Farabee scores twice to reach 20 goals in Flyers win against Devils

PHILADELPHIA -- James van Riemsdyk broke a tie in the third period for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.

Joel Farabee scored two goals to reach 20 this season, and Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia (25-23-8). Brian Elliott made 23 saves.
"Going into the season I never really expected it [20 goals] to happen," Farabee said. "Personally, I'm proud of myself. I put a lot of work in the summer working on my game, so it feels good that it paid off."
Pavel Zacha and Janne Kuokkanen scored, and Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves for New Jersey (19-30-7), which had won five of seven.
"We fueled Philly's offense by throwing some pucks in the middle as we crossed the blue line," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "We didn't play a 200-foot game. I thought once we got the puck down low we generated some good opportunities. But you have to take away from that how important it is to put the puck in the right place at key times in a game."
The Flyers finished sixth and the Devils seventh in the eight-team MassMutual East Division. Neither qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 12:25 of the third. Claude Giroux made a seam pass to Couturier in the right circle, and he fed van Riemsdyk for a tip-in in front.

Farabee scored his 20th of the season on the rebound of a shot by Wade Allison to make it 4-2 at 16:08.
At 21 years, 74 days old, Farabee is the second-youngest player to lead the Flyers in goals for a season; Eric Lindros was 21 years, 45 days old when scored 44 goals in 1993-94. Farabee scored eight goals in 52 games as a rookie last season.
"He's someone you could tell that wants to be a player and wants to do what it takes for the next steps in your career," van Riemsdyk said. "Not too surprised to see him have the jump that he had from last year to this year. Not many guys come into the League as 19-year-olds like he did. He has a ton of potential and he had a great step forward this year and I'm sure he's hungry to take another step next year."
Zacha put the Devils ahead 1-0 at 3:29 of the first period. Nico Hischier chipped the puck over the stick of Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov and made a blind backhand pass through the slot to Zacha for a tap-in.
"When the puck was in the air I saw him go backdoor and I just hoped he'd stay there," Hischier said. "It was lucky. That's a good thing we know where we're at. 'Pav' read it well that I'm going to give it backdoor and he was right there."
Kuokkanen made it 2-0 at 5:21 when he got the puck after Will Butcher's shot was blocked and scored from the left side.
"We had a really good first period, then we started to not manage the puck anymore," Hischier said. "We had poor puck decisions. The game slipped away from us."

Farabee finished a give-and-go with Kevin Hayes to make it 2-1 at 13:44. The assist gave Hayes 300 points in the NHL.
Couturier tied the game 2-2 at 10:06 of the second period when Giroux kicked the puck with the heel of his skate to Couturier on the right post.
NOTES:Flyers defenseman Justin Braun sustained a broken foot when he blocked a shot by Devils forward Miles Wood at 10:16 of the first period. He played one more shift and left the game at 12:25. ... Hayes, Giroux and Allison each had two assists. ... Zacha scored 34 points (17 goals, 18 assists) in 50 games this season. The 24-year-old center is the first player age 24 or younger to lead the Devils in points since Zach Parise had 94 (45 goals, 49 assists) in 82 games in 2008-09. … New Jersey won the season series 4-3-1. Philadelphia was 4-4-0. … Couturier won the Bobby Clarke Award as Flyers most valuable player for the third consecutive season. Provorov won the Barry Ashbee Award as the Flyers' top defenseman for the second consecutive season. The awards are voted on writers and broadcasters that cover the team. Farabee won the Pelle Lindberg Award for most improved player, as voted by Flyers players.