On Saturday, November 22, the New Jersey Devils took a quick trip to Xfinity Mobile Arena for their first matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers this season.
The Devils controlled the early part of the first period, earning quite a few chances before Cam York was sent off for hooking Paul Cotter. The Devils were aggressive on the power play. After five shots on net, Timo Meier, on an assist from Jesper Bratt, opened the scoring just over a minute into the man-advantage.
Just over a minute later, Noah Cates got the Flyers on the board, with an unassisted snap shot on Jake Allen.
Cates may have opened the flood gates though, as the Flyers then scored three goals in 26 seconds after the halfway mark of the first. In Matvei Michkov’s 100th career NHL game, a breakaway on a pass from Sean Couturier slotted through Allen’s five-hole at 12:06.
Nine seconds later, at 12:15, a face-off win by Cates sent the puck back and to Travis Konecny, who passed back to Cates. The forward found the blade of Tyson Foerster, who scored his sixth of the season.
Cates and Foerster weren’t done quite yet. At 12:32, Cates sent the puck back to Foerster who wristed it through Allen’s arm and body.
A few minutes later, the Devils took their first penalty of the night: Arseny Gritsyuk sat for two-minutes on a hooking call. Konecny and Brenden Dillon were awarded matching roughing minors at 16:38. Michkov and Gritsyuk also found themselves with matching roughing minors a few minutes later, with Michkov sitting for two extra minutes for slashing Gritsyuk. Neither special teams unit was able to score.
The Devils once again found control of the early moments of the period to start the second. The momentum shifted when Nico Hischier took a two-minute minor for high-sticking Konecny. The Flyers tried their hardest to create a four-goal lead during the advantage but were unsuccessful.
Just after the halfway mark of the game though, the Flyers were able to create a four-goal lead off a shot from Bobby Brink.
With just under four minutes remaining, Hischier found the back of the net, managing to wrist the puck past Dan Vladar on a pass from Luke Hughes.
Hischier scored the next goal too: a tip-in at 13:27 in the third from Simon Nemec.
The Devils were unable to produce any more offense through the third. With only a two-goal lead, Trevor Zegras quickly skated his way to Allen, all alone, and went bar down for the Flyers’ sixth and final goal of the evening.
The Devils definitely looked like their injury list was affecting their play and the Flyers seemed fueled by the rivalry fire.
The New Jersey Devils will return to Prudential Center for a 7 p.m. game against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, November 24. The Philadelphia Flyers are about to embark on a quick four-game road trip, starting Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The two teams will face-off again on Saturday, November 29 at Prudential Center.
