Glass scores in Devils debut in win against Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Cody Glass scored in his New Jersey Devils debut, a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.

Glass was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, two days after New Jersey placed top center Jack Hughes on long-term injured reserve following shoulder surgery.

"That's huge," Glass said. "They're missing players like Dougie [Hamilton] and Jack. I haven't met them yet, but it's a huge win. And obviously, we want to pile these wins up. It's a tight playoff race, so it's cool coming in, getting a win right away, and hopefully we just keep going from here."

Erik Haula had a goal and an assist, and Jake Allen made 23 saves for the Devils (34-25-6), who are third in the Metropolitan Division and ended a three-game losing streak.

Haula played on a line with Glass and Daniel Sprong, who also made his debut with New Jersey after being acquired in a trade with the Seattle Kraken on Friday.

"It was a good start yesterday during practice," Haula said. "It felt natural. The guys didn't have much sleep, but either way they came in and it was a good day for us. It's nice to get a start like that, fresh, positive energy."

Jamie Drysdale scored for the Flyers (27-30-8), who lost their season-high fourth straight game. Ivan Fedotov made 20 saves.

"We got a couple chances," captain Sean Couturier said. "It was a tight game out there. They got their bounces. We didn't, really."

Glass gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 11:10 of the first period. Stefen Noesen's pass out of the right corner in the offensive zone bounced off the skates of Philadelphia defenseman Nick Seeler to Glass at the bottom of the right face-off circle, and he beat Fedotov to the far side. It was his fifth goal of the season.

"It felt good," Glass said. "Helps having 'Hauls' on my line, and then Sprong is kind of going through the same thing as me. Hauls has done a great job of making me feel a little bit comfortable. It's a lot of systems, a lot of stuff that I've been thinking about on the ice. So, once I get the thinking out of the game, hopefully I feel a little bit more comfortable out there."

Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said the game was a good lesson for the coaching staff in how best to use Glass moving forward.

"Players love to score, so that helps," he said. "And then it endears yourself to your teammates just a little bit more as well. ... The more we get to know those guys, I think for myself as a coach, I'll know better how to utilize them and all that kind of stuff.

“But what a good impression made by those guys today here."

Haula made it 2-0 at 5:39 of the second period. Jonathan Kovacevic's shot redirected off traffic at the top of the hash marks and went to Haula, who drove down the right side and beat Fedotov past his glove.

It was the forward's first goal in 29 games, dating to Nov. 25.

"I don't know if I've ever been on a schneid like that before," Haula said. "It was getting a little frustrating, for sure, but just a little spark of a couple new guys and some fresh, positive energy."

Drysdale, playing his 200th NHL game, ended Allen’s shutout bid when he cut it to 2-1 at 15:14 of the third period after a breakout pass from Travis Konecny.

"We were connected better, we defended better," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "[The Devils] defend well as a team. Had some action around their net, we couldn't get to rebounds. They did a pretty good job of that. We played better than the last game (4-1 loss to Seattle on Saturday). Just trying to take a step forward."

Dawson Mercer scored an empty-net goal on New Jersey's only power play at 19:42 for the 3-1 final.

NOTES: Glass is the third player to score in his Devils debut this season, joining Paul Cotter and Kovacevic, who each did it Oct. 4. He was plus-2 in 12:21 of ice time. ... Sprong had three shots on goal in 11:24. ... Defenseman Dennis Cholowski played 13:27 in his Devils debut after being acquired in a trade with the New York Islanders on Friday. ... The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play and are 0-for-12 in their past five games. … Seeler had a game-high six hits and blocked three shots in 16:53.