Third time’s a charm — the Devils have finally beaten the Flyers this season.
At the end of a home-and-home with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Devils looked to gain two points in the standings tonight without their captain Nico Hischier, who was announced as week-to-week following a re-evaluation of his ribs injury, which was sustained from a cross-check by Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens. Sheldon Keefe scratched Brian Halonen, the team’s leading minor league goal scorer in Utica, in favor of Kurtis MacDermid. MacDermid drew in also in response to a late, violent hit delivered from Nick Seeler to the facial area of Nate Bastian on Monday night, which knocked Bastian out of the game. The Devils just had to regain their scoring touch while not losing focus in the heat of battle.
First Period
Jake Allen made two great saves on Sean Couturier to keep the game tied early, as the Philadelphia Flyers had the weakened New Jersey Devils on their heels. This led to a referee review to check if the puck crossed the goal line as Allen gloved it, but the officials silently returned the teams to play after confirming that Allen kept the puck out of the net. With the fourth lines on, Luke Hughes had the stick ripped out of his hands while he tried to make a play in the offensive zone, but play went on.
Tomas Tatar was ultimately called for the first penalty of the game, going to the box for hooking a bit less than seven minutes into the period, as Tatar tied up Noah Cates on the rush. Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes were great on the penalty kill, creating a scoring chance for Brett Pesce that was denied by Sam Ersson after the two forwards fought for the puck by the boards. The Devils kept the game tied, easily killing the penalty. However, the Devils had issues gaining the offensive zone at even strength, and it wasn’t long until Allen had to stand up to another flurry of Flyers chances by the net, with several sticks digging away at him as he covered the puck to freeze play, credited for four saves in eight seconds before the stoppage with 7:11 to play in the period.
Allen made another excellent save on a one-timer from Travis Konecny, and the puck was again stripped away from him as he laid on the ice. Scrambling back into net, Allen froze a wide-angled shot for a defensive zone faceoff. Late in the period, Jesper Bratt drew a hooking penalty from Morgan Frost, sending the Devils to the power play for 33 seconds. Ondrej Palat whistled a slap shot on a loose puck from the slot, which was blocked by York. But Stefan Noesen dug sway and shot the puck on goal, forcing Ersson to stop it a couple times before the period ended.
Second Period
The Devils had trouble getting the power play going to start the period, but they started getting pucks on goal about 40 seconds in. Dougie had a nice hold on his backhand, keeping the puck moving, and Jack Hughes sent the puck down low. Palat whacked at a loose puck after Seeler blocked Noesen from the pass, and he chipped it past Ersson! Ondrej Palat gave the Devils the lead in the first minute of the period!
Brenden Dillon stepped up on Owen Tippett in the neutral zone just 20 seconds after the puck was dropped, with Tippett getting drilled as the puck went through his feet. Play was stopped as Tippett went down the tunnel, but no penalties were called. Kurtis MacDermid was chirping with Garnet Hathaway in the faceoff circle, but the gloves stayed on — and Curtis Lazar was called for interference after Anthony Richard tripped up Johnny Kovacevic in the corner. The Flyers power play did not last long, though, with Tyson Foerster being called for holding the stick of Kovacevic, with the teams going to four-on-four for 1:37.
Late in the four-on-four sequence, the Flyers had a two-on-one, and Jack Hughes was called for slashing Matvei Michkov as Michkov shot the puck on goal. The Devils went to a four-on-three penalty kill for 14 seconds. They survived in the defensive zone until it became a five-on-four penalty kill, eventually clearing the puck for a change with 50 seconds to kill until the return to five-on-five.
A few collisions in the defensive and neutral zone gifted the Hughes brothers a two-on-one out of a completely broken play at even strength. Luke carried the puck up, shooting far-side as the pass to Jack was taken away — and he scored! The Devils went up 2-0 on the goal from Luke Hughes.
After the Devils went up two, the Flyers wanted to start fighting. Nate Bastian and Garnet Hathaway exchanged blows in the neutral zone as Curtis Lazar attempted to play the puck by the Flyers’ net — problematic because of Bastian’s broken jaw and face shield. Play was blown dead, and the teams converged by the benches, with Siegenthaler denying Scott Laughton a fight away from the rest of the scrum. Seeler and Hathaway went to the box for roughing, while MacDermid and Kovacevic sat for the Devils.
Stefan Noesen was going to be called for a penalty for crosschecking Travis Sanheim in the corner, and the teams converged on Noesen for the hit. Noesen was given two minutes for interference (the puck was there) and two minutes for roughing. Drysdale was given two minutes for roughing. This Flyers power play was much more threatening, but none of their shots through screens and deflections seemed to want to hit the net. The Devils got the puck down the ice for a change, and Hughes and Bratt raced off to a two-on-one after the Devils won the puck from the end boards. They got the pass through, but Hughes was denied by Ersson. Coming the other way, Richard forced Allen to make a pad save on a rush chance. Then lurking out of the box as the penalty expired, Tatar was sprung for a breakaway — and he was also denied. The end-to-end action largely continued until Sean Couturier was called for hooking.
This power play looked a lot better with the second unit on the ice. The Hughes brothers continued to move the puck very well, keeping the cycle going through shot attempts that were blocked away. Luke passed up a shot late to set up a wide-angled Timo Meier one-timer. Ersson made the initial save, but Nate Bastian poked the puck home to make it a 3-0 game!
The Devils’ second line continued the good work. Timo Meier had a shot blocked up high, but Frost went out of the play as a result of the block. Meier came back and took the puck from Brett Pesce, and Dawson Mercer’s man left him all alone as Frost was unable to keep up with Meier. Meier slid it over, and Mercer made it 4-0! The Flyers replaced Ersson with Ivan Fedotov after the goal with 6:17 to play in the second period.
Third Period
The Devils got off to a good start in the third period, working the puck into the offensive zone to keep the pressure off of Jake Allen in the first minute. Up four, a comeback was not imminently threatening as long as the Devils kept the Flyers off the board for a few minutes. Waiting patiently for their chance again, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt went off for a two-on-one from center ice. Hughes beat Erik Johnson with the pass, and Bratt gave it back for Hughes to tuck behind Fedotov, making it a 5-0 game!
Jake Allen went diving forward to keep the shutout intact, but the puck went trickling behind him with the Flyers buzzing in front of the net. With his eye intently on the crease, Dougie Hamilton whacked the chip shot from Garnet Hathaway right out of the blue paint. Siegenthaler cleared it out of the zone, giving the Devils the chance to change lines.
Nate Bastian was goign to have a clean breakaway when Erik Johnson sent a pass behind Nick Seeler on the blueline, but Seeler came up to crosscheck Bastian to keep him out of the play. The Devils went to the power play with just over five and a half minutes to play. The Devils started their second unit here, and Dawson Mercer just missed on a pass for a Tomas Tatar one-timer that never happened, wasting the first minute or so of the power play. Keefe sent out Kurtis MacDermid with the fourth line for the second minute. The Devils just took it easy for the rest of the game, sealing a 24-save shutout for Jake Allen.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
Jake Allen’s Most Important Start Yet
The Devils’ offense came to life in the second period tonight, but it almost never got that far. Jake Allen stopped just 24 shots tonight, but faced a whopping 1.63 expected goals against in the first period, stopping 10 shots and five high-danger scoring chances. In total, the Flyers put up 3.55 expected goals in the game, but Allen was just about air-tight in the crease, only relying on Dougie Hamilton once to save a goal for him. Jake is now 8-9-1 with a .908 save percentage, 2.55 goals against average, and three shutouts. Now, he gets to rest until facing the Sabres for the second time this season on Sunday. He previously stopped 17 of 18 in the second Prague Series game against them.
Allen’s performance also got the Prudential Center crowd into the game tonight. With how lifeless the game seemed early on, he was the only one in red doing anything fun to watch in that first period. Devils fans have been looking for something to cheer for, and Allen gave them something to care about while he gave his team time to get their heads in the game.
Remembering Team Identity
Coming into tonight, it was hard to feel excited for the game as a fan. Knowing that Nico Hischier would be out of the lineup, and not knowing how the team would respond, I did not know what tonight would look like. After a rough first period, it looked like the Devils could have let the game get away from them — but it could have been worse. Coming out for the second period, they got their spark in Ondrej Palat’s goal, and Brenden Dillon poured a bucket of gasoline into the mix when he threw that hit in the neutral zone. As the Flyers were sucked into trying to play a physical game, they completely lost the focus in their offensive attack, allowing the Devils to start taking advantage of their mistakes.
The Hughes brothers played a big role here. Luke and Jack showed more chemistry (along with Bratt) than they have shown in weeks. What’s more, I think, is their decision to try to use their speed throughout the game. Jack was skating fast in the first period, and they started breaking through the Flyers defense once the game turned more physical and less structured. Luke took advantage of that, too, of course, as he showed off his difficult wrist shot on the rush.
A lot of people have good reason to be happy with Timo Meier, as well. Dawson Mercer has had a good line with Meier and Noesen since Hischier went down, and they decimated the Flyers tonight in a manner that should make Nico proud. They outattempted Philadelphia 17 to six, outshooting them six to three as Meier created the goal for Mercer with the help of Brett Pesce.
And speaking of Brett Pesce, I thought those new defensive pairings seemed to gel together just fine, first period aside. I thought Kovacevic and Hughes played very well off each other after the first intermission, while Dillon and Hamilton did not get in the way of each other’s puck movement all night. By comparison, Pesce and Dillon had no trouble together. Siegenthaler seems happy to be back with Dougie, as well, as he gets quite a range to work with while Dougie tries to create offensive magic. I do not know if I would stick with these pairings all the time, but they are good to have in the pocket.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s game? Were you happy with the effort? What about Jake Allen in goal? Do you think Kurtis MacDermid will ever play this much (11:07) in a Devils uniform again? Who were your best players of the night? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.