The Philadelphia Flyers opened a home-and-home set against the New Jersey Devils with a 4-2 win at Wells Fargo Center on Monday evening. The teams will rematch at Prudential Center in Newark on Wednesday.
The Flyers took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission, killing off a four-minute penalty along the way. First period shots on goal favored Philly slightly, 9-8. Philly won each of the first six faceoffs on the way to going 16-for-22. A faceoff win would play directly into the first goal.
Rasmus Ristolainen received a high-sticking double minor behind the defensive net at 3:50 of the first period. Scott Laughton stole a puck in deep and had a shorthanded scoring chance on a turnaround shot. At 5:22 (2:28 left on the penalty), Garnet Hathaway fired a puck on net from the left circle.
Philly killed off the rest of the penalty in good shape and Samuel Ersson made a stop (sixth of the period) as 5-on-5 play resumed.
The Flyers went to the power play at 10:58 as Curtis Lazar was called for tripping. Philly converted it immediately into a Bobby Brink goal (PPG, 7th goal of the season) at 11:04. Morgan Frost won the first draw cleanly to Travis Konecny. The combo of Konecny and Ristolainen got it back to the point. Brink snapped otff a shot that beat Jake Allen through some traffic for a 1-0 lead.