NEWARK, N.J. — Hockey, much like life, does not always make sense.
The New Jersey Devils controlled the pace of play through 60 minutes on Thursday night at the Prudential Center, outshooting the Flyers by a staggering 49-24 margin. But luckily for the Flyers, goalies play the game, too, and they have an excellent one in Carter Hart. His 48 saves paved the way to a 2-1 Flyers victory despite the Devils possessing a 13-7 advantage in high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Tied, 1-1, going into the third period, the Devils overwhelmed the Flyers in shots, 10-3. But winger Travis Konecny scored the game-winning goal on a breakaway, capitalizing on a Devils turnover. All four of the Flyers’ games on this road trip have been one-goal games.
Less scoring didn’t mean less chaos. While pucks flew, so did punches — fights broke out in the second period between forward Nick Deslauriers and Devils center Michael McLeod and winger Joel Farabee and Devils defenseman Brendan Smith.
Meanwhile, forward Kevin Hayes did not see the ice in the third period after turning the puck over at the offensive blue line late in the second period to spring a Devils odd-man rush.
Hart survives siege
In the first period, the Flyers struggled to kill plays in their own zone and keep the puck on their sticks. That led to more possession and scoring chances for the Devils — of their 16 shots on goal to the Flyers’ seven in the first period, they generated five high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Luckily for the Flyers, their goaltender bailed them out and kept the Flyers within one after the first period. Hart made saves on 16 of 17 shots in the opening frame, only getting beaten by Jack Hughes on a power play.
The Flyers didn’t fare much better in the second period, as the Devils outshot them, 14-8. But Hart only improved, turning aside each shot that came his way. One of his more impressive saves of the night came early in the third period when the Devils went high-to-low with the puck, and Hart robbed forward Jesper Bratt from the high slot with his glove to keep the game tied.
Power play kicks one in
Going into Thursday night’s game, the Flyers had gone scoreless on the power play through three games on their road trip (0 for 4). They received a prime opportunity to buck that trend against the Devils when center Noah Cates drew a four-minute high-sticking minor. However, the Flyers floundered on their faceoffs and entries, managing just one shot on goal in that span.
However, they stuck with it when Konecny drew a tripping penalty. Shortly after center Scott Laughton won a faceoff, he passed the puck to defenseman Travis Sanheim at the point. Sanheim found Laughton at the top of the right circle for a one-timer past Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek to tie the game, 1-1. The Flyers had additional opportunities on the advantage, including 1 minute, 2 seconds of 5-on-3 time. But they finished the night 1 for 5 on the power play.
How about Hughes?
The Devils’ power play isn’t exactly red-hot, ranking 24th in the league going into Thursday’s game (20.22%). But they were opportunistic in the first period, jumping out to the lead on the man advantage. Just 4 minutes, 20 seconds into the game, Hughes breezed through the neutral zone, crossed the offensive blue line uninhibited past defenseman Ivan Provorov and forward Lukáš Sedlák, and flashed his slick stickhandling while scoring on Hart to put the Devils up, 1-0.
Hughes continued to be a thorn in the Flyers’ side in the second period, when he drew a tripping penalty against Nick Seeler to put the Devils on their second power play of the night. Less than a minute and a half into the infraction, Konecny committed a reckless penalty, slashing Hughes into the neutral-zone boards to give the Devils 38 seconds on the two-man advantage. But the Flyers survived on the kill, finishing the night 2 for 3.
What’s next
The Flyers return home to face the New York Rangers at 7 p.m. Saturday (NBC Sports Philadelphia).
