GAME STORY: Flyers 3, Devils 1

NEWARK, N.J. -For the second straight game, the Devils fell to the Philadelphia Flyers, tonight with a 3-1 result. Damon Severson had the lone goal for the Devils as he opened the scoring seven minutes into the game.
Philadelphia's three unanswered goals, including two third period goals, would seal the win for the visitors. Philadelphia Captain Claude Giroux, Michael Raffl, and Nate Prosser had the three goals for the Flyers.

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New Jersey heads to Buffalo to play the Sabres on Saturday and Sunday. Both weekend games are on MSG+ and can be heard on the Devils Hockey Network, including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com. Puck drop is 1:08 p.m. ET for both games.
Although the Devils finished the night with 34 shots on goal, Philadelphia goaltender Carter Hart remained strong in net, only allowing in one. Devils forward Jesper Bratt commented post-game about what the Devils need to improve on offensively.
"We got some pretty good scoring chances and get a good game and at the same time, we need to be a little more focused on our shots and get some bodies in front of [Hart]," said Bratt.
"I think we can do a lot better job of taking the goalie's eyes away, getting some traffic in front of them, and that usually leads to second opportunities and we didn't have a lot of second opportunities," said Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff.
The Devils drop to 0-2-0 against their rivals after a two-game home series.
Defenseman Damon Severson scored his first goal of the season seven minutes into the first period. Severson entered the offensive zone and shot left corner high as he passed over the right face-off dot. Defenseman Ryan Murray had the primary assist.
Philadelphia's Nate Prosser would score three minutes later to tie up the game. Halfway through the first period, the Devils led the Flyers 8-4 in shots on goal.
As the first period continued on, the Devils were seeing strong play from several young players including Nathan Bastian, Michael McLeod, and Jack Hughes who were strong in their battles in the corners and behind the net. The Devils were able to build some possession time in the offensive zone and create some opportunities.
The Devils had their first power play of the night with 4:38 left on the clock. New Jersey saw some solid passing from their top unit but were unable to break the 1-1 tie. After twenty minutes, the Devils and Flyers remained tied at 1 with the Devils outshooting the Flyers 14-4.
Special teams play continued in the second period as the Devils had two more power play opportunities and were on the penalty kill once. Neither team was able to capitalize on any of their man-advantages throughout the second period.
Throughout the second period, the Devils defenseman continued to find opportunities offensively. One example of this was halfway through the game when the Devils saw Matt Tennyson pick up the puck in the defensive zone, carry it all the way through the neutral zone, and bring the puck behind the goal. Ryan Murray and P.K. Subban continued to send shots on goal for different net-front forwards to redirect, but were unsuccessful.
Neither team was able to score in the second period as the game went to the third period tied at 1. The Devils continued to outshoot the Flyers and had a 24-8 shot advantage after 40 minutes of play.
Philadelphia scored early in the third period to take a 2-1 lead. Michael Raffl tapped in Connor Bunnaman's shot that slipped past Wedgewood but didn't cross over the line. Four minutes later, the Flyers added another to take a 3-1 lead.
Following the Flyers pair of goals was increased special teams action. Philadelphia was called for a penalty with 11:53 left in the period. Then with 1:06 left in the power play, Subban was called for a penalty and both teams had a minute of 4v4 play. Philadelphia then had less than a minute on the power play, however, neither team was able to score.
Although the Devils continued to push and outshoot the Flyers, they were unable to score again, and dropped two points Thursday night.
Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff has discussed in the past that with this young team, they still are learning how to win and has a similar message to stick with it following the loss.
"The message is really just stick with it," said Ruff. "The little breakdown hurt us on the second [goal] and the third one was just a systematic thing but effort, energy, the way we skated is probably as good as we can play in the first 40 minutes, and still had some good looks in the third period."
Jesper Bratt, who made his season debut tonight after rejoining team activities this morning, had just under 21 minutes of ice time tonight and played on the top line with Andreas Johnsson and Jack Hughes.
"They are really good players and [I] think we want to play the game pretty similarly, with a lot of speed and being creative," said Bratt post-game. "I think in the future we can build some build some more chemistry."
"[That line did] a great job really reading off each other for a line that hadn't played together. I really liked the makeup of our lines. I think that we were getting good play from all four lines and there were situations where every line was in on the action. But that line particularly, they couldn't catch up to them in the offensive zone."
The team hits the road this weekend to play the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and Sunday with game time at 1:00 p.m. ET both days. New Jersey enters this two-game series against the Sabres with a 3-3-1 record after dropping their last two games. The Sabres, after falling to the New York Rangers Thursday night in overtime, head into the weekend series with a 3-3-2 record.