James Nichols
An ominous day in Newark following the firing of general manager Tom Fitzgerald turned worse when the New Jersey Devils were officially eliminated from the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Philadelphia Flyers.
Philly had a ton on the line coming into the Prudential Center on Tuesday as a win would improve their hopes for the Stanley Cup Playoffs to 70.3%, whereas a loss would cut their hopes in half at 36.6%.
Well, the Devils have officially been eliminated from the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
New Jersey got off to a poor start on Tuesday night, letting the Flyers control the pace of play early.
As a result, the Devils’ defensive zone coverage was caught sleeping, and Travis Sanheim found Trevor Zegras wide open on Jacob Markstrom‘s back door to give Philly an early 1-0 lead.
Just about 30 seconds later, Jack Hughes was whistled for tripping Owen Power, giving the Flyers their first power play of the game.
One minute into the Flyers man advantage, Porter Martone handling the puck along the far wall fed a streaking Zegras at the top of Markstrom’s crease, redirecting the puck past Markstrom to quickly give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
The Devils began to tilt the ice back in their direction halfway through the opening frame. Hughes and Co. finally pressured Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar with several chances.
Cody Glass eventually cut the Flyers lead in half to 2-1 after Jonas Siegenthaler found open ice, rifled a shot on net, which deflected off the Devils forward and past Vladar.
The Devils went to an early power play in the second period after the Flyers were caught with too many men on the ice.
As the penalty expired, Tyson Foerester gained control of the puck at the Philly blueline, led a 2-on-1 opportunity toward the Devils zone, and opted to shoot, beating Markstrom to extend the Flyer lead to 3-1.
Jesper Bratt had the opportunity to claw back against the Flyers when he found himself alone on a breakaway against Vladar. Yet, his backhand chance went over the net, and started a Flyers odd-man rush the other way.
A tic-tac-toe play saw Foerester deposit his second goal of the night on a feed from Zegras, increasing the Flyers lead to 4-1.
A low-event third period made no difference for the Devils.
Nick Seeler deposited the empty net goal, a dagger on the game and the2025-26 season, solidifying a 5-1 loss, the Devils’ 35th of the season.
Markstrom made 13 saves on 17 shots, taking his 19th loss of the season.
