sharangovich (4-1-5).
"That line has maintained a high level of play through the bulk of the schedule for us," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "They really play well together … Those guys have been probably our most consistent line when it comes to just playing together and have stayed together the longest."

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The Devils continue their six-game road trip with back-to-back contests in Washington on Thursday and Friday. You can watch on MSG+ and listen on the Devils Hockey Network,
including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com.
Game time is 7:08 PM ET.
Mike McLeod and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Devils, and goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, who won his third straight game, made 30 saves.
New Jersey, which is now 8-3-2 on the road this season, built a 4-1 lead heading into the third period, scoring a goal in the waning seconds of each the first and second period. The Flyers put on a late surge with two goals in the third, including a tally with 62 seconds remaining. But the Devils held on for the victory.
Here are some other observations from the game…
* Sharangovich was New Jersey's best player in Sunday's overtime win against Pittsburgh, even though he didn't record a point. His excellent play carried over into tonight's game, but this time he was rewarded with his first-career multi-point game with a goal and assist on four shots.
The offense is great to see, but Sharangovich's play away from the puck was also spectacular, particularly on the penalty kill. In the first period there were two scrambles at the Devils net and Blackwood was out of sorts. Philadelphia's Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny could have had easy goals, if not for the stick work of Sharangovich that denied them both of shots.
Sharangovich put the work in defensively, and the offense flowed.
* At Monday's practice, the Devils worked on getting their defensemen to join the rush to create offense. In fact, they've been working on that for much of the past month in the limited practice time that they've had. But their work has paid dividends of late.
New Jersey's first goal came with Ty Smith jumping onto the rush and setting up Mike McCleod for the goal. Smith would pick up his second assist later in the game in similar fashion, picking up a puck high in the offensive zone, skating it into the circles and banking the puck off of the stick of Zajac.
"It's a lot of fun," Smith said of the style of play. "When (Ruff) is saying get up there and help us create with the D-men joining and being the third or fourth guy (on the rush), it's a lot of fun for me. I look forward to trying to create offense from back there and help us out that way."
A Devils' defenseman figured in on 12 straight goals, and 17 of the last 21. New Jersey made getting contributions from the backend a priority, and achieved its goal.
* Palmieri's goal was beautiful, a perfectly executed one-timer from the far circle. But the play that preceded the goal was perhaps even more impressive. Philadelphia tried to tame a bouncing puck when Kuokkanen reached through two Flyers to poke the puck up to Jesper Bratt, who has a five-game scoring streak. Bratt corralled the puck and managed to make a money cross-ice pass while off balance. Palmieri's first power-play goal of the year was beautiful. The work that setup it up was also quite beautiful.
* The Devils showed some mental fortitude halfway through the first period. The club was rolling with a 1-0 lead and dominating play. Then Smith was called for an interference penalty, a call that was highly questionable. The Flyers scored on the ensuing power play off the stick of Farabee that tied the game at 1-1.
Instead of hanging their heads and cursing their misfortune, the Devils shrugged and went back to work. They reclaimed the momentum and reclaimed the lead.
"I've said from the beginning that you have to learn how not to lose before you can win on a consistent basis," Ruff said. "We didn't change a lot after they scored. We went right back at them. Our power play answered their power play. Our 5-on-5 play, I really felt we had the edge until halfway through the third period when we got on our heels. But we maintained a high level of play."
Late in the game, Philadelphia scored two tallies from Sean Coutrurier, including the second with just 62 seconds left in regulation. The pressure was on the Devils once again, and once again they handled their business.
Learning to play in the NHL is learning to play through the highs and lows with the same demeanor, particularly for a young team. The Devils' reaction to adversity is a sign of a maturing team.
* I've loved the effort of McLeod in the past two games. The 12th-overall pick in 2016 has found himself in and out of the lineup all season and fighting for his ice time. He was a healthy scratch in three of four games before getting back in the lineup Sunday in Pittsburgh.
"I took some things from watching above," McLeod said. "I thought that was big for me."
McLeod made the most of his return. He was a noticeable force with three hits and going 5-2 in the faceoff circle. That play continued against Philadelphia. This time, McLeod opened the game's scoring with his fourth goal of the year. And boy was it pretty.
McLeod took advantage of some lax gap control by the Flyers to find an opening. Smith fed him the puck to go in 1-on-1 with goalie Carter Hart. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound center deked forehand-backhand and easily lifted the puck into the net.
"It was a nice play from Smith," McLeod said. "(Andreas) Johnsson started that play. It was a great play across. I just caught it and went backhand."
He also finished with a plus-1, two shots, two takeaways and went 9-3 in draws against the Flyers.
"I really liked his last two games," Ruff said. "We need his speed. We need his physicality. … Putting him back in was an important piece for us to generate energy, back the other team off and his goal scoring has really been a bonus for us."
McLeod is being challenged to earn his ice time. He's earning it.