Flyers Lineup

James van Riemsdyk – Kevin Hayes – Jakub Voracek

Claude Giroux – Nolan Patrick – Travis Konecny

Oskar Lindblom – Scott Laughton – Joel Farabee

Michael Raffl – Connor Bunnaman – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Ivan Provorov – Shayne Gostisbehere

Travis Sanheim – Mark Friedman

Robert Hagg – Justin Braun

Brian Elliott – Carter Hart

Erik Gustafsson, Samuel Morin

Sean Couturier (rib separation), Philippe Myers (fractured rib), Morgan Frost (dislocated shoulder)

Game Report

First Period

The game didn’t start in an ideal fashion, however. Less than a minute after the opening faceoff, Giroux headed to the penalty box for a hooking call which forced the Flyers penalty killers onto the ice early. Brian Elliott stood tall when faced with a Pavel Zacha breakaway on the man advantage, and there were good active sticks from Hayes and Ivan Provorov.

After that, though, the Flyers fell into their same bad habits from the weekend: chasing the play, losing puck battles, and getting pinned in their own zone. Would this game be a repeat of their awful last outing?

Things changed on a dime when James van Riemsdyk deflected a Provorov point shot on Philadelphia’s first power play to put the Flyers up 1-0. Jakub Voracek had the secondary assist on the goal, marking his 400th assist as a Flyer.

That seemed to spark something on the bench, and the second half of the opening period was all Philadelphia as they surged into the offensive zone and held the Devils from getting to close to Elliott’s net.

Second Period

The van Riemsdyk show continued into the second period when he tipped another Provorov shot past Scott Wedgewood, again on the power play, but this time a backhanded deflection.  The Devils played with fire a bit, as P.K. Subban took two consecutive penalties, but the New Jersey penalty units stopped Philadelphia from adding to their tally. Then, on a delayed penalty on Provorov, Michael McLeod got in close along the crease and potted an ugly-looking goal to put the Devils on the board. 

After that, the Flyers seemed to lose all the wind in their sails and they reverted to some pretty sloppy play. Travis Zajac tied the game at 2-2 when he drove to the net and deflected a puck past Elliott.

Gostisbehere showed everyone that he truly is ready to be playing again when he coughed up the puck at the New Jersey blue line, then proceeded to skate up the ice and break up a four-on-two play before the Devils could get a shot off. Ghost seemed to be back in solid form.

Third Period

The Flyers managed to open things up and give themselves some breathing room in the final frame. First came a beautiful play by Giroux who waited with immense patience, cycling down low, for the perfect opportunity to pass it back to Nolan Patrick who fired a one-timer into the New Jersey net.

After that, Joel Farabee hammered home a loose puck off a big rebound to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead. An empty-netter by Provorov should have finished off the night, but Zacha managed to squeeze one more puck past Elliott.

What’s Next?

Plus / Minus

▲  Brian Elliott, James van Riemsdyk, Shayne Gostisbehere, Claude Giroux

▼  Justin Braun