NEWARK—The New Jersey Devils looked slightly different against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon. With an illness circulating the room, there was some doubt as to who would be in the lineup.
Stefan Noesen, however, did return on Saturday after missing the previous two contests due to illness.
READ: Bug Bite: Devils Lineup in Flux Ahead of Tilt vs. Flyers
Despite the bug that’s hit the Devils room, Justin Dowling was a healthy scratch in favor of Brian Halonen entering the lineup, and Dawson Mercer moving to third line center.
Similarly to their start in Toronto, the Devils got on the board early against the Flyers, this time scoring on their first shot of the game. New Jersey got the puck deep in the Flyers’ zone on the rush. Nathan Bastian shoveled the puck from below the Philly goal line up to Dougie Hamilton, who wristed the puck through traffic and scored for a 1–0 Devils lead.
As the first period unraveled, the Devils and Flyers engaged in a chippy affair, trading slashes and cross-checks, all of which went uncalled.
As the buzzer rang for the first intermission, the Devils, and Flyers mixed it up below the goal line. However, the referees broke up the action before it escalated and there were no penalties assessed.
The Devils got off to one of their worst starts to a period in the middle frame. The Flyers came out in the second period a step or two ahead of New Jersey and made them pay for it early.
With the puck in the offensive zone, Luke Hughes’ cross-ice pass was intercepted by Flyers captain Sean Couturier. As a result, Matvei Michkov was sprung for a breakaway and beat Jake Allen to tie the game at one.
The Devils were lucky to get out of the second period knotted with the Flyers at one, looking like a disjointed group that lacked chemistry.
New Jersey was lucky to get out of the first period with the score tied. Each team registered nearly an equal number of chances, 5-4 in favor of Philly. However, the Flyers seemingly controlled the puck longer and registered more quality chances than the Devils did through the first 40 minutes of the game.
Despite another rough start to the third period, the Devils struck first in the final frame to take a 2-1 lead. Only for a moment, however, as it was determined that Jesper Bratt was offside in the sequence leading up to the goal, and it was overturned.
The Devils finally sustained some offensive pressure around the midway mark of the third period. However, a turnover at the blueline by Jack Hughes led to a breakaway for Owen Tippett. Jonas Siegenthaler trailed Tippett on his way to Allen, and was called for a slash while trying to negate the breakaway chance.
On the Flyers power play, Noah Cates fed a streaking Bobby Brink in the slot, and the Flyers forward gave Philly the 2-1 lead.
The Devils pulled Allen near the conclusion of the third period. With six skaters on the ice, the Devils piled up the chances, however, couldn’t convert by getting shots through to Ersson clean.
Travis Konecny eventually hit the empty-net and the Flyers prevailed 3-1 in regulation.
This time it was in regulation, and the Devils lost their third game in a row. Allen made 15 saves on the Flyers’ minimal 17 shots.
For more Devils news, visit New Jersey Hockey Now, subscribe to our YouTube and like our Facebook page.
Follow us on :
@NJDHockeyNow, @JamesNicholsNHL, @NickNatale10
And on Threads:
