Postgame 5: Flyers Vanquish Devils. 3-1

The Philadelphia Flyers grinded out a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon. The game was a tight-checking affair throughout most of the game. The Flyers blocked 33 shot attempts by New Jersey. The Devils blocked 25 Flyers shot attempts.

Matvei Michkov, Bobby Brink (power play) and Travis Konecny (empty net) scored for the Flyers. New Jersey defenseman Dougie Hamilton notched the only goal for the Devils. New Jersey also had a potential goal in the third period disallowed for an offside entry.

New Jersey took a 1-0 lead at 2:17 of the first period. Hamilton (6th goal of the season) fired home a shot through heavy traffic in front of Samuel Ersson. The assists went to Nathan Bastian and Tomas Tatar.

The Devils blocked five shot attempts by the Flyers in the first five minute of the game. At 6:32, the Devils went to the first power play of the game. Konency was sent off for tripping Jesper Bratt along the side boards in the Philadelphia end zone.The Flyers killed off the penalty.

Garnet Hathaway was taken down by Luke Hughes near the New Jersey net to create a Philadelphia power play at 11:44. Jake Allen turned aside a moderate-danger shot from Travis Sanheim on the lone shot that the Flyers put on net.

First period shots on goal favored the Flyers, 6-3. New Jersey blocked 12 shot attempts by the Flyers, while Philly blocked six Devils' attempts.

The Flyers forged a 1-1 tie at 1:56 of the second period. Sean Couturier intercepted a Luke Hughes turnover and sent Michkov off on a breakaway. Michkov got Allen moving laterally and then beat him over the glove (14th goal of the season).

Scrambling on a backcheck, Jamie Drysdale impeded Paul Cotter for a holding minor at 15:55. New Jersey went to its second power play of the game, On the ensuing power play, the Flyers had one breakdown but escaped damage as Dawson Mercer fired wide of the net from the center slot.

Second period shots on goal were 5-4 Flyers (11-7 Philly through two periods). The Devils blocked an additional eight Flyers shot attempts (20 through 40 minutes), while Flyers blocked 11 (17 through two periods). Also in the middle frame, Rasmus Ristolainen made several strong defensive plays including three blocked shots.

Noah Cates created a scramble and a near goal for Tyson Foerster on the first shift of the third period. At 3:44, a would-be go ahead goal for Bratt on a give-and-go play was washed out by a coach's challenge for an offside entry.

At the end of a long shift in the defensive zone, Owen Tippett claimed a loose puck and counterattacked. Jonas Siegenthalter was called for slashing at 12:17. The Flyers sent the second unit on the ice to start the power play after the long defensive shift. They got a big payoff.

On the forecheck, Foerster was able to get the puck behind the net to Cates. Seeing a wide open lane, Bobby Brink went to the slot, received a centering pass from Cates, and beat Allen over the glove (PPG, 6th) to seize a 2-1 lead at 12:44.

Trailing by a goal, the Devils pulled Allen for a 6-on-5 attack at 17:54. With 1:13 remaining on the clock, the Flyers iced the puck. New Jersey called a timeout.

Finally, the Flyers were able to get an insurance goal. Foerster swept the puck out of the defensive zone and Konecny (ENG, 21st) finished it off into an empty net to seal the victory. Foerster earned the only assist.

Ersson earned the win in net with 13 saves on 14 shots. Allen stopped 15 of 17 shots. In the third period, each team had seven shots on goal.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov
15 Olle Lycksell - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

82 Ivan Fedotov
[33 Samuel Ersson]

PP1: Drysdale,Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Ristolainen, Foerster, Cates, Brink, Sanheim

Scratches: 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (healthy), 25 Ryan Poehling (upper body).

TURNING POINT

The New Jersey offside on the disallowed Bratt goal gave the Flyers a reprieve. The Flyers third period power play looked like it could have instead been a penalty shot for Tippett. But it all worked out on the end as the second power play unit stepped up to deliver the game-winning goal.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Captain Coots: Couturier did not record his 200th career NHL goal in this game but made a very good play to spring Michkov for his breakaway goal. Overall, the captain played 14:38. He had one shot on goal and won all three of the faceoffs he took.

2. Patience with the puck: Coming into the game, the Flyers knew that space would probably be tight and maintaining structure would be important. Philly did just that, and gave the Devils a dose of their own medicine with shot suppression.

3. Playing without Poehling: With Ryan Poehling unavailable to play, Scott Laughton moved from left wing to center and winger Olle Lycksell re-entered the lineup to play on Laughton's line. Laughton played 3:25 including 2:12 on the penalty kill.

4. Frosty heating up: Flyers center Frost brought a five-game (4g, 2a) point streak into Saturday's game. He was unable to extend the streak against the Devils. In the second period, Frost sent linemates Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett into the attack zone on a 2-on-1 but Tippett's shot attempt missed the New Jersey net. Overall, Frost played 16:54. He had one shot on goal (another attempt in the first period was blocked), blocked one New Jersey shot attempt and went 5-for-7 on faceoffs.

5. Flyers special teams: Special teams were a win for the Flyers on Saturday against a New Jersey club that has excelled on both ends of special teams this season. The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.