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Devils Fall to Flyers in Battle of Special Teams

The first meeting this year between the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers was a study in quality versus quantity. The Devils may have had more power play opportunities on the evening, but the Flyers showed them that it is all in how you use it that gets you to the promised land. Philly won the game 5-3.

New Jersey had seven power play situations and converted on two of them while Philadelphia had just two power plays and were a perfect two-for-two. On the way, the Devils dropped their sixth straight.

It being the first meeting of the year between these two rivals, it was also the first ever meeting between 2017 first overall draft pick Nico Hischier and second overall pick Nolan Patrick. The head-to-head stats between these two very young stars read Nico with an assist, a shot on goal, an even plus/minus and one giveaway and one takeaway. Patrick had a minus-1 plus/minus, four penalty minutes and three shots on goal. Both have many battles ahead of them and both have room to develop in this rivalry.

The Devils had Drew Stafford back in at forward and scratched Jimmy Hayes, Stefan Noesen and defenseman Steven Santini. Of note for the Flyers, they were missing Shayne Gostisbehere due to illness. Defenseman Mirco Mueller practiced with New Jersey on Friday and should be returning to the lineup soon.

In goal, the Devils were back to Cory Schneider who stopped 20 of the 25 shots he faced, including four on the power play. In goal for Philly was Brian Elliott, who made 26 saves on 29 shots, including only seven shots on the power play – which was indicative of the anemic Devils power play. For Elliott, it was his 17th start in the Flyers’ last 18 games.

The Devils have 20 of their remaining 41 games against Metropolitan Division opponents, so here we go.

The Devils got on the board first when Jesper Bratt notched his 11th at 5:43 of the first period. It came when Hischier chipped the puck into the Flyers’ zone to Taylor Hall. Hall gave back to Nico at the bottom of the near faceoff circle. He found Bratt sneaking in behind the play and Bratt buried it to make it 1-0. Hischier and Hall had the assists.

Speaking of Taylor Hall, congratulations to him as it was announced that his Ontario Hockey League team, the Windsor Spitfires, would be retiring his number 4 on February 25, the day after Patrik Elias gets his number 26 retired here in New Jersey.

The Devils had the lead, but before the end of the first, Sean Couturier scored from Jordan Weal and Andrew MacDonald to tie things up at one. It was Couturier’s first of two goals on the night.

The Flyers had started getting into penalty trouble in the first period, taking three in the first. They took two early in the second and the Devils would finally capitalize on one. Patrick had taken his first of two consecutive high-sticking penalties and Kyle Palmieri made Philly pay. At 1:46, Brian Boyle won the offensive zone faceoff back to Will Butcher. Butcher slid it to Hall along the halfwall, who gave it back to Butcher at the point. Butcher then found Palmieri at the near faceoff dot for the one-timer. Palmieri pulled the trigger and beat Elliott cleanly to make it 2-1 Devils.

From there, the Flyers power play took over. On the game-tying goal, John Moore had been called for hooking, giving Philly the man advantage. Wayne Simmonds redirected a Claude Giroux shot on that one at 11:53. Jakub Voracek had the secondary assist.

The next power play was set up when Brian Gibbons went off for interference right off of a faceoff at 16:58. Couturier notched his second of the game from Giroux and Ivan Provorov at 18:16 to give Philly their first lead of the night, 3-2.

The Flyers’ Travis Konecny was called for slashing at 19:17 of the second period to give New Jersey 1:18 of power play time on fresh ice in the third. The Devils, however, true to form on the night, were not able to convert.

The Flyers actually scored another goal that could almost be considered a power play goal when Konecny scored at 4:28 of the third from Provorov and Couturier on a delayed penalty call against the Devils. He scored on a breakaway where he put his own rebound home to make it 4-2.

Michael Raffl wrapped up the Philadelphia massacre at 12:04 when he scored from Voracek and Valtteri Filppula to make it 5-2.

The Devils added a meaningless power play goal set up when Robert Hagg was called for tripping at 18:51. On the man advantage, John Moore hit the post and the puck bounced to Damon Severson’s stick. He got it along the near halfwall and fed Drew Stafford in the slot. Stafford put it home at 19:15 of the third to make it 5-3. And that would be your final.

Devils stat leaders saw Sami Vatanen rule ice time with 22:22, Miles Wood and Palmieri lead in shots with four apiece, Blake Coleman lead in hits with four and Hall, Boyle, Palmieri, Brian Gibbons, Wood, Marcus Johansson and Moore all tie with one blocked shot. Boyle and Coleman each had two takeaways to lead the team as well. The Devils won 49-percent of their faceoffs.

Next up, the Devils will face the team that sent them into their five day bye period: the Islanders. They will meet on Tuesday at Barclays Center with the Devils still looking for their first-ever win in Brooklyn in the three years the Isles have been there. We will find out then if the Devils can get off their slide and back on the winning track, making up some points in the tight Metro Division race.

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Boyle Scores, But Devils Fall to Oilers in OT

For the second time in less than a week, the Devils faced off with the Edmonton Oilers. Last week, they got blown out on Rogers Place ice. Last night they were at Prudential Center, and although the Devils played a much tighter game against the Oilers this time, they still fell, 3-2 in overtime.

I was present at The Rock for this game and that nickname for the Prudential Center was never more appropriate than tonight. It was WWE Night for the Devils, with retired WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan attending the game and participating in the t-shirt toss and other festivities. There were also many WWE themed things on the big board, including a WWE emoji cam and videos with the Devils players talking about wrestling.

As for the game itself, while the last game against St. Louis was against a more “heavy” team that wears you down physically, Edmonton is a more skilled team with Connor McDavid and friends being able to skate and move the puck, as well as put it in the net.

But it was the Devils who largely pushed the pace of the game. They outshot the Oilers 34-32 and largely played well. A few lucky breaks here and there and they would have most likely won the game. But those bad breaks piled up and the Oilers dealt the Devils their fourth straight loss, even though New Jersey did pick up a point.

Some good news for the home team came when Kyle Palmieri made his return to the lineup. Pavel Zacha was a healthy scratch up front to make room for Palmieri, who missed the Western Canada swing with a lower body injury. Ben Lovejoy and Dalton Prout were the healthy scratches on defense.

As mentioned, Brian Boyle scored his first goal as a Devil in being named the game’s first star. It came at 5:33 of the first period when John Moore cut off an Edmonton clearing attempt in the neutral zone. He swatted the puck up to Boyle, who shot on goaltender Cam Talbot. The rebound came to Brian Gibbons and he shot, his rebound dribbled out to Boyle who drove it home to give the Devils the 1-0 lead. This was also his first goal since his cancer diagnosis and was a really emotional moment for the Devils crowd.

New Jersey would take that lead into the first intermission, but just 6:50 into the second, the Oilers would tie it for the first time when Anton Slepyshev scored to make it 1-1. Milan Lucic and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had the assists on that goal.

The Devils would fight back to retake the lead before the end of the second period, however. It came at 18:25 of the second frame when Drew Stafford netted his fifth of the season. It came when Adam Henrique and Stafford played a bit of a give-and-go. Stafford passed to Henrique, who was standing at the Oilers’ blueline. Stafford then broke for the Edmonton net, taking a pass and making a nice deke to beat Talbot and give the Devils the 2-1 lead. Defenseman Mirco Mueller had the secondary assist on the goal.

In the first meeting between the these two teams, Edmonton did not have a penalty called against them in their building. Tonight, the Oilers two four consecutive penalties (including two in the second period to former Devil Adam Larsson) after the Devils took the first two of the game in the first period. These are some of the missed opportunities the Devils had. They were 0-for-4 on the night with the man advantage with five shots on goal. Edmonton was 0-for-2 with four shots.

Back to the action at hand, the Oilers would tie things back up in the third period when Lucic notched his second point of the game, scoring from Nugent-Hopkins and Zack Kassian. That goal came at 3:21 of the third and that is how it would end in regulation.

In the overtime, Leon Draisaitl would end it with less than 20 seconds remaining off a nice pass from McDavid and Kris Russell getting the secondary assist. The real news for the Devils was that Nico Hischier appeared to have been injured in OT. He was laboring and had a tough time getting to the bench. He could have just been gassed, I could not, admittedly, really tell from the stands. But he seemed to be in some pain and the other fans around me seemed to think he was injured. We will keep an eye on that, as losing Nico for any length of time is not something the Devils can afford right now.

So the Devils lost 3-2 in OT to fall to 9-4-2. Cory Schneider made 29 saves on the night and Talbot made 32. Taylor Hall led the Devils in ice time with 23:43 TOI. Palmieri was the leader in shots, with five and Blake Coleman led the team with four hits.

Next up, a Veterans Day tilt at home against the Florida Panthers. The Devils homestand continues on Saturday against the Cats as they try to get back in the win column for the first time since Vancouver.